Jul 2008

Our coach journey from Prague to Bratislava was 4 hours...we saw the most amazing sunset, we didn't really know much about the Czech Republic but the coach definately took us the scenic route, we drove through all the valleys and through small villages.....it really was the nicest coach journey so far.

When we arrived it was raining which we didn't enjoy with our shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops - we arrived at 12 noon and by 2 o'clock it was sunny and really hot and it stayed that way.

We spent most of the time relaxing in the centre, it is a city but it is really small and feels more like a town. It really is a beautiful place.

We spent one day sat by the river just relaxing...

There is a castle, but unfortunately it was closed...I think it reopens quite soon.

The hostel we were staying in was really nice, it was in an old building very near to the centre. They had instruments in the common area, so there was usually someone playing the guitar or piano....and everyone was really friendly. There was a live Jazz night put on in the bar with local band playing, they were really really good and now we want to join a jazz band...

We met loads of interesting people and one has decided to join us on our travels to Budapest...

We love Bratislava and Slovakia so we recommend that everyone goes if they are travelling Europe....there is a mountain range called the Tatras on the border with Poland that we really wanted to visit, but unfortunately we haven't had time...we will go one day though.

Slovakia is under-rated.....

We arrived in Prague with the belief that they used Euros....we were wrong. They use Czech Crowns which can be really confusing, there are about 30 to the pound so we thought everything was really expensive at first until we realised everything is actually really cheap....we had to try and get change so that we could get on the metro, the man in the shop thought Rachel was asking him for money which was amusing - for me, more so than Rach.

Not so many people in Prague speak English, although you aren't ever too far from someone who can help - the language is also really hard to read, speak and hear so it was a bit daunting at first, but we tried our hardest.

Prague is a really pretty city so we spent most of the time wandering around seeing all the sights - we also realised that we didn't have very much money anymore....so we had to seriously budget, luckily we were in Prague, it is under 1 pound for a beer, and under 5 pounds for a meal out.

We went to the Prague castle, it is massive and up about 250 steps which was a work out for us...but from the top you can get a brilliant view of the city and if you are lucky you might see the President of the Czech Republic.

In the main square is the Astronomical Clock, we still aren't too sure what it actually does, but it is really pretty and loads of people gather around it in the evening....we went, but think we missed the action because it was still.....

It was really really hot so we decided to get a peddle boat on the river, it was loads of fun. It was pretty cheap - about 6 pounds for an hour and it can fit up to 4 people.

We went out to a few bars in the centre, there is a huge club which is open in the daytimes too and has free internet access. We didn't go, but it is meant to be really good. The bars we went to were quite small, but they were all nice and there was a good mix of locals and travellers....they also taught us to drink absinthe the real way, the locals call it the green fairy....it is green and it is strong, but basically the same as any shot - they call it a lesson though.

Then we went to Bratislava.......