Sharing some pics from my 2 week solo trip to the Czech Republic in December. I would always recommend visiting the Czech Republic but maybe not this time of year - the first morning I woke up after arriving in Prague it was snowing as hard as I've ever seen and it just did that for like two days straight. Despite the inch of ice on the ground everywhere and temperatures in the 20s, the Christmas markets were still absolutely packed with people. I didn't expect so many tourists in winter, maybe it's always been this way?
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After a couple days in Prague I took a scenic train ride to Ceske Budejovice, then hopped over to Cesky Krumlov by bus. It's already a pretty magical place but seeing it covered in snow was a treat. Totally recommend staying in AirBnbs if you're going to the Czech Republic, always have been relatively cheap, high quality and in good locations if you do your research. I stayed in a one bedroom flat above one of the shops on the main street going into Cesky Krumlov, super convenient to everything.
It was hot as frick when I went in September, maybe even 30
Had another bizarre moment walking to the train station hungover in Ceske Budejovice when I looked up and saw this sign. I like these signs in Europe that are just big bold English words, like BATMAN or some shit
Damn how was your lodging experience? I noticed that not all places have air conditioning
I just day tripped from Prague. Honestly the place was pretty fricking dead and iirc a lot of the tourist stuff was already on reduced hours or closed from the start of September
Yeah I went in September of 22 for a few days and it was super dead aside from the baroque fest. This time it was a bummer when the sun went down at 4:30 and all the restaurants closed by 9.
Oops forgot the text with the picture
Brno is my favorite Czech city at the moment. I had great ramen, Thai, Vietnamese, American breakfast and Mexican food there; the public transportation is great but also you can just walk everywhere; it's way less touristy than Prague; there's a vibrant performing arts scene that doesn't have to cater to tourists. When I took this picture of the cathedral I could hear a Czech rock band playing an American blues style song in English where the chorus was "she's a big black woman".
Who cares about the foreign shit. What about the Czech food?
This was my third trip to the Czech Republic so I decided to branch out a bit. I love Czech food though, I also had a lot of great goulash with dumplings, pork neck, roasted goose, fried Olomouc cheese, you name it. The beer is fantastic but that goes without saying. One of my AirBnb hosts in Prague recommended the Cvikov brewery which probably had the best beer I tried on the whole trip
End of summer versus beginning of summer. If you want to escape the crowds, choose #1, but if you want to vibe and have fun, choose #2.
Czechgay here, that sign is for a company providing sale of housing - like a real estate agent. Not a random english word in this situation.
Looks like you missed the dildo in Brno?
Right but, in English that would be "realty", right? Wouldn't the Czech equivalent be something like "nemovitosti"?
I did see the Brno dildo actually, if you're talking about the black thing that spits out marbles. I watched a crowd of people wait for their chance to catch it at 11am, which I didn't know was "Brno noon".
Yes, the "nemovitosti" is a word for housing (homes, flats or land). From my understanding of word "reality" and from the usage here, it is a way to call the place where you can buy/sell "nemovitosti" Either as a real estate agent (M&M Reality) or a marketplace/website (sreality.cz).
>if you're talking about the black thing that spits out marbles.
Yeah, and honestly I did not even have an idea about the marbles. It is just a little bit of a meme in my country.
Ah interesting. See that's the kind of thing that fricks me up when it comes to Czech, every translator totally sucks at the colloquial Czech words and phrases. Like I'm 2 years into learning Czech on Duolingo and it's never said "po prosím" or "trošku" but in my experience those are extremely common in spoken Czech
I had a few kind of bizarre moments like this during the trip where I felt totally immersed in the foreign culture. A Christmas market in a tiny Czech town full of 99% Czech people listening to a Czech children's choir. I could barely understand a single thing anyone was saying. It was also like 9 degrees but I had just accepted the weather at this point.
From Cesky Krumlov I went back to Ceske Budejovice for a couple days, which felt much less touristy but still festive. By then it had stopped snowing everyday so getting around was a bit less of a slog. For fun I tried my first Czech Mexican food at a restaurant on the main square, which turned out to be just as good as any generic Mexican place in the US. Also had some very good Vietnamese food here, don't miss the Vietnamese food in the Czech Republic.
My longest public transportation experience was my train/bus ride from Ceske Budejovice to Brno which took about 5 hours. The middle third of the trip was a rail replacement bus service where the absolute operator of a driver carved through narrow country roads covered in ice with one hand on the wheel while he took phone calls. For this whole 2 week trip I paid the extra money for first class train tickets, and I think having quiet empty cabins to myself + free snacks and water was totally worth the like 7 extra dollars each time. Maybe it's different in peak travel season and first class is also full?
The last stop on my trip before heading back to Prague was Ostrava, which is the farthest I've ever been from home so far. I had absolutely zero expectations aside from picturing it as a sort of blown out post-Soviet city, and when I walked out of the train station and saw this view down the street I felt like that was pretty spot on. My ~1 mile trudge to my AirBnb had questionable sidewalk coverage and places where the snow was almost 2 feet deep. At first glance the city had absolutely none of the charm that places like Prague or Brno have.
My AirBnb was a one bedroom apartment inside a commie block style building that must have been from the 70s. Super strange process getting into it where the host's friend messaged me on WhatsApp and set up a time to give me the keys, then when I got there it was actually her boyfriend (or something??) who let me in. On my walk into town I got dinner at another Mexican restaurant which was the most American-style yet, with tons of English text everywhere but the staff spoke absolutely no English.
Despite the outer parts of the city being kind of depressing, the old town portion was actually very charming and full of families taking their kids out to the Christmas markets. The Ostrava market was maybe my favorite overall, maybe tied with Ceske Budejovice (which had an ice skating rink in the middle). There was a Czech artist named Pam Rabbit playing on a big stage which was another one of those bizarre moments.
For my last full day in Prague I got up at 7 and walked up to the castle to watch the sunrise. Highly recommend doing this if you can get yourself out of bed that early and climb a big hill. The weather was perfect and almost all the snow in the city had melted, and there was basically no one around for a couple hours.
Even though I was there right when it opened, there was still a huge crowd of people waiting to get into St. Vitus cathedral. The big tourist groups that walk through Prague with flags and loudspeakers are one of my least favorite things about the city. I also think it's dumb that most cathedrals in the Czech Republic charge money to get in but I guess that also makes sense for the most atheist people in the world.
Even though St Vitus was crammed, right around the corner it was completely dead. It was really nice to meander around the castle grounds for an hour or so while it was quiet.
Overall I give this trip a B+, mainly because of the weather. Maybe I'm just used to the Southern US but 9 degrees + heavy snow + solid ice sidewalks makes it pretty hard to get motivated to get out of the AirBnb. It was nice to get some practice speaking Czech, that language is hard as frick. Luckily most Czech people I've met are very nice and accommodating. Still haven't had better beer anywhere else.
THANK YOU for posting an honest-to-God travel thread.
By the looks of it you had an actual, proper trip.
Beautiful pictures too, makes me want to go there, just maybe not in winter.
Yeah seeing everything covered in lots of snow is super beautiful but the constant snow in your face and trudging through slush and slipping on cobblestone is a bit of a challenge. Also there were tons of public transit delays and cancellations, luckily nothing affected me though. I'd go in winter again if I wanted to hole up for a writing retreat or something, but I think I'll stick to March and September for my more involved trips
Literally the entire point of the travel board. Lick my taint.
no one asked
captcha: STDK
Where you there alone or with your BF?
You happened to come the only time it showed this season so far and snow was on the ground. I'm new to the city/country and it's hardly even been cold.
Damn that's what I thought. I guess it can be hard to predict, I feel like I lucked out in March 2022 when it was totally clear and just a little cold
I hear the coke dealers and hookers will always try to rip you off
You already did a "Czech it out" (cringe) last year OP. Nobody cares about your gay little two week stints in Prague. Nobody thinks you're a seasoned traveller. Nobody wants your pictures clogging up the front page of SighSee.
Log off. Shut it down. And get fricked.
Lol gargle my balls you salty c**t. I guess you'd prefer more threads about which backpack to buy and how old is too old to stay in hostels.
Well I can't blame you for that retort. There's obviously no czech girls willing to come within 10 yards of your balls, so comments like that are to be expected. If you stopped walking around with your boomer travel belt and Canon camera under your neckbeard, you wouldn't stand out like such a moron tourist and girls wouldn't give you such a wide berth. Also maybe go to another frickin country and you might get different results. Dweebs like you usually have more luck in the far-east.
+1. Dude sounds real salty. Looks like a rad trip.
I did Krumlov right after Covid when things first opened. I found a giant Airbnb with a balcony on the river for $70/night. They left us a gift basket of wine, beer, chocolate and snacks. That was one of my favorite small towns I've ever visited. Did you eat at Krčma Šatlava? I fricking loved czech food. They cook giant plate of assorted meats on a wood burning stove and the best fricking beer you'll ever drink in your life. Once you drink czech beer, you're ruined for life.
I did eat at Krčma Šatlava actually! I was wandering around at night through completely frozen streets, dodging the Krampus posse and walked into that place. Totally awesome to walk into such a medieval underground lair with an open fire. I got the pork neck and garlic soup, plus a couple Budweisers. The beer really did ruin me for life, you can't get anything close in the US and everyone just thinks you're a pretentious prick for saying it.
The best place I ate in Prague was Klášterní šenk. It was in an old stable building on the grounds of a palace. Beers were less than 2 dollars. The soups were fricking fantastic. It was just outside the city and everyone but us was a local. It was like a place they would go on their birthdays.
This is far more on topic than half of the shit on the catalog. SighSee is an IMAGEboard and this is the travel section.
Imagine actually putting the energy into getting buttmad about someone talking about travel on a travel board
I liked it, you sound ghey, and the other threads are people whining about other people going to Haiti
Great pics OP! Do you mind if I share some of my pics from Czechia? I was in Prague for about a week late January last year as part of a larger Eurotrip. I only recently got my Czech citizenship and am planning on moving to Europe 🙂
Yeah sure bro. I will probably be going to Prague in a few months again - I just love it there and love making these threads. If you want we could meet up if you are moving there and I'm visiting (I am gay btw and wondering if you are too?)
I'm trans (m to f)
Gay men aren't attracted to women, so that's not going to work.
Why do you even waste time doing this?? This is like 3rd grader shit
Czech citizenship? Why and how did you get that?
He said he doesn't live in Europe, which only leaves marriage or birthright citizenship. Probably the latter so he didn't technically just acquire it but got it recognized.
I'm hoping he didn't get married & got it through birthright as I want to marry him for citizenship (hopefully he is gay like me). It is my dream to live in Prague so I can make these 'Czech it out' threads every single day and not only 4 times a year after my Quarterly Czech holidays.
You've chosen a really strange thing to be so fricking butthurt about lmao
Sorry Anon but I'm not gay. I've had a girlfriend for the past 7 years.
>Czech citizenship? Why and how did you get that?
Birthright. My grandpa was Czech so I convinced my mum to get it which allowed me to get it.
pic related was one of the highlights of my trip in Prague. It's the Speculum Alchemiae which is a real 16th century alchemists lab that was only found in 2002 after a flood. Parts of the lab are still flooded but they offer tours for the parts that have been cleared out.
They also sell elixirs based on actual alchemist recipes which was cool even if you don't believe in that kind of thing.
The anon you're replying to about being gay is some assblasted c**t who would rather shit up my travel thread on the travel board than just go somewhere else.
That alchemy lab is awesome though, I love that about the Czech Republic. Like the ossuary in Brno, they're only recently discovering some of this stuff. Do you speak Czech at all? Surely they want citizens to know the language
>Do you speak Czech at all? Surely they want citizens to know the language
No I don't but the consulate has shown me places where I can learn. To be honest I'm thinking of moving to Austria and if that doesn't work out I'd then go to Czechia.
Did a ghost tour in Prague too which was a lot of fun (didn't see anything of course).
I fricking love all the myths, legends and stories in the city. The Golem, Faust's house, the alchemist history, etc.
A fun fact is that the 27 crosses in the main square are there to mark the site where 27 anti-Habsburg noblemen were executed via beheading and hanging. Their heads were then hung on the tower at Charles Bridge. Legend has it that on the day of their death (21st of June) their ghosts gather around the astronomical clock to check it is working properly; if it is it means that the Bohemian lands are prospering and if it isn't they return to their resting places sad and dejected.
Here's a shit photo I took of them.
Happy to tell more myths and legends if people are interested.
Tell more anon. Good stuff.
Sure thing. In my previous post
I posted an image of the Old New Synagogue which supposedly home to the famous Golem. I don't know if you've seen the movie or heard the myth but a Golem is basically a israeli folk creature. It's a man made out of clay that is brought to life by magic and by placing a piece of paper with special words into its mouth.
Legend goes that a Rabbi/Alchemist was tired of the persecution the israelites of Prague were facing so he created the Golem to protect them as well as to help him in the Synagogue. But with the Golem there was one rule that must be followed; Every Sabbath, the piece of paper in the Golem's mouth must be removed so that the Golem can rest too lest it go crazy. The Golem helped the israeli people for a time however the Rabbi forgot to follow the rule one Sabbath which caused the Golem to go mad and destroy the streets of the israeli Quarter. Realising what he had done and how dangerous the Golem was, the Rabbi took the Golem's life energy and brought it to the attic of the Old New Synagogue where it (supposedly) sits to this day in case the israelites of Prague need defending again (mustn't have been activated in WW2 eh?).
Yeah they're right there on the square. People walk over them every day and don't realise their significance and what they're actually walking over. Pretty eerie.
>I'm just amazed that Prague survived WWII mostly unscathed
If I remember correctly Prague is infamously known for its cowardice. Rather than let their beautiful city be destroyed, they surrendered to the Nazi's immediately. At least that's the story. I'm sure real life is much more complicated.
>they surrendered to the Nazi's immediately
From what I've heard, they only surrendered after Britain and France agreed to let Germany take Sudetenland territory without consulting the Czech government. After Germany invaded they met resistence in Frydek-Mistek which was one of the first armed conflicts of WWII, if not the very first
Yeah that's awesome, I totally did not know that. Those crosses are in the old town square? I'm just amazed that Prague survived WWII mostly unscathed. Apparently there are some buildings that have bullet holes and damage from the war but somehow all the major landmarks didn't get destroyed.
What is going on in this thread
I was just trying to share pictures and info from my travels on the travel board but apparently that's not allowed anymore
Bumping, I'm going to the Czech Republic in May. Anyone been to Olomouc? Looks like it could be nice
Czech here, northern Moravia is the only part of the country I've never been to but Olomouc should indeed be quite nice
Velké Losiny would be my preferred day trip target from there since I really like the film Witchhammer
Towards the south Kroměříž also has a famously beautiful historic town
Ha I saw that guy too
Awesome thanks for the recommendations Czechanon. Do you have Czech foods or drinks you would recommend? I tried tuzemák and kofola last time which was well worth it.
Forgot pic of guy
kek, take the boat ride from the charles bridge museum and you'll go down the canal and see him from the other side too. honestly it was pretty good way to rest my legs for an hour after walking all day and it was kind of hilarious how they exclusively had a load of black guys dressed up as sailors trying to sell the rides to everyone walking past
obligatory pic
I like burčák (half-fermented wine), tastes very unique, but you can only get it during wine harvesting season in September. I guess you've had Becherovka? I also like blackcurrant juice (idk if that exists in your country)
The tasteatlas list for Czech Republic seems pretty accurate at least the top 40, I'd add the following
>Fish soup is rated low by cowards who fear the fish cum but it's actually great. If a place has >3 freshwater fish options like trout they should be good, otherwise don't get fish.
>Beer stewed pork knee (picrel) is great
>Anything venison or with wild mushrooms tends to be great
>Try to get a lunch menu instead of dinner, better deal with more options
>Getting soup is never optional
>Desserts you should probably sample at a cukrárna, restaurants usually just have strudel or ice cream with hot raspberries (still good though)
>A bunch of foods like fruit dumplings and buchty may seem like desserts but they are actually sweet main courses. These are hard to get as people usually only make them at home
>Hermelín is a mass produced cheese that is surprisingly good deep fried, grilled with lingonberry jam, or on bread
>Favorite mass produced snacks: Studentská pečeť, Fidorky, Kolonáda, Mrož, Slovak smoked cheese
christmas markets are huge tourist attractions
Cool shots OP. Can I ask about your camera gear? SighSee gay here.
All shot on a Pixel 7a! I've been really happy with the camera
I've seen that suggested here before - I'll try to check it out next time I'm in Prague. I always feel like it's too far away but it's really not too bad
Added to my list of reasons to only visit the Czech Republic in March or September