Prague holds a special place in my heart — it's firmly in my top five European capitals, and not just because of its architecture, beer and general loveliness. It was in the Czech capital that I first seriously started thinking about hitchhiking as a mode of transport, back in early 2011.
During my time in the city I made several friends, one of them called Iker. We started talking in English in a hostel while we were busy inviting the receptionist out for beers after her shift. Half an hour of swapping travel stories later came the inevitable question: "So where are you from?"
When we realised we were both Spanish — and how spectacularly thick we'd been not to notice sooner — we kept chatting about our travels while picking up beers from the supermarket for 10 euro cents at the exchange rate.
Iker had hitchhiked to Prague all the way from Barcelona and was planning to carry on to Moscow, where he'd catch the Trans-Siberian to China. We spent the next few days exploring Prague together — enjoying Czech beer, visiting parks and monuments, going out at night, and above all, talking about travel. It was there that the hitchhiking bug bit me, and I scratched the itch a month later thumbing my way through the Netherlands.
Prague: capital of beer
In Prague we discovered "still beer" — a craft ale brewed by a dozen breweries in the Czech capital with a much shorter shelf life, kept at the perfect temperature and pressure through elaborate and expensive equipment. The flavours are extraordinary, and the "magic formula" supposedly means no hangover.
The fact that beer is cheaper than water in the Czech Republic helps push average consumption to 131 litres per person per year — the highest in the world. It's basically the Czech equivalent of bread.
The three days I'd planned to spend in Prague turned into a week — the first few nights in the hostel, and the rest sharing a room in the student halls where the blonde receptionist from the hostel lived.
If you're planning to visit the Czech capital you've got plenty of options for where to stay: you can explore the local Couchsurfing community and try your luck on someone's sofa, take your pick from the many hostels in the city, book a hotel, or hunt for the most affordable apartments in Prague on sites like GowithOh.
Whatever you choose, try to leave room in your schedule to extend your stay — Prague has a habit of reeling you in.