Visiting Prague in Mid-December

The bus drive from Brno to Prague was nice, I could relax a bit. As we were already in the city, my first impression was how colorful many of the houses are and also, how big this city is (compared to Bratislava and Brno). It seemed to be a beautiful and lively city, that was my impression from the bus. To be honest, it wasn’t my first time in Prague, I had been there once before, when I visited my Czech friend. She used to live not so far away from the capital city and when I visited her, we spent one day in Prague. However, I did not have many memories of the city, and it seemed to be new for me now.

My apartment where I stayed for a week was quite far away from the city center, I could only get there by a suburban train, but it was quick and cheap. Although there was nothing really in that neighborhood, the home was amazing! I felt like I’m in the middle of nowhere once I arrived, but the owner gave me a warm and very friendly welcome, and though she didn’t speak any other language than Czech, we could communicate by using body language, gestures and Google Translate. She was so nice that she even took me to the nearest grocery store by car, as there were no shops within walking distance. I’ve just got back and had to sit down to give an online private class, just like I was still teaching early in the morning from the hotel in Brno. That’s how I can combine work and travel! 😊

The home was beautiful, modern, but also cozy, with lots of Christmas decorations, lights and good smells. I felt very well there and enjoyed the days when I stayed home and worked from there. But of course, I took the train and walked around in the city center, especially downtown, whenever I had the time for it. Prague is a beautiful city, with lots of arts and nice little souvenir shops. Besides the traditional types of souvenirs, you can find there a lot of jewelry and wooden ornaments. I ended up buying most of the Christmas presents there. The people I met were friendly, everyone spoke English, but I learned a few Czech words, such as the greeting forms and the word for Christmas. During the weekend, especially Friday afternoon and Saturday, the city was full of tourists, it got similarly crowded as in Rome! Still, I enjoyed walking around, looking into many small shops, eating something nice or just getting a coffee, and of course enjoying the Christmas atmosphere of the city. Just like Brno, Prague has several Christmas markets, but there is a main and most popular one, full of people, on the main square of the city. On Saturday, after going up to the Castle, walking around a lot on that hill and visiting a gallery, I headed towards the famous Charles Bridge. By the time I got there, it was dark and everything was illuminated. It was so beautiful and special! Although the bridge was extremely crowded, just like the Castle area before, I tried to enjoy the beautiful view with the Castle and other buildings in the background, with the water and some ships. This beautiful evening (or late afternoon) continued with a visit to the Christmas market, but I couldn’t stay long because of the crowd. Anyway, it was beautiful with all the illuminated buildings, towers and that traditional, classic Christmas market.

In Prague, my Advent journey came to an end. I travelled home by train; this time I didn’t choose the bus as it would have been a long journey. By train it wasn’t too short either, but I had many things to do, from working a bit to reading a book. I was a bit sad that this nice trip came to an end, but I was happy to arrive home and relax a bit; even though there were still a few working days until Christmas.

This was an interesting journey because I travelled to countries which are very similar to Hungary, and I got to know cultures which are very close to my own. Even the way people dress and look like in these places was very familiar to me. Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence, after all, that sometimes locals started to talk to me in their language, once I even got the comment that they had thought I was Czech. I really felt home, or at least I didn’t feel like an outsider in these cities that I visited. And they gave me that Christmasy feeling I often miss during this time of the year, throughout December.