Czech it out

After 40+ hours travelling by planes, train and bus I finally arrived in Prague. Oh Prague, you beautiful city. I unashamedly arrived at my hostel, took a shower (because damn do you feel disgusting after over 40 hours of travel), checked what was happening on the world wide web and fell asleep almost immediately. After the most amazing sleep of my life I met up with one of my favourite people, Niki. It had been months since she'd left Australia and it was lovely to catch up in another city, and strangely enough it felt just like home with her, even though we were on the other side of the world! Three days in Prague didn't leave us with a great deal of time, but we made the most of it - here's some of the gems I discovered during my stay. 

Reunited with this lovely lady

Hostel

I stayed at Hostel Mango in Prague, which boasted a reasonably priced room with an excellent location next to the Charles Bridge. The hostel was quite clean (always a plus) and it had the biggest bathroom I've ever seen in a hostel dormitory, with a spa sized bath to match. The combination of free wifi, an outdoor common area (not so useful when it's raining, like it was whilst I was there) and very helpful staff made this a hostel that I would be sure to recommend to anyone visiting Prague. 

The John Lennon wall

Food

Dumplings have got to be one of my favourite foods generally, and while the Czech's do it differently, I was definitely a fan of their variation. Goulash with dumplings were the chosen dish, and I'd definitely recommend giving it a try. For dessert Trdlnik is absolutely delicious, either on its own or with nutella in the centre of it. There are places all over the city, but the stand at the end of the main shopping strip near Mustek station was incredibly popular and offered a great variety of fillings.

From the Prague castle

Sights

There are so many amazing things to see in Prague, but with limited time I chose a few things to see, whilst taking the time to enjoy the company of a very dear friend. At the top of the list was Prague castle (if not for the simple purpose of saying I'd visited a Czech castle), which we did have to visit twice before we could actually enter. Charles Bridge and the town square closely followed, but some of my more favoured memories were simply from wandering around the cobbled streets, trawling through bookshops and discovering secret garden-esque parks. 

Fresh gingerbread 

Nightlife 

The original pub crawl was recommended by many due to the infamous 5 level club, though I made the choice to visit the main square before making a final choice. In the end I approached a British guy around my age and asked him what made his pub crawl better than the rest, and more than satisfied with his answer I found myself at The Drunken Monkey bar. Two hours of unlimited beer and shots mixed with beer pong, foosball and giant jenga left me with a new group of American friends, and a big night ahead of me. It was a pretty crazy night, and I can't say I'm disappointed I missed out on the 5 level club, so if you have time I would definitely recommend checking it out.

Best buy of the trip thus far was a t-shirt that reads 'czech me out', because who doesn't need one of those in their life?

-Melissa