Just Outside of Prague: The UNESCO City of Kutna Hora

A coat of arms made out of bones

Kutna Hora is a small city located an hour from Prague by train. Trains run everyday back and forth from Prague main train station to Kutna Hora, return for less than £10.

The city itself has become a UNESCO World Heritage site. But it’s best known for it’s bone chapel, the Sedlec Ossuary, which is located 10 minutes from the city centre. The chapel is reasonable priced, for students it’s only 70 crowns entry, including a ticket to see another cathedral nearby (that’s only £2.30 for 2 entrances!). But it’s very creepy.

The Biggest Zoo in Europe?

The two giraffe or one giraffe illusion trick

Spot the odd one out

I didn’t expect to find it in Prague.

Prague Zoo is one of the highest tourist attracting parts of the Czech Republic, voted No. 5 on Tripadvisor’s most popular things to do in Prague. Clearly I couldn’t have missed visiting the zoo whilst being in Prague for the year.

Exploring Eastern Europe

Ginger cat in Sultanmet, Istanbul, Turkey

Whilst on my year abroad in Prague I have been itching to go traveling, and where better to go than the region that I study in my degree?

My trip started in Prague and ended in Istanbul. In total I went to 7 places: Zagreb in Croatia, Jajce and Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Split in Croatia, Belgrade in Serbia, Sofia in Bulgaria and finally, Istanbul in Turkey. Here are some pictures from my travels:

Neither Prague nor London: Christmas & New Year in England

Tips cup at the Santa’s Grotto in Shoreditch

So I haven’t blogged in a while. Since late November and December I was writing lots and lots of essays and exam papers. (Luckily I chose courses I already knew a little bit about, so I had an easy time – I recommend this to everyone going on a year abroad!)

For Christmas and New Year I came back to England with an American friend I met in Prague, Katie. I said that I would show her around London and true to my word, we spent the first 3 days back in the capital. And we didn’t see (or taste) everything. I immediately decided the best thing to do was to get the sight-seeing out of the way, once that was done I showed her some of my favourite coffee shops and food places. I managed to put on more weight in London over those 3 days than I did in the first term in Prague. We got cinnamon buns at the Nordic Bakery, burgers at Honest Burgers, cheese fries at Meatliquor, Vietnamese pho at Camden’s Thanh Binh, huevos rancheros at The Diner and coffee at my favourite place on Brick Lane, Full Stop. And that’s not everything we ate.

The rest of the holidays we spent in Northampton with my parents, Oxford for a day trip and Windsor for another day trip. But we mostly watched a lot of TV and films and I finally finished watching the entire Breaking Bad series (omg).

Here’s some of my pictures from my break:

 

Attempt to Make Czech Bread Dumplings

Voila! Bread dumplings

This week I tried to make traditional Czech bread dumplings with the help of my Czech friend, Ivana, and my American friend, Katie. They turned out surprisingly well. (Mostly because me and Katie only stirred and watched Ivana make them!)

I want to move to Budapest

St. Stephen’s Basilica

The biggest synagogue in Central Europe

London has a rival: Budapest. Everything I love about London, I found in the capital of Hungary. Great coffee (including flat whites), a ton of vintage clothing shops, houmous, restaurants that do brunch, the use of Time Out, and beautiful huge city parks. I’m in love.

First Trip Outside of the Czech Republic: Dresden

I went to Dresden!

Last weekend whilst I was hiking in Bohemian Switzerland, I also visited Dresden near the Czech border. I have been to Dresden before, but only for an hour and only to the historical centre. This time I got to see a whole different side of Dresden – one that I actually preferred.

A Bit of a Change from London: Hiking in Bohemian Switzerland

The river labe at Hrensko

We stayed in Decin, but then went across the German border to Dresden for a day trip

I thought hiking sounded like a lot of fun as I have never been before, and I wanted to check out a place no where near Switzerland, but apparently looks a lot like it. Bohemian Switzerland is a huge national park on the border of the Czech Republic and Germany. The hikes were absolutely breathtaking – so peaceful (with only the sound of birds), fresh air, an abundance of greenery and only a little bit of rain – it was perfect!

Being so used to just lots of city walking, I wasn’t in the best shape to scale steep cliffs, slip on muddy tree branches, hold onto only mossy rocks for support – it was kind of weird. Thank god I do actually own a pair of trainers!

Luckily I didn’t break any limbs, but they are very sore from a lot of walking. 😦

(Prepare for lots of photos.)

Trip to Mělník, Czech Republic

I went to Mělník!

Mělník town centre – pretty buzzin’ on a Saturday afternoon!

The best thing about Erasmus and actually being in Europe (English people don’t really consider themselves European because of the gap of water), is the easy ability to travel. But before I start traveling wider Europe, I thought I’d check out some of the Czech Republic’s other towns and cities. My first trip was to Mělník, which is in the centre of the region called ‘Bohemia’ and North of Prague.

Coffee the Czech Way: Cafe Louvre

The waiters still wear these uniforms

It’s about time I wrote a post about coffee again and Cafe Louvre, a grand cafe with a very Viennese feel to it feels like the perfect subject.

Cafe Louvre has an exciting history. It has been standing since 1902 and has had such notable visitors as Franz Kafka and Albert Einstein. But during the Communist period in Czechoslovakia in 1948, the cafe was closed down and only re-opened in 1992.

Despite a shakey existence, the cafe has a very authentic feel to it. The waiters still wear bow-ties and waistcoats, the interior is decorated with rich textured wallpapers and bright pinks and creams. Unfortunately, it’s also full of tourists (like me) who were gawping at every elegant little detail.