Europe Trip

Prague was a major boost to the morale after the rather grim Berlin. It is the closest you can imagine to a fairy tale city (in the old quarter, at least). Brightly coloured, ornate old town houses dominate this area of the city, which is overlooked by the palace and St Vitus Cathedral from the hill on the eastern side over the river.

Of course, there are telltale signs of the Soviet regime still visible in the city, as in Berlin: rundown areas of the city, where buildings are very utilitarian (i.e. grim and ugly) in design. But they seem to have taken a lead from their German neighbours and sought to drag their town into the twenty-first century, and it can certainly compete with any of Western Europe's capitals in terms of numbers of tourists, or so it seemed.

The old quarter was wonderful to explore. The Charles Bridge, with its gothic statues, could have come out of a nineteenth century novel, and that led to the very picturesque houses nestling below the enormous cathedral. The mist that remained nearly all day when I went there only added to the atmosphere.

I stayed three nights in Prague. Although there were far fewer 'must-see' places than in Berlin, that's not what Prague is about. It's more about absorbing the atmosphere, which I loved there. Good, cheap food and beer too!