Victoria's Voyage

It’s roughly 5am and I’m woken with a start. Bang! Bang! A whistling wind soars and screeches, whipping through the room. Bang, bang. The glass bedroom door is still banging against the glass wall its attached to, a dangerous game. I slip out of bed and wrestle with the now open balcony door to get it closed again. Finally, the banging door stops, but the distinct rattling of the door frames, the click, click, click of the fastenings fighting for further release, continue. And then to accompany the raging winds, the trickling of an almighty downpour.

After such good weekend weather, it would seem Storm Ciara finally reached us, but somehow we were blessed with only minor rain and moderate winds throughout the day, the worst seeming to have blown through overnight. This meant plenty of time to fit in some last minute sightseeing, starting with the Lennon Wall, just across the castle side of Charles Bridge. This small monument to the legendary Beatle is full of colour and life, a celebration of his wishes for freedom.

From there, we wandered through the “lesser town” towards another viewpoint in the form of Letna Park, the walk to the top not nearly as taxing as we’d expected. One of Prague’s monuments (if you can really call it that) is the metronome atop this hillside, and though it’s actually kind of grim and unremarkable up close, the parkland is lovely and the views are too. We even spotted some squirrels playing nearby.

As black clouds descended and the rain once again began to fall, we dipped into the Central Gallery to view exhibitions of works from Salvador Dali and local artist, Alfonse Mucha, whose style you might recognise if you’re into French fashion and arts culture, his designs an inspiration over there. It’s another pricey activity at the equivalent of €16 euros for three exhibits, €12 for two and €8 for just the one, but holds some great pieces.

That left just enough time to do some last minute souvenir shopping and have a final meal before heading for the airport.

In summary, Prague is undoubtedly a beautiful city with some magnificent architecture, but it is also expensive in comparison to other parts of Europe, so just keep that in mind when planning your trip. Definitely come, but come prepared.

And so another adventure reaches its end. Until next time!