New Year’s Eve In Prague
Happy New Year Everyone! I just came back from a brief European adventure and I thought I’d share my exciting experience there to you all. My first post of the year, so I hope you will all enjoy it!
Greeting The New Year In The Romantic City of Prague
Prague - a city known for its beautiful architecture, romantic views and cheap beer. It’s no wonder that since the Czech Republic abandoned Communism and embraced the free world, throngs of tourists have discovered the beauty and elegance of this stunning city. Apart from its great sights, with such cheap and great beer, many young Europeans (British guys in particular) have descended for buck’s nights/stag parties, drinking spree weekends and a whole lot of clubbing. It’s become party central and THE place to be in Central Europe for those wanting great night clubs and parties.
For New Year’s Eve, Prague was known to have one of the best spots to watch fireworks behind the beautiful Prague Castle and the majestic Charles Bridge. I saw all the Youtube videos of New Year’s Eve fireworks in Prague from the previous years, and I said to myself, I have to be there for it. And of course, being party central, so many night clubs are sure to be offering great party options in the city.
After having witnessed 3 great New Year’s Eve fireworks in Sydney, I was inspired to check out the New Year’s Eve fireworks of the other countries and take great shots of it. A group of my friends and I started discussing the places we can go to celebrate the New Year, and what initially started out as a trip to Paris became Prague when we saw those great videos.
Fireworks Prague Style
Prague Old Town New Years Eve 2011
Prague (or “Praha” as the locals call it) is known for great fireworks display over the past few years, but what we have neglected to check is that the city also allows its citizens to light their own firecrackers and do their own fireworks display! There doesn’t seem to be any rules around lighting firecrackers across the city, and so they go crazy lighting up wherever they please. This obviously is quite dangerous, and some people do get hurt if they happen to stand in front of those lighting the firecrackers!
My friends and I were shock to find out about this, but since we already booked our ticket to go to Prague for the New Year, there is no backing out anymore. Besides, having grown up in the Philippines where they sell dynamite-strength firecrackers and cause hundreds of injuries each year, we thought we can easily survive this one.
We positioned ourselves on the Old Town side of the River Vltava, hoping to having a view of both the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle. On our way there, we had to fight through the crowds and saw a few police patrol cars going around and approaching locals who have been misbehaving and throwing fireworks at other people. The whole atmosphere in Prague was kind of chaotic, but it wasn’t bad enough to stop us from having a great time and catching a glimpse of what is said to be one of the best New Year’s Eve fireworks display around.
When my friends and I finally found a spot to setup our tripods and take great photos of the Prague Castle and Charles Bridge, we were all hoping to see the fireworks come out from behind the castle. The countdown began, and when the clock struck midnight, there was hardly any fireworks to be seen!! Well, as we turned around, we saw much of the fireworks on our side of the Vltava River and not behind the castle! We had to shift our cameras, but with the jam-packed space by the river, we could hardly move our cameras! I took as much shots as I possibly could. Some were good, some weren’t. At the end of the day, we thought that the Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks were still more spectacular than the one in Prague. Nevertheless, going to Prague for the fireworks was a good reason to visit this romantic city.
The following day, we found out from one of the locals that the government apparently ran out of money to do the fireworks display, and hence, all we saw were the ones that the locals fired off themselves!! Well, here are some of the better shots we got:
Prague Fireworks NYE 2011 - With Charles Bridge and Prague Castle
Prague Fireworks NYE 2011 - on the other side of the bridge
More Prague Fireworks NYE 2011
Prague - Unsynchronised Fireworks Lit by Locals - NYE 2011
Some more small fireworks in Prague NYE 2011
Last few big fireworks display in Prague NYE 2011
