The Wild East

"For once I’m in total agreement with Lonely Planet."

We had a look at the Danube, which had burst its banks. Judging by the amount of debris and sandbags everywhere, the river level had only receded a few hours ago (We didn’t know it, but Prague was currently under 3ft of water). I was surprised at just how cheap Bratislava is. It has to be Europe’s cheapest capitals, which is surprising considering it is only 4km from Austria. For tourists it seems a fair bit cheaper than poorer eastern cities of Bucharest, Sofia and Kiev. It was also amazingly quiet and free from the tourist hordes, though I don’t think this will last long.

Me and Mark started thinking about ‘The Living Daylights’ James Bond 1987 film, which was set in Bratislava, then communist Czechoslovakia. We thought that the Conservatoir scene had actually been filmed in Bratislava, but the directors cheated quite a bit and set most of it in Vienna.
The weather was hot and sunny the whole time and I left Bratislava with fond memories.

Sunday
Caught the train to Brno, Czech Republic. There were backpackers everywhere.
'In the Czech Republic everywhere outside Prague is still off the beaten tourist track...' (Lonely Planet 1999) Wrong!!!!
We did stay in a luxurious ‘student’ dorm though (I don’t know what these students study) which took quite a bit of finding.

Our strategy of finding accommodation in non-ex-USSR places is to simply head to the tourist information office and see what’s available. It’s infinitely more reliable than using the guidebook (though the book is often reliable in the western places).
In Russia, Ukraine and Albania (the places where you really need them) there is no such thing as a tourist office.

Brno was typically Czech, very pretty and had a castle, which kept us entertained for several hours. We ate in KFC, none of the restaurants had prices on their menus, which probably meant we couldn’t afford to eat in them.

Monday 19 August
Arrived back in Prague. It was now 6 weeks since we arrived here. We realised something was seriously wrong when the whole city centre was cordoned off.
At first we thought it was a bomb-scare, but then when we saw sandbags everywhere it transpired that Prague had been badly flooded (the worst time in the city’s history I think). The events actually worked to our advantage, rather cynically perhaps, because it meant we managed to get accommodation at a really plush, centrally-located pension for half the normal price (I think we paid 700Kc about 15quid for 2 of us). They were desperate for guests, most of whom had pulled out at the last minute.

Tuesday
Train west to Plzen. The train was an hour late. No explanation or apology given. The Pilsner-Urquell brewery is located here and we went on the museum tour. Our guide asked us which language she wanted the tour in. The Germans accounted for about 95% of the total group and so dominated proceedings. She conducted a bilingual English/German tour.
If I was Czech I think I’d be pretty pissed off. I don’t really understand why young Eastern Europeans (i.e. the ones who don’t remember communism or never suffered under it) have such a hatred of the Russian language, yet they are more than happy for English and to a lesser extent, German, to have priority over their own languages.

The brewery was excellent and we got some samples at the end. Lonely Planet- 'devoted beer drinkers will not regret the pilgrimage.' For once I’m in total agreement with Lonely Planet.
We ate in McDonalds for the first time in a long time and got the 7pm train back to Prague. We shared the carriage with a father and his young son, who’d just been mushroom picking.

Wednesday 21 August, Prague, Czech Republic The last day and I we didn’t do anything apart from make our way to the airport to get the Go flight home.
Got back to East Midlands airport and got the local bus to the railway station.The poverty and exoticness of the Ukraine suddenly seemed a galaxy away.

In less than a month I would be back in Eastern Europe (Vilnius, Lithuania to teach English for a year), while Mark would start a new job with Edinburgh Woolen Mill in Edinburgh.

For the next Wild East, the contenders to hold the event were: Albania and Macedonia joint bid, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia.
Azerbaijan won it.
July 2004.
See you there!

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