Prague, Czech Republic

After catching up with some sleep on our flight from Milan after our night in the airport we were both feeling much better. From the airport it took us nearly two hours to make it to our hostel; Hostel Lipa (http://www.hostellipa.com/index.php?xSET=lang&xLANG=2), but it was worth it. We had opted from a private room, which was huge and full of vintage, mismatching furniture (as was the whole hostel) and it had a really nice relaxed feel as it was so small. The owner Michael was great, giving free maps, advice on where to go, what to eat etc.

As usual after a quick trip to the supermarket and being amazed at how far out money would stretch (our normal bill of £20 came to £7!!) we headed of to make the most of the rest of the afternoon. We walked the twenty minutes into the Historic Old Town wandering through quaint streets to the Old Town Square where we saw the famous, if not slightly disappointing Astronomical Clock (frequently voted the most overrated Tourist Attraction in Europe). From there we headed to Charles Bridge (where we accidentally lost each other for 10 minuets as it was so crowded!) and then spent the rest of the day exploring, getting our bearings before our lack of sleep the night before started to catch up with us so we caught a tram (very unlike us!), back to hostel.

Our hostel owner Michael had recommended the pub underneath the hostel as a good place to get some cheap, traditional Czech food, so we thought it was the easiest option and ended up having a platter of various meats, potato pancakes, breads with mustard and horseradish (and obviously a couple of litres of Czech beer!) all for the bargain price of £17!!. After some serious meat sweats, both of us were flagging, so it was an early night!

The next morning we were up early and had decided to do another Sandaman's Free Walking Tour (http://www.newpraguetours.com) as we had enjoyed the ones is Brussels, Munich and Dacau so much. Our guide was Michael, a German born, raised in England now living in the Czech Republic who was fantastic giving us so much information in our 3 hour tour around the city explaining the history of Prauge and of the Czech Republic, the 30 Years War, the Velvet Revolution and the Prague Spring, as well as telling lots of jokes along the way! Plus he even enlighten that Astronomical Clock though on first impressions unimpressive was a genius in it's workings. Not only telling you what Zodiac month you are in but, the cycle of the moon, the position of the sun relative to the earth and when the sunsets.

The tour was so good we ended up staying on for his tour of Prague Castle straight afterwards just as the heavens opened, our guide continued on even with out an umbrella or waterproofs. The Castle is the largest medieval castle in the world and is truly colossal, hence this tour too was 3 hours long. As well as the castle we went to the Strahov Monastic Brewery and tasted there unique beer called St Norbett's, I was very tempted to keep the bottle as it was cool but transporting it may have been difficult. By the end of the tour we were extremely wet, even in our waterproof jackets, but now we knew about the fascinating history of Prague and the Czech Republic, the rise and fall (and apparent re-rise) of communism, the meaning of defenestration and how to say the letter Ř.

Our final morning was spent packing and making our way to the Bus Station at the other side of the city to catch our swanky coach to Cesky Krumlov.

TIP: Ladies if you are ever in Prague and have to use a public toilet (which you will always have to pay for 16p!), remember to pick up some toilet roll from the counter as there won't be in any in the cubicle!!