Prague

I arrived in Prague this morning at quarter to 7. It wasn't a bad trip and seemed to go quickly so I must have slept. The bus was late last night and we stopped a few times for quite a while. I reckon it's actually a 5 hour trip but they make it longer so people will choose it as an overnight bus. That's why I chose it. The weather is quite cold here. I definitely need my warm clothes so it was good timing when Mick came.

I dropped my bag off at the Hostel and headed over to Vylevad. I didn't know what it was, but it looked big so most likely won't be covered when I go on a walking tour. I still don't really know what it is. It's kind of like a park/historical site/borough. It sits atop a hill overlooking the river and is surrounded by walls, which made it hard to get to. The walls are kind of what it is. There are open grass spaces like a park, lots of trees (which are changing colour), some nondescript buildings and a small but imposing church.

I think the main draw is the view. From the top of the walls you can wander around and get an impressive view in all directions. The view towards Prague castle and the bridges seems to be the money shot. It was very peaceful so I sat down for a while only to have a strange old asian lady take a sly photo of me. I don't know if she thought I was a statue or an art installation or just excessively handsome. After that she went and gathered up some leaves, arranged them on the grass and took photos of them so maybe she was just loopy. Bizarrely, about 5 minutes later another asian lady took a photo of me.

I found a fairly ordinary exhibition that told me the history of that place. The mythology is that it was the fortress of a princess who had a vision of a great city which turned out to be Prague. There were some ruins of baths above the river where she would take her lovers then throw them off the cliff to drown when she was done with them. Women eh.

The archaeological history was less clear but there have been artefacts found dating back to 3800 bc. The ones they had in the exhibition were suspiciously well preserved. It was a settlement long before Prague existed. Later on one of the kings was having a dispute with the bishop of Prague, who was his brother, so he moved to Vylevad. In 1850/1889 (they gave both dates in different places for the same event which really annoys me. What else have they got wrong?) it became a borough of Prague. At that stage the township extended to the base of the cliffs as well. Now it is a seamless part of Prague.

I came back and checked in and met some guys at the hostel. One is from Melbourne and the other is a yank. We got along straight away. We went to get some dinner and after looked for a place to have a beer. We kept getting told we couldn't go into the pubs unless we had a reservation. That was bizarre. We ended up calling it a night fairly early.

I forgot to post this last night. The dude from Melbourne just cooked breakfast for us. It was pretty good. I spent my time pretending I had stuff to do so I didn't have to help. Not that he needed help. My input would have destroyed that brekkie.

Was planning on going to the bone church today but may have left it too late.