I literally threw my suitcase on the bed, had a quick wash, and then put on my backpack, with map, guide to Prague and my reliable Sony Cybershot digital camera and off I set – the woman at the reception looked at me strange, because I’d literally been in my room for five minutes.

Off I went exploring this beautiful city – it was a little cloudy, and the remainder of the snow from the day before was still there. What hit me straight away was that in the UK to melt the snow we use grit, which is a mixture of sand and salt but here in Prague it was literally just sand and wasn’t a greal deal of use.

My first attraction was the beautiful Palacky Bridge over the river, which had at both ends, two large statues featuring an angel on each pole - I believe from speaking with the locals that these are here to protect the city – this area of the city was badly affected by the floods in 2002 so a lot of the statues were taken away to be restored.

I then headed down what the tourists called ‘Paris Street’ (correct pronunciation is Pařížská) and as you walked down this street you passed the Jewish community (look for Josefov on the map) which was the location for the awe inspiring old and new synagogue. If you walked down the street you could see the Jewish ceremony hall which was just a spectacular looking building, and what I found weird was that on what looked to be a normal street are these two magnificent buildings.

As you walked down “Paris Street” you could see the designer stores – certainly not the type of stores I would pay a visit to, but featured the likes of Sergio Tacchini, Benetton, Diesel, Hugo Boss and Louis Vuitton – I sat down for five minutes and you could see the rich men and women of Prague doing there shopping in these expensive designer shops.

At the top of “Paris Street” is the entrance into the magnificent Old Town Square, and I cannot describe how much I loved this part of Prague – as you walked into the entrance on the right hand side you were dwarfed by the stunning St. Nicolas Church, further to the right you could see the small market which gave away the smell of malted wine, candles and hot dogs – next to the market are two small stalls that sold food and hot malted wine, which was perfect if you needed to warm yourself up.

Most of the stalls in this small market area were aimed towards tourists, and what surprised me at first was that very little of the merchandise had price tickets on it – now I am sure that they was a reason for that, but you could ask the price, and barter with them if you felt confident enough.

Dating back to the late 12th century, the Old Town Square started it’s life as the central marketplace for Prague, and the most notable sights in Prague’s Old Town Square are the Church of Our Lady before Tyn, the Astronomical Clock & Old Town Hall Tower and as I mentioned St. Nicolas Church.

Before I came to Prague I did some research on the destination – one thing that I was warned about are the pocket picketers – don’t let this frighten you, but be very careful with your wallet and passport – if possible keep the passport in a safe in the hotel, whilst sat in the square I got talking to a Dutch couple who had a bad experience the day before, and had money, credit cards and passports stolen – this was whilst travelling on the metro.

Now the metro system is very reliable, and very very cheap – I didn’t travel on the metro for two reasons 1) I love to walk around a city and get to know the people and the place but 2) I didn’t like the look of some of the metro stations, and they looked very dark and dangerous places to be.

Another transport option is the reliable tram system (be careful crossing the road as the drivers aren’t quick to slow down!) then theres the local buses, train and if you wanted to travel in style then you had the opportunity of a tour around the city by horse and carriage or a 1950’s car - one thing for sure Prague is a very romantic city.

• Planning a short break to Prague
• Quick Guide to… Prague
• Travel Safe .. Be Safe
• My Prague City Guide - Part 1

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