Czeching out prague

The quote that best applies to me and travelling is "I haven't been everywhere but it's on my list". And while every single place may be on my list, Prague was somewhere that ranked extremely high. With my parents squawking in my ear every time I booked a holiday about how much I should go to Prague (they've been 3 times), I finally booked to go with my friend Sophia and as you will have seen from all 26 of my instagram posts, we were there this weekend. I was super excited not only to finally visit the city but also, it was my first holiday with Sophia and her first girls holiday altogether so it was my god-given, girl code responsibility to show her the ropes.

After an early start (including airport ciders at 6am, of course), we landed in Prague to about minus 2 degrees. Despite the cold and cloudy weather (the wind made it feel about ten times colder), it was love at first sight. My favourite thing about European cities is the architecture and Prague's buildings are beautiful, especially in the Old Town Square. The building that was extra beautiful though was our hotel. When we'd booked, we were keen to be in a good location above all else and although we struggled to work out exactly where the best location would be, we eventually chose the InterContinental (sold on it above the ones near it because it had a pool). Well, when we walked in we saw that it was super posh, 5* and located on the end of a road that was home to Prada, Valentino and Gucci. So we've spent the last 4 days being treated like royalty, living it up in fluffy white bath robes, a gorgeous marble bathroom and giant "single" beds. Plus it was only £287 for 3 nights so it wasn't even expensive!

Seeing as we were staying on the luxury shop road, it would've been rude not to shop. Well, window shop; we're not made of money. So we browsed through all our favourites as we made our way towards the Old Town, eventually popping out in the square (about 5 minutes walk from our hotel). The square itself was lovely and home to loads of restaurants and cafes, as well as the famous astrological clock. We couldn't have planned it any better either because we were walking up to it at five to 1, perfectly timed for seeing the incredible experience that was the hourly going-off of said clock. Or so we'd read. It was a beautiful clock but hardly worth waiting to see it on the hour (and definitely doesn't warrant the crowd it attracts). All it does is play a little tune as dolls slowly pop out the top bit! So that was definitely over-hyped but the square itself wasn't. We were starving by this point (and freezing) so we ended up picking one of the many restaurants that have outdoor seating surrounded by glass and adorned with millions of heaters and blankets. It was so cute to be able to sit outside despite the weather and it made me wish that I liked beer so I could've ordered a big stein. I settled for a cider instead and got stuck straight into the Czech culture by ordering beef goulash with dumplings. At first, me and Sophia were wishing it was warmer but actually, all the comfort food that Prague has to offer made us quite glad we were there in winter.

After exploring the all the little side streets, we made a quick pit-stop at a mini market for the holiday essentials; vodka, fanta, crisps and chocolate. Besides architecture, my favourite thing about European cities is when they're dirt cheap and Prague definitely fits that bill. Half a litre of vodka only cost us £7! We only spent £250 the entire time we were there, which included meals out and alcoholic drinks at every meal time, night outs every night, events and tickets to all the major spots. We did find the money super confusing though; at 28 Koruna to the pound, I wouldn't recommend going to Prague without being armed with your phone calculator. Anyway,  once we were back at our hotel, it was time to get ready for the night out! We'd struggled to know what to pack for the nightlife but figured that outfits that worked with or without black tights were a safe bet. We started optimistically but put our tights on before even leaving! I went with orange suede skirt, black top and black boots, and then we went out in search of dinner. We ended up at another of the cute outdoor-but-not-outdoor restaurants in the square and shared a pizza (which was amazing), complete with cocktails.

It's always difficult to know where to go on your first night in a new city so after a bit of wandering around, we'd ended up with 'free prosecco' vouchers for a club that we thought we'd look at (called One Club). And we were glad we did because after finishing our free prosecco, we got sent another 2 rounds by some (weird, old) guys in there - can't complain! It was still early at this point though (too early to be in a club) so we thought we'd leave in search of more of a bar, with the intention of going back later. Where we ended up was the cutest little underground bar called Black angels, that specialised in quirky cocktails - Sophia's came served in a goblet and mine had a penis ice cube in it. Once we were satisfied that it was late enough to go back to the club, we cashed in our second free prosecco vouchers and then once again, got sent another couple of rounds from some different (weird, old) guys. After getting chatting to the most multi-cultural group of guys I've ever met (all from Germany but one originally from Portugal, one originally from Bulgaria and one originally from Turkey), they bought our drinks for the rest of night. So did we spend so little because it was cheap or was it because we bossed the system? Maybe we'll never know.

Like on every holiday I go on, we wanted to make the most of the night AND the day so we dragged ourselves up on Saturday and were thrilled to find blue skies when we opened the curtains. Don't get me wrong, it was still absolutely freezing, but sun makes everything better. After working out everything we wanted to do while in Prague, we figured we had time for a chill day, so I got ready in embroidered jeans, teal top and the same coat I've lived in for the last 4 days, and we headed out for lunch. Plus, I got to finish my outfit with rose gold sunglasses! I think it's normally more fun to get lost in a new city than it is to know where you're going and we weren't desperately hungry so we wandered around for a bit, stumbling across loads of cute little streets (although the cobbles were a bitch on your feet) and eventually popping out at Charles Bridge. After a lot of looking around, we ended up spotting a cute little restaurant with conservatory area at the back and plants covering the place. We were really glad with our choice for lunch; Sophia tried the beef goulash this time and I went for a burger and the food was amazing!

Seeing as it was the part that sold us on our hotel in the first place, we decided to spend the rest of the day at our pool. We already knew that our hotel weren't making it easy to let any riff-raff in, because you had to scan your key card for the lift to go anywhere. But we were surprised how difficult they made it to get in to the pool, even after you'd passed the first test! You had to get the normal lift up to your floor, then seemingly walk round every corner of the building, then get another lift, then walk round the whole health centre and then you finally made it out to the pool. Even though it was a task, it was worth it because our pool was lovely and the conservatory style of the building made it feel like the weather was nicer than it was!

We had to head out much earlier on our second night because after a quick google while we were still at home, we found a boat party that we'd then bought tickets for. So I got ready in red denim skirt, black floral shirt and black boots, and then we went out for dinner. This time we went to a restaurant that my parents had recommended (although apparently there's two and we went to the wrong one), where I got spicy pasta with fillet beef, rocket and parmesan which was lovely.

The boat party cost us £25 and in that price you got 2 and a half hours unlimited drinks at the pre-party, the 2 hour boat party and then entry to one of clubs; this time it was one called Roxy. We got a bit nervous as we headed to the pre-party bar because it seemed to be down the emptiest street in all of history and we were worried we'd be the only people on the boat. But once we got to the underground bar, it was fine; there were loads of people and also lots of games of beer pong and foosball (me and Sophia played foosball and I won by an impressive 9-1). Although, we were only one of a handful of girl groups; most of the other people there were guys that could be split into two distinct groups; the stag do from Manchester and the stag do from London. Being from the Midlands, we don't often get to get involved in north vs south banter but it was so clear with this one. When we were chatting to the Manchester lot, it was non-stop laughs, while the London lads' idea of banter was putting the stag in a pair of Moschino joggers and a printed top (as oppose to, you know, an actual funny outfit). Needless to say, we picked who to stick with pretty early on, but it was good to see that one of the women on the boat had seen that the London guys needed a helping hand in the fun department and had swapped clothes with the stag!

After partying until 6 in the morning, it took me a whole hour and 3 separate attempts to get myself out of bed the next morning, and I felt very worse for wear. We both felt in need of pizza to sort us out, so after looking at pretty much every restaurant in the Old Town, we deduced that it was actually the restaurant we were at the first night that had everything we were looking for! The food was amazing once again, and I'd been seeing these donut cones absolutely everywhere so I treated myself to one for dessert. Although, it had so much ice cream that I only managed to eat as far down as the actual cone, had a nibble of that and then had to throw it away! It was very nice though.

With all the excitement (and flowing drinks) of the night before, we had barely actually looked out of the window of the boat so we felt like we needed another chance to see the city from the water. It only cost the equivalent of £10 for an hour's sightseeing cruise and with the sun shining, it was really lovely to see Prague in all its glory. Plus, it was nice to see the city without having to walk over the cobbles, giving our feet a much-needed break.

On to round 3 and I was pretty impressed with how we'd both been lasting. With only 4 hours sleep a night, busy days and lively nights out, I was expecting us to be falling asleep in our dinner by night 3 but we were actually okay. Getting ready for Sunday, I wore all black and white everything, and we had the strongest vodka ever (because we still had some left but no mixer) before heading out. On our first night out, we had gone past a restaurant that we thought was really cute but between all the streets looking similar and us being about 7 drinks deep at that point, we couldn't find it again. So imagine how happy we were when, on a mission to visit Wenceslas square, we found it! It was super cosy and we both got sea bass, which was our favourite meal of the holiday and so cheap (especially to say sea bass is normally an expensive fish).

On our flight into Prague, we had read the Jet2 magazine and they had a page about the city. After seeing a photo of a cocktail in a shopping trolley, we just knew we had to go to the place so after dinner, we headed to Be Bop. It all worked out quite well because it was just off Wenceslas square, which we also wanted to see (without realising we had already stumbled upon it 3 times while drunk). The bar was part of a posh hotel with a Great Gatsby theme and all of the cocktails were equally as inventive as the ones we got; some came in a fake tree trunk complete with a giant chainsaw, while others came in a big flask shaped like a lipstick. After that, we were googling bars to go to but bearing in mind that it was a Sunday, everywhere was either already closed or closing at 1 (it was half 12 by then). We'd heard great things about Karlovy Lazne, the biggest music venue in Europe, boasting 5 floors with different music on each one, so we decided to head there. When we got there though, we sooo wished it was a better night for it. The venue itself was so cool but they only had 2 of the floors open and I'm not exaggerating when I say the place was filled with absolute weirdos. I'm not normally sensitive about stuff like this, but there were so many creepy guys in there that we felt like pieces of meat and we couldn't move anywhere without one coming over (one practically sat on Sophia's lap and another one tried to reach for my drink after only just saying hello). We only lasted until 3 before calling it a night, but we'd heard such good things that we definitely want to try it on a Friday or Saturday night!

Despite being in bed by 4 (the earliest we'd made it back), we were up bright and early on Monday to pack our cases (Sophia had to lie on hers to get it to shut), wave goodbye to our hotel and head off exploring. We'd got the perfect flight times because we arrived early on Friday and left late on Monday, meaning we had almost the full 4 days to enjoy the city. We knew there would be no chilling in the hotel on our last day so we'd saved ourselves plenty to do. So after leaving our cases with the hotel bellboy, we walked to Charles Bridge for brunch at a little cafe. It may have been the hottest February day on record back at home, but we were just glad that it was finally up to a respectable 11 degrees in Prague and we had our legs out to celebrate; I wore leopard print skirt, black crossover strap top and black boots (which were an eBay pair and they've done me very well, especially on all the cobbled streets). 

After walking across Charles Bridge on to the north side of the river, we headed off in search of the John Lennon wall (another thing to tick off). It was so cute, even more so in the sunny weather and even despite all the graffiti penises. I don't really understand what John Lennon has to do with Prague but there you go. 

The main thing on the agenda for Monday though was the Prague castle, which everyone says is a must-do. It's about 10 gazillion steps up the hill but the views from the top are so worth it, and there are so many pretty buildings up there too. You can go in the castle for free but we paid to go in all the cathedrals too (it still only cost like £10), because I love a good cathedral - there's just something about the sun streaming through stained glass windows.

Our flight was at 7 o'clock so taking into account the time to get there, we had a meal somewhere between lunch and dinner at a restaurant we'd spotted while on our boat trip the day before. It was a boat restaurant, suspended on the water and although it looked like it would be mega expensive, it was still under a tenner for all the mains (as every other meal had been). We ended the holiday the way we had started it with ciders and amazing food (I got venison gnocchi this time). Although it's amazing the difference a few days can make. We were being whipped by Baltic wind on day one and were basking in the sun by day 4! And despite all the amazing food, I'm not surprised in the slightest that I haven't put on weight while we've been away because we walked a whopping 30 miles! Hence why I was in converse for work today, shocking everyone in the office (not because it's a strict dress code but because they know me and my high-heeled self well already). I'm so happy to have finally ticked the city of Prague off my list, visiting a brand new country in the process, and I'm very glad that I was able to introduce Sophia to the world of girls holidays. We've had the best fun, got on like a house on fire and laughed ourselves silly; we've done a winter holiday, now time to start planning a summer one. Completed Prague? Czech!