Hello friend! We’ll keep this return short and sweet – it has been a whooooole minute since my last post but great developments, maturity and growth have occurred in my time away and I am happy to be back to a space I love.
This post, as the title suggests, will feature a collection of photos and moments captured on my trip to Prague and Marianske Lazne in October 2019. I spent time in both cities taking workshops, presenting my graduate research (surprise! – ya girl is in grad school), soaking up the rich culture of the spa town and of course dining and shopping like my life depended on it (okay this last one is an exaggeration of sorts).
The first 3 days of my stay was spent in Prague. It immediately reminded me of an old country town as we drove from the airport to our Airbnb – most of the streets were narrow, lined with pastel-coloured buildings and cobbled and you could feel every bump in the road. The main city itself however was super busy and more developed. Another thing I noticed was that most people were not very welcoming towards outsiders/travellers. This included our Uber driver who insisted that he couldn’t speak a word of English (in English mind you) but tuned into an English-speaking radio station and sang along while ignoring his passengers…
You may not have noticed but most of my images (except a majority of photographs taken of me towards the end of this post) are iPhone images! I challenged myself on this trip to step away from my DSLR and focus on using just one device. This meant that I could also upload, edit and share pictures right away – I had recently upgraded to the XR and we were gonna get our money’s worth pronto!
Prague was a view to behold! Uber’s were cheap, our Airbnb was superb (find it here) and the food and beer 🍺 was only a small taste of what was still to come. We visited the famous Charles Bridge, Old Prague and Prague Castle which involved a small hike, and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry where the workshop took place.
Marianske Lazne
A small spa town about 2 hours away from Prague, famous from their spa wafers – “oplatky” and the many spas scattered throughout the town that offered unique experiences including beer and chocolate baths – this is perhaps the shortest description of Marianske Lazne but it does not encompass the true essence and richness of the town. There had to be at least 20 hotels of different grades but from the outside each was just as colourful as the next. The main conference I was attending was held at the Casino Cultural and Conference Center. Let’s just take a moment of silence for the food……each meal we had came with unlimited beer and Czech dumplings – they DID NOT hold back! Delicacies including deer (yes I’m talking Bambi from the forest y’all), fish and mussels were served. It was a full six days of bliss!
Back to Prague
Back in Prague, I switched things up a little bit and I had my first experience in a hostel as a solo traveller. I was probably over-thinking things but prior to the trip I consulted all my friends I knew had either solo-travelled, stayed in hostels or visited Prague to ensure I knew what I was getting myself into. The hostel I ended up at was very affordable for the three nights I stayed, very clean and had a high turnover rate – strange to think of how many people use hostels for travel!
Processed with VSCO with m5 preset 
My second time in Prague was definitely a HIT! It rained most of the time but trust the shopaholic in me to use that as an excuse to spend all day at the mall (which was literally a whole neighbourhood on its own). On one of the nicer days I was fortunate to score a photoshoot with a local photographer – Dada (12/10 would recommend!), who was very enthusiastic and truly inspired the modelista in me to shine through!
Part of my solo-travelling was also spent at two popular yoga studios in Prague – I uses the MindBody app to locate, sign-up and pay for each one. The first was at Prague Yoga Collective taught by Rosibel Marquez (intense AF!) and the second was at Yogame Studios taught by Polina Zemlicka (first time executing a handstand on my own AND wall-less – we LOVE to see the risk!)
If you’re still reading up to this point, you’re a real one and I sincerely appreciate your time. These last set of photos are credited to Dada, who’s spunk and vibe had me laughing through a very cold morning but most importantly he helped me see that what I consider imperfections in myself are meant to be captured by a lens regardless.
All in all, highly recommend a stop in Prague whenever you get a chance. As for travelling? I ALWAYS recommend. Thanks for dropping by and I’ll catch you in the next one.
With love,
ANTHONIAxo
The visuals are amazing, I can’t believe this was done on the XR! I appreciate the diversity in the pictures and the activities you mentioned. You went outside the box of the typical touristy attractions. This was such a wholesome travel entry. Will definitely be adding this to the list for when I visit Prague.
Author
Yes! The XR is in a lane on its own 😂thank you, happy you enjoyed it!
Love how your personality shines through, you had me laughing all the way through 😂
You’d be an entertaining travel partner!
Author
You’re so sweet, thank you! I am actually looking into joining some open group travel opportunities, I will definitely post on the blog when I decide on one.
I didn’t get the chance to visit Prague but through your words, I felt like I had a good experience (vicariously).
Author
Yay!! I’m so glad, hopefully I can continue to do more of that in the future ☺️