7 Day School Trip part 2: Prague

After three and a half hours we reached the beautiful city of Prague. Our hotel was located in the city center. It was a huge building made of glass with many floors and luxurious decoration. We were already tired from the previous days and the journey with the bus and we also had to wait a while until we were able to take the keys to go to our rooms.

We took a shower, left our luggage and then went down to the reception to decided what we would do next. Everyone was very tired, so we just went to a local supermarket to buy some beers and returned to the hotel and stayed there to relax. We went early to bed because we had to wake up early the next morning.

The next morning we woke up early to eat some breakfast at the hotel. The buffet was huge and there was all the kind of food that you can imagine: from eggs and cereals to rice, sausages, many kinds of juice and cakes. We were very hungry so we tried a bit of everything that was on the buffet, even the rice.

After breakfast, we were ready to explore the city. The weather was sunny and warm so we decided firstly to walk around the city and enjoy the day.

Before starting our tour, we had to exchange some money because the currency of the Czech Republic is not euro but Czech Koruna. Most of us exchanged 50 euros, that in koruna was pretty much 1700 korunas. With that money, we were able to buy a lot of things, eat and even spend three whole days in Prague.

After that, we decided to visit the world’s famous Hard Rock Café. The building was old but renovated and looked like from another era. The insight was made of wood and very nicely decorated. On the walls, you could see portraits of famous rock bands such as the Rolling Stones, Beatles, etc. On the ceiling, there was hanging a big decorative chandelier in a shape of a huge guitar. We sat there and drunk a cup of hot coffee and took plenty of amazing photos with the portraits and the guitar. Every Hard Rock Café has also a souvenir shop where you can buy many kinds of things from T-shirts to cups and key chains. We decided to buy T-shirts that had a stamp of Hard Rock Café Prague on them, to keep them as souvenirs. I also bought a cap to take it as a gift to my brother in law. In the end, we found at the exit of the Café a real Harley Davidson motorbike that was standing there as a decorative, and we took many photos on it pretending that we were riding it.

At the entrance of Hard Rock Cafe.

Later that day we had to eat something so we went to the city center to find a restaurant. Finally, we saw a KFC and a Burger King place and went there to eat. We decided to order chicken wings and burgers, but everything was so spicy that we weren’t able to finish our meal and we stayed a bit hungry at the end of the day.

When we got there, I opened my wallet to pay, but I realized that my money was not there and someone had stolen it. I got panicked because I didn’t know when It happened. Our tour guide had earlier warned us for thefts and pickpockets, but I never thought that it would happen to me. Luckily my friends had more money with them and of course lent me money to spend the rest of the days in Prague. We ate and then went back to the hotel to have a shower and prepare for the night out.

Later that night we were ready to go out. Our travel guide told us about a famous club in Prague that was located in an apartment block in the center of the city. The building had four floors and a basement and in each floor there were different types of music. On the first floor you could dance to the rhythm of commercial music that is played nowadays such as Rihanna, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Shakira etc. On the second floor you could listen to hard rock, metal rock, indie rock, punk rock, etc. The third floor was very popular and very crowded because it was playing electronic music, deep house, trance, psychedelic, and techno. The fourth floor was something like a museum dedicated to different types of music but it was closed that day so we weren't able to visit it. the basement of the building was playing hip-hop and rap music and it was also very crowded. We wanted to explore all the floors and "feel" all kinds of music. It was an extraordinary experience that we could listen to all these types of music in one place because Thessaloniki has not a similar kind of place. We stayed there all night and at dawn we left to go to our hotel and sleep. The sun had already risen.

On our second day in Prague, we woke up late in the morning. We had a hangover from the previous night because we had drunk a couple of beers more than usual. We went downstairs to the dining room of the hotel to have lunch and get back on our feet. That day the weather was not so good and later in the evening it started snowing. We stayed at the hotel until the afternoon and then we took a walk around the city. We visited many little shops to buy souvenirs and gifts for our friends who weren't able to come with us and also gifts for our parents and beloved ones. After the gift shopping, we walked around the historic center of the city of Prague and we visited the well-known bridge of Charles. Our tour guide told us about the history of the Charles bridge that is very interesting. The bridge was built from Bohemian sandstone and it is said that egg yolks were mixed into the mortar to strengthen the construction of the bridge. There is no evidence if this is true or just a legend, however, how else can you explain that the Charles Bridge has survived many floods until nowadays? The most exciting thing was that the statues which were decorating the beautiful bridge of Charles had little figures on their bases which were supposed to bring you good luck if you touched them. So we took many photographs to remember our moments there and of course the breathtaking view of the city of Prague.

Amazing view of the river Vltava.

Amazing view of river Vltava number 2.

Later in the evening we able to visit the well-known Black Opera of Prague. We watched a three hour show. The theme of the show was the human feelings represented through the weather conditions. For example, the feeling of joy was represented by actors who were dressed like the sun or the feeling of sadness was represented by rain and thunder. It was a beautiful experience and the actors of the show wanted us sometimes to be a part of the show. At the end of the play we took many photographs with the actors and we were able to get on the stage and take some autographs.

While we were watching the play some friends of ours did not come with us and decided to take a walk in the city. They experienced a very bad situation in the streets of Prague. While they were walking around some people tried to sell them drugs. They were very scared and started running because they did not know what else to do. Later when they told us about the event the couldn't believe that it is so easy for drug dealers to walk next to you on the pavement and offer you to buy some drugs. It was already late that day and we had to get back to our hotel. We were all very exhausted and we had another situation to confront with. Some of our friends had been lost in the city and they were very late at the meeting point. Our teachers were very anxious because they couldn't reach them on the phone but after a long time, they finally found them. After the long day we had, we were ready to get back to our hotel, have some dinner and relax.

The final day of our journey had already arrived. We woke up one more time early in the morning, we packed our staff and we were ready to leave. Our final destination before the return was a small traditional village of the Czech Republic not very far from Prague, called Karlovy Vary. That village is well-known for its thermal baths and beauty products. It is known that the local beauty products such as hand creams or body lotions are very good for your skin without any additional chemicals. Also, Karlovy Vary is well-known for the handmade rasps for hand nails and toenails. You can find them in the local shops in different sizes and colors and their price is very affordable. We visited the thermal baths and we bought hand creams for souvenirs. They have a very nice smell and texture and they were at that moment very alleviative for our cold hands.

After a couple of hours of shopping in the local market, we were hungry and we wanted to taste some local cuisine. Our tour guide informed us about a local traditional restaurant that served dishes of wild animal meat such as deer, roe, wild boar, etc. I ordered the deer with plum sauce and it was amazing. I had never tasted anything like that before in my life. We also tasted a type of local red wine from that region and it was delicious.

In the afternoon we had a couple of hours more for fun before we had to go to the airport to catch our flight back to Greece. We walked the beautiful streets of Karlovy Vary. It had snowed and everything was white and cold and it was like we were in a fairytale. We took many photographs in the snow and we tried to build a snowman but it wasn't very successful. It was time for us to leave for the airport and we were a little bit sad because our trip was going to finish.

The city of Prague covered with snow.

We arrived at the airport of Prague after an hour trip and we checked-in our luggage. The time for our departure came and everyone got on the airplane. The flight this time was not so fun because the weather was bad and we weren't in the mood of going back to school on Monday after such an amazing trip. After a couple of hours, we landed in the airport of Thessaloniki and our buses were there to take us to our school yard where our parents were waiting for us to return.

The next day was Monday and we all returned to school for our everyday routine.

I will never forget this seven day trip with my schoolmates!