Vienna to Prague

Vienna to Prague

Saturday

The Journey from Vienna to Prague is most enjoyable, despite the boarding chaos at Vienna Station. The world seems to have gathered on the platform. I seem to be the only passenger who has bothered to look in advance at the train layout, so I am waiting in exactly the right place. People rush on, realise they are in the wrong carriage, and try to turn round against the oncoming tide of humanity.

I wait until the worst of the nonsense is over and then calmly find my seat. By then, of course, the luggage storage is in a mess, so by careful repacking, there is plenty of space for my bag. In the middle of my organisation a German man remonstrates with me for not asking permission to touch his property!

I am impressed with the service on Czech Railways. A very nice and reasonably priced pot of coffee is served at my seat, announcements are in Czech, German and English and the restaurant car is very comfortable with a good choice of fare. I select ‘Grandma’s hearty vegetable soup’, followed by some pork medallions and roast potatoes, washed down with a glass of Pilsner Urquell. Good value at around sixteen pounds. We have crossed yet another international border and I have not been asked for my passport since leaving Spain on the overnight train. Why, then is there such a hassle at airports over the matter?

The train arrives in Prague forty minutes late, which may well be down to a major rail accident the previous day in which 10 people were killed. But, I am not even clock watching, it’s been a nice journey and I am totally relaxed.

At Holesovice Station, being used because Hlavni station is undergoing a major refurbishment, here are signs to the taxi rank, I check the guy has a meter and he hurtles to my hotel. He drives like a complete madman and I am somewhat flustered, to say the least, by the time I get to the hotel. Maybe that’s part of the con.

It’s the first time on the trip we’ve moved out of Euros. The meter says 600 Czech Crowns, he gives me a receipt and I get to reception. Then it dawns on me. I ask how much the 9 kilometre trip should have cost. I have paid twenty five pounds for a trip which should have cost about eight. My Time Out Guide says ‘Taxis have a well-deserved reputation for rip-offs. You are just about guaranteed to be overcharged’.

I am angry. More at myself than anything. I am a very experienced traveller.

The lovely Alexandra and Marketa at reception do their best to cheer me up, but it is several hours later and a lot of walking before I regain any sort of composure.

It’s not the money. It’s the fact I should have known and the absolute scandal that Prague Town Hall do very almost nothing to stamp it out. I think I am as wary a traveller as anyone, but when you see a price on a meter, you think it is right.

Anyway, that off my chest, I am determined I will go out tomorrow and see the better side of an architecturally awesome city which has, in the main part, really nice and friendly people.