Down and out, and up again, in Prague

First up, I should say that Prague is gorgeous. In fact, in terms of architecture, it’s the loveliest city I’ve seen (sorry Paris), with endless streets of pastel apartments, more grand buildings than you can poke a Pilsner at and my favourites, the pointy towers.

The view from our hostel

View from the old town hall

Statue of Jan Hus

However, in Prague we were hit by something unimaginable a few months ago. For all the beauty, after a day of wandering around our reaction was a bit … meh. Yup, travel weariness had caught up with us at last.

Maybe it was the hordes of other tourists, maybe it was the similarity to Budapest (river, hilly on one bank, flat the other, lots of Austro-Hungarian splendour - but less grime and no baths) and all the other European Old Towns we’ve seen, or just the sheer amount of travel we’ve been doing in the last few months. Probably a mix of them all.

Prague: pretty darn pretty ...

... and don't we all know it.

Anyhow, we discovered a cure – day two was taken up by a bus ride into the Czech countryside and visit to Terezin (see below). Oddly, being immersed in Holocaust history (plus some greenery and open space) left us refreshed and reinvigorated. On our last day in Prague we enjoyed the city a heck of a lot more. We even had some cute little flurries of snow to add to the fairytale feel.

Central Prague

Hansel and Gretel had nothing on Lauren.

Any of you have any travel weariness stories? Have you found yourself somewhere fabulous, and been rather bored? What point in a trip does it kick in for you?

Oh, and a note on what lots of wealthy tourists do to prices. A small beer in a posh restaurant in Prage: 124 krona (c.NZ $12). The same beer in a restaurant a little bit away from the main visitor areas: 25 krona (c.NZ$ 2.50). And at a restaurant run for charity in Terezin: 11 krona.