Wroclaw And Prague In 5 Days – A Lot Of

Wroclaw and Prague in 5 Days – A Lot of Extra Hassle but Was It Worth It?

Me and my bright Ideas. Bulgaria was great. Especially Plovdiv – which is now one of my favourite cities ive ever been to but that said – If I had just come back on my original flight it would have saved me so much money. Prague just seems to be getting so expensive these days but it definitely did not put me off because how could I resist coming back to see the marshmallow men?

This was my sixth time here in Prague (technically) if I count my stopover at the airport back in 2017 on my way to Crete (my 1st ever time leaving the UK), but fast forward to now…

As soon I see the email about my flight back from Wroclaw being delayed by 24 hours I Instantly thought “I can get to Prague from here”.

After all, It was only a year ago that I travelled from Prague to Warsaw on my way to Malta.

On that trip I got the coach from Prague to Poland and it stopped in Wroclaw on the way. Its about 4 hours away from Prague and the idea was just too exciting for me.

Instead of just flying back from Wroclaw as I was supposed to I thought “why not just head to Prague and fly back from there Instead?”.

After all I had looked and the flight back from Prague was only £26. How could I not spend a couple more days in another one of my favourite cities.

About My Stay In Wroclaw Poland

The reason I was in Wroclaw was because my stop over flight back from Sophia Bulgaria meant I had to transit through here to get back home. It was only supposed to be 2-3 hours but after the delay it was 25 hours instead. I never booked this flight back with the Intention of going anywhere else but after I see the email saying about the extra time I had to spend here I honestly thought do I even want to be in Wroclaw for this long?

Bad really, I never even considered that I might actually like it here. I just thought “I don’t want to be stuck here.” I thought about going to Prague Instantly and what I was going to do was just head straight to the coach station and leave on the 1AM coach to get to Prague for 5:30AM

However, It was whilst I was on the train from Plovdiv to Sophia when I thought “I am actually tired and I really don’t want to be up all night on a coach” so I found a hostel for 7 Euros and tje good thing was that this give me the time to actually check Wroclaw out.

A Short but Sweet Stay In Wroclaw

So, the main thing that got me here was the buildings. Mainly the churches but generally I found this City so Interesting and I think I’d definitely like to come back for a bit longer. It was cheap here too. Compared to Prague I wasn’t having to worry so much about putting my hand in my pocket.

Although, I suppose you could say that it’s not for the faint hearted here. A lot of people here were drunk and one thing I found so funny was getting woken up by my room mate at 4:30AM because of my snoring.

It was Monday night and there was a techno rave across the street. I think it was coming from one of the clubs. It was kind of comical I was the one my room mate was taking Issue with but hearing all the racket coming from outside I couldnt see how I was the noisy one.

How was that not keeping him awake? and I’m sure it wasn’t just me snoring either – I believe it was the rubbish pillows on the bed and when I was trying to go back to sleep they was keeping me awake.

So, the rave. I am sure I would have slept through it. I’ve been at raves where I’ve slept lol but as I was woken up I actually decided to get up and go for a walk.

My logic here was to find the rave (just out of curiosity) but also I never had any battery when I got into Wroclaw to take photos. So that’s what I wanted to do. Its much like in Bulgaria here with the churches. These I found very interesting but as well there was things like the little metal gnomes scattered about I thought was quite cool.

Its quite charming here really (besides all the drunks on the streets at night lol) and one thing I really liked was how affordable things here were. I know I might sound whingey but as great as Prague was I worrying too much here about how I could afford things. I felt so much more relaxed in Poland for this reason.

But still I was very excited about getting into Prague. I actually had butterflies in my stomach. This City you just can’t help fall in love with and I was definitely glad to be back.

My 6th Time Visiting Prague

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I was finally back and I had actually been looking forward to this for much of my trip away. I got here for about 18:30pm and getting to my hostel was very little trouble. I rode one bus for 2 stops and then I rode the tram for 4 stops – I had to walk for about 5-10 minutes to get here but that was it.

Although, my hostel (The Fontana Hostel) I planned to stay for 3 nights but after seeing my room and facilities here I actually changed my booking to only 1 night. I was going to stay somewhere else.

I really didn’t like the look of the place in general – the bunk beds were rubbish cheap ones and there was nowhere I see to use my laptop but I did have a change of heart.

Its funny but because I had a half decent pillow on my bed I decided I would stay here and save myself the trouble of moving on elsewhere. I lost £4 on my downpayment on the other place – I can’t remember its name but I think I made the right call because besides having to climb up and down my top bunk it was otherwise OK.

Braving The Rain On My 2nd Day

This was another thing. When I got to Prague it was hammering it down with rain. It was quite bad because I wondered how much of my stay here I would have to deal with this weather for.

The weather forecast said it would be like this until Saturday – the day I was leaving. It was concerning for me as i wondered if I could really get out and see much whilst it was like this.

On my 2nd day this was a bother. I think I stayed at my hostel till about 11AM – the sun was shining through the window at this point and I decided to get myself out the door.

My plan was of course to go to Prague Zoo. I had told my little baby Niece I was going to see the monkeys and I didn’t want to disappoint her. I actually could have gone to several zoos before getting here.

Burgas, Plovdiv, Wroclaw and Sophia all have zoos. I must have missed loads of monkeys (Oh oh Ah Ahs as my niece calls.them) but at least I got to go to Prague Zoo [My 4th time]

A Lovely Day Out At Prague Zoo

So, I knew I was chancing it coming here with the weather forecast saying it was going to rain.

I got to the zoo whilst it was still dry but I knew it was coming. I was up the top of the 1st hill and the dark clouds were clear to see. It wasn’t long after this that the heavens opened and I was seriously beginning to question whether I should stay and see more of the animals or go rather than getting soaking wet. I said to my sister on the phone after seeing the monkeys in the Borneo enclosure that I thought I would have to go as the rain was so bad but fortunuately I carried on.

It was the right thing to do – I didn’t really see a good few of the animals I really wanted to on my 1st walk around. No Tasmanian Devils, No Polar Bears or Orangutans. Only the Lowland Gorillas and the Pangolins – but as it did stop raining it all worked out in the end.

Even though I felt a bit mad getting the cable car up in the rain I see the Highland Gorillas and then I see all the others – the Polar Bear I spotted over a fence, the Orangutans were back in the Borneo enclosure after hiding away and I caught the ever elusive Tasmanian Devil during feeding time.

I had a great time and actually after last time when I was drinking it definitely made up for what I felt was a wasted trip that I didn’t fully enjoy.

This time was so much better and even though the rain did get bad it did eventually stop and actually the rest of the day was all good as it did not rain again.

Going Up The Old Town Bridge Tower and Crossing The Charles Bridge

After leaving the zoo I decided not to head straight back to the hostel. As much as I was concerned about my finances for the rest of my trip I really didn’t want to waste my time here.

So, one thing I did was pay to go up the Old Town Bridge Tower – this is accessible by the door when you come to the arches underneath before crossing Charles Bridge, it’s 250 CZK to go up (10 Euros) but its pretty cool to look over everything. Not too mention the legend associated with the tower and the statue at the top of the man with a monkey on his back.

Should You Get a Prague Visitor Pass?

Also, another thing I noticed whilst up here was that I could have come up here for free with a Prague Visitor Pass. This I didn’t really know too much about before but everything I did I during my 3 days here could have done for free with this pass – including transport around the City – bus, tram and metro.

The pass cost’s 110 Euros for 48 hours. I mean I suppose its really a case of whether you will do enough with it in 2 days to justify its price but I think It probanly is enough to get your moneys worth if you really go for it.

I think maybe next time I’ll have to get one as would be a good way to see a lot of other places.

Even boat tours are Included. (You can read more about the Prague Visitor Pass here) but anyway so I went up the tower had a good look round the City – I come down, crossed the bridge to lesser town and went to see the Beavers.

Taking A Walk To See the Nutria

Funny actually, I remember how amazed I was when I first see these and thought they was wild beavers. The last time here even I found out about the other animals here but I still thought the ones on the banks of lesser town that all the tourists fed were beavers.

So, this time I realised that these were not Beavers. They are South American Water Rats called Nutria. Tourists are advised not to feed them because they have a nasty bite and carry diseases, but still, people here can’t get enough of them.

Everyone was here taking selfies, feeding and petting them.

One of them I see swam out the water and just started climbing on a guy eating his lunch on the river bank.

That was pretty funny but it can’t have been too pleasant for the man they climbed on. I mean it just goes to show that these are basically now are semi domesticated and they will go up to anyone for a bit of food and attention.

Going Up To Prague Castle

I think at least the last couple of times I’ve come to Prague I’ve wanted to head up to Prague Castle. In my mind I think before I thought that this would take me hours to get up here and before I made excuses not to walk up here.

Last time I spent four hours in the Irish Times pub thinking about it but never even attempted to find out how you get up here.
I actually blame myself for drinking why I didn’t do this before, but this time – even though I’d been to the Zoo (up the Troja Hills, basically a mountain), up the bridge tower (more walking up) still I thought I’d at least see where you walk up from to get here.

And, that was it, It was about 6PM and even though I thought it might be a bit too late to come up here and back down again I just kept going till I was up here. I think I actually feel excited going up these old stairs. It was the same for me in Bulgaria – it makes getting drunk seem like a joke. This is so much more fun for me.

It didn’t take long to get up here either – maybe 25 minutes but I think if you go it is probably better to visit during the day as you can go Inside (I think) and also you can get in free with the Prague Tourist Pass.

Something I’ll seriosly have to consider next time.

Anyhow, Its still pretty amazing just to walk around here. I was fascinated because this building looks like a massive power generator with all the towers up here.

They had a choir singing inside too and this I thought sounded like being in heaven (if that’s a good way to describe it) – it was kind of eerie like it was a choir of ghosts singing.

I am glad I finally come up here. I remember my 2nd or 3rd visit to Prague an old man was telling me to check it out and I never did. I should have listened to him but as I said before I thought it would take me too long.

Anyway, I headed back after this and went back to my hostel for the rest of the night.

Day 3 – Prague Medieval Underground Tour

I was down to my last 40 euros on this day. I had to ask for a loan the day before from my family and really I was quite apprehensive about doing much and spending all my money but I booked this on my credit card and it was something I’d wanted to do for a while now.

I went on the Prague Ghost Tour on my 3rd visit here. That was very Interesting but I remember back then I see this tour and I wanted to do it. This day I didn’t leave me hostel till about 13:30pm – I wasn’t sure what I’d do until 18:30pm when the tour started so basically just went for a wander around the Starometska area.

I went to the Bageterie Boulevard to eat, I went to McDonalds for tea and cake and went for a non alcoholic beer somewhere else. It was a bit of a nightmare because my mobile data stopped working – I was worried I wouldn’t find the tour office but somewhere I found the Wifi and luckily I wasn’t too far away.

About The Underground Tour

I always had this idea that it might be walking under some old tunnel network where the guide had a torch. You can imagine there are places like this under the City but the places we went on this tour were basically just old underground rooms.

These were we was told the original streets from the 13th Century and they built on top of these because of the floods. Its a great counter argument to the Tartarian mud flood idea. I am fascinated by that but this was still pretty cool.

The 2nd place we went to was even more Interesting. This was down another 2 flights of stairs and it was 2 rooms. Here we were told about the grisly details of public executions, people being chained up down here etc. but the most interesting part was when he opened the door to the hidden room.

This was behind an old book shelf and it contained an Alchemy lab and a model of the Golem of Prague!

I never heard this story before but The Golem of Prague was a being created through Kabbalistic magic to help protect the Jewish Community of the City.

It lost control after the Rabbi forgot to remove the shem (the name of god) from its forehead before the Sabbath. It was eventually stopped and according to legend its remains still rest in the City.

It’s a fascinaring story – they have an alchemy lab down here that looks very real and you can’t help wonder how much of this all was actually used in the past.

*They also had what looked like Dragon skulls here – I found that very Interesting as there are Dragon heads in the masonry everywhere around Prague.

My Final Day – Boat Trip and A Very Anxious Airport Run…

The last morning for me was actually a bit of a nightmare. The good thing was that I didn’t fly back till 17:20pm but on the morning I went to check my phone only to find it wasn’t charging. Boring story but because of this I was stuck at the hostel till 12:30pm trying to fix the problem.

Luckily they was able to get a charge on my phone behind the desk at the hostel but still it was charging so slow – only 25% it got to and in the end I just decided to get a move on. I basically just switched off my phone till I needed to use it.

So, I went to one restaurant for food. I had sliced pork with Spinach and these Czech Potato Cakes – almost 20 euros with a non alcoholic beer.

I think I’d have liked a bit more to eat really but it was cool even though I wasn’t able to charge my phone here.

I mostly come here to buy some Gingerbread men for my little niece. That was another 10 euros that I thought was too much but she liked them which was the main thing.

After this – I made a risky decision to go on the Prague to Venis boat trip. This typically takes an hour and I almost got off after paying because I was so worried about missing my flight. I got back on though and after I think I had about 2 1/2 hours to get to the airport and catch my plane.

I booked an Uber and I got here with maybe 20 minutes to spare. It wasn’t good really because I rushed to buy my tobacco from duty free not even checking the price. Of course it was cheaper than back home but it was still way more than I usually pay. I got 10 Golden Virginia and 10 Amber Leaf for £335. Very expensive!

It was £130 for Amber leaf on the plane – I never realised Prague airport was so expensive. Teaches me for rushing through here.

Anyway…

The Trip Back Home

The flight was fine. No air pressure getting off the plane it was all good really except I was having trouble with my phone again. I ended up stopping in a pub and having 2 beers (alcoholic lol) and thankfully the bar man after I couldn’t charge my phone called me a taxi.

It was nice actually drinking a proper beer but I will say not drinking for 8 of 9 days that I was away I definitely had a much better time for it.

I shall finish this blog here – hoped you enjoyed reading and if so please drop us a comment below to share your thought. Will be great to hear from you..

Alex B. Chivers
TeddyBearsTravels.com

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