Prague on arrival

Prague is of course a great city to visit and its odd I haven't been before. I was naturally concerned at this trip since the news was full of stories of flooding in Central Europe. Needless to say it wasn't that bad at all - the only problem was getting any useful information. The media is only interested in disaster. "Waters going down, no damage done" just isn't a story. But it was the position. Only annoying part was that some of the low lying parts along the Vitalva river were closed and worse there were no boat trips to be had. And I like a boat trip.

 But there is another more serious catch with Prague. Even in June and with stories of biblical floods, the place was still crawling with tourists. I should at this juncture point out that I am not a tourist. I am a traveller. Everyone else is a tourist. OK, let's make a slightly more general distinction. Travellers go around places - they explore. Tourists stick together and never venture far from their guides. The bad side of this is that they completely clog up all the main sites. So in Prague this means by late morning the Charles Bridge is choked with orientals trying to photograph themselves, the Jewish quarter is more crowded than in the days of the ghetto and the castle district is thick with knots of American geriatrics grateful at having made it up the hill before meeting their maker. 

All this might put one off, especially as this is before the main tourist season gets into full swing. But the upside is that any site not on the tour guides' itinerary is almost eerily quiet. And delightful, as this is a beautiful city by any standards. It is a sad indictment on the modern world that the most beautiful cities are those with the least new building, and central Prague has almost none at all.

Best part of my arrival was to find that my hotel was every bit as perfect as my TripAdvisor research had suggested. Now a building which started out life as a convent, got taken over by the secret police as a prison and then became a hostel doesn't sound auspicious I admit, but it is now a lovely spacious hotel with immensely polite and helpful staff and a simple but attractive decor. As well as being central, quiet and secure - the police HQ is next door.

Unitas Hotel

National Theatre

The other general point to make about Prague is that because of its topography it is a city of views, either up to the Castle, down from it or across the river. Attractive even on the grey miserable day on which I arrived.

Charles Bridge, only just re-opened to the public