Prague is definitely my favorite city in Europe, above all. Its architecture is beautiful, with buildings, cathedrals and bridges many centuries old mixing perfectly with modern architectural wonders like the “Dancing House“.
The city’s cultural heritage is strong, and the underground scene is very lively since the 90s after the Soviet Regime fall.
I’m born in Switzerland from Czech parents, who fled the Soviet regime in 1969. My first trip to Czechoslovakia was in the summer of 1989. I went with my father, who didn’t return to his home country for 30 years, due to fears of being imprisoned. Long story short, as my parents fled the country in 1969, they were considered as traitors. To return, they had to renounce to their nationality and pay the regime the cost of their education. My mother always refused but my father’s parents, my grandparents, being locked in the country, it was his only solution to visit them. The time it took him to go through the administrative hassle and paperwork, they both died. But in 1989 we decided to travel anyway, so that he could show me his birth country and make a last goodbye to his parents.
Since then and the Soviet regime fall in 1991, I returned almost every year. Will I was a student I sometimes went twice, meeting with my cousin who was part of the alternative culture scene. We spent nights in rock clubs and other temporary venues. I regularly traveled with friends who wanted to discover this amazing city!
As I grew up, my father returned and started a new life there for his retirement. What better reason to continue travelling to Prag and let me own family discover this city.
I have a particular story to tell about the set of photos below, which I called “Prague is the new black”. They were taken in March 2018 during a long weekend I spent alone in the city while visiting my father. I brought my drone and did many aerial photos in the city. On the Sunday afternoon, I went to the Prague castle, on the top of the hill, and flew the drone in various places. But I completely forgot that the castle is also the Czech President’s residence, meaning it is a NZF (“No-Fly Zone”). When I landed my drone after my last flight, I got arrested by a cop from the President’s personal police. I spent the afternoon in a police station, interrogated, my drone analyzed and finally confiscated. I had to return to Switzerland the next day, and it took me 2 months to retrieve it after paying a hefty fine. But what a surprise when I got it back, the SD card was untouched with all my pictures. So most of the pictures you can see below are exclusives, there are very few drone footage taken of the Prague’s castle!
And if you enjoy Prague and its cultural heritage, you should also consider traveling the rest of the country, where you can discover pure jewels like the castle of Konopiste. There are many, witnesses of the Czech noblesse being part of the Austro-Hungarian past.
