Prague

Prague is one of the most unique places in the world. Living in the suburbs of Seattle, I always end up seeing the same boring, suburban homes everywhere I look. While I love my home, in Prague, I got to see great architecture like I had never seen before. Traveling to Prague was an eye-opening experience for me.

While I was in Prague, I noticed that Prague was different from other European cities. In places like London, Paris, Milan, and Venice, there is always the main tourist area where almost all of the main attractions are. Think Buckingham Palace in London or the Grand Canal in Venice. These are these big tourist sites which are incredible to see. However, Prague is beautiful everywhere, not just in the main touristy places like some other cities. Even outside the main tourist destinations like the Charles Bridge, there was a lot to see. I fondly remember walking around Prague, stumbling across many little stores and backstreets, surrounded by some beautiful architecture while eating my gelato ice cream :).

On one of these side streets, I even saw a Lamborghini Aventador. That was one of the craziest things that has ever happened to me. While I have seen Lamborghinis and Ferraris driving around on the road, they were never parked for me to take pictures with them. I was ecstatic at the chance to take a picture with a supercar. After taking millions of photos with it, I made my mom promise me that I would get a picture of me with my dream car in my room!

My time on the St. Charles Bridge was something I will never forget. Again, being the car nerd that I am, I remembered the Prague racetrack in Forza Motorsport 7. In the game, the developers took the famous streets and walkways of Prague and created a circuit. While the Charles Bridge is not part of an actual race track, it is part of the Forza Motorsport 7 circuit. However, the real thing looked way more beautiful than what I saw in the game. Looking around at the bridge, I enjoyed seeing the vast Vltava river. It is easy to see why countless movies have been shot at this bridge once you are standing on it. The bridge looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale. The statues were magnificent and were very detailed. Contributing to the fairy book vibe were the street performers. These performers played their hearts out on the bridge and the music was splendid. I made it a game to try and guess the song they were playing and, surprisingly, I got many of them right :). While I was standing on the bridge, my dad read out to us the bridge’s history from his beloved Rick Steves guidebook. The information was interesting at first. However, I eventually got bored as he tends to get a bit too detailed 😝. 

I realized how fortunate I was to travel around the world so freely after speaking to my grandparents who had traveled with us to Prague. When they were young, they had thought it was impossible to go to places like Hungary and the Czech Republic because these places were behind the Iron Curtain. We have come a long way since then. My entire family, all three generations of it, stood together to admire the view. I sure felt lucky and in awe of the history of the place where I was standing.

What was even more remarkable about the beauty of Prague is how recently it was under the Soviet Bloc. As a satellite state, Czechoslovakia was economically and politically dependent on the Soviet Union. Additionally, Czechoslovakia could only import Soviet goods. They also were only allowed to export to the Soviet Union. These factors led to a weak Czechoslovakian economy. Alexander Dubeck, a reformist, tried to increase freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the freedom to travel. He also tried to help the economy by introducing a few capitalist practices. This period of reform in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, was crushed by the Soviets as they feared these reforms would lead to independence. 

After the fall of the Soviet Union, rebuilding efforts began. We now have the glorious city of Prague to see in all its grandeur. This city shows how human perseverance can shine through. Despite Czechoslovakia losing territory in World War 2 to the Germans and then being a Soviet Satellite State, it came back stronger than ever and rebuilt itself. Thanks for reading about my trip to Prague. Catch you next time on Pranay’s Seattle Departures!

Bosnia and Herzegovina

“Pranay, wake up,” said my dad. “We are going to Mostar.”

“What monster,” I said while rubbing my eyes. I don’t see any monsters.” 

“Not monsters,” my dad said exasperatingly. “Mostar.  It’s in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

“But that wasn’t in our plans,” I said begrudgingly.

“It is an intriguing place,” he said. You will not regret going there.”

“Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes. After my family and I got ready, we set off for Mostar from Dubrovnik. “This better be as good as they say it is,” I thought. However, once I got there, I was astonished by the beauty of the place and its history.

After we arrived, we headed to the bazaar. While we were walking there, I thought these markets were unique. In the U.S. people usually only shop at big, name-brand stores. Yet, here in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one strolls down forgotten alleyways and finds marvelous things. My mom always says, “Part of the fun of traveling is getting lost.” I never used to understand that saying when I was younger. However, I see what she means now 🙂

Another significant difference between life in the States and Bosnia and Herzegovina was the noticeably slower pace of life. No one was in a hustle to get anywhere. Locals were chatting with the shop owners, not worrying about getting somewhere as fast as possible. They savored each moment instead of always rushing to the next one. I admired that about the locals. The coronavirus pandemic, despite its many terrible effects, has had one silver lining. We have had an opportunity to slow down and enjoy time with our families. Walking down the alleys of Mostar taught me to live in the now and enjoy the present. Here is a picture of the bazaar.

After we had finished strolling through the bazaar, we went to the famous Old Bridge (Stari Most). It was super cool seeing the bridge. My parents told me that the bridge used to divide the Muslim side from the Christian side of Mostar. The Old Bridge was destroyed in 1993 during the Bosnian war. The Croatian forces shelled the bridge. After the war, reconstruction of the bridge began in 2002. The new bridge still looks as beautiful as the old one. I felt bad for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, I was happy that they managed to pull out of those dark times and rose back up, just like the Stari Most.

After learning all about the history of the bridge, I saw something I had never seen before. People were diving off the bridge for money. It was quite a sight to behold. It was fascinating watching these people plunge into the Nervata River 25 meters below. I quickly looked it up and learned that there were actual bridge-jumping competitions in Mostar. I found that very cool.

After we watched people dive off the bridge, we headed back into the bazaar and walked to the Karađoz Bey Mosque. My dad told me that the top of this mosque had the most picturesque views of the Old Bridge. I became very excited about the mosque. Once we got to the mosque, my dad told me about the Muslim traditions. He told me that in a mosque one is not allowed to wear shoes. I also learned that Muslims put their heads against the floor to show respect for their God. I love to learn more about other cultures so this was quite interesting. This is why I love traveling so much 🙂 Then, we started to climb the stairs. After climbing up the tower for what seemed like days, we finally arrived. I was beginning to regret climbing all those stairs. However, once I saw the view, I realized all my hard work and toil was worth it. My dad was not kidding when he said the views were amazing from the top. I cannot describe it in words because it was so beautiful. Here is a picture.

After we had taken pictures of the mosque, we started walking back when I saw something unexpected. I spied bullet holes in the buildings next to us. After seeing that, I asked my parents why there were bullet holes in those buildings. They said it was due to the conflict. After looking it up I became sad. I learned that Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1992.  Fighting between the Yugoslavian (JNA) forces and the Croatian and Bosnia and Herzegovina forces broke out and ravaged Bosnia and Herzegovina. Later, war between ethnic Croats and ethnic Bosnians broke out. The fighting added even more destruction to an already war-torn country. The war caused the bullet holes in those buildings. It also caused the Old Bridge to fall. The unthinkable suffering of this country made me sad. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina managed to bounce back. The rebuilding of the war-torn country began in 2002. I hope Bosnia and Herzegovina can continue to grow peacefully after suffering for so long. 

Overall, I had a fun time in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I saw some cool and unique things. However, I also saw so much tragedy. My experiences there helped me grow as a person. I learned to try and understand other people before jumping to stereotypical conclusions about others. I hope we can all rebuild ourselves in a better way and rise back up. Like Bosnia and Herzegovina did in 2002. I strongly recommend that each of you should go to Mostar and Bosnia and Herzegovina and see what I am talking about for yourselves. I hope you all enjoyed my article. See you next time for more adventures from the traveling teen 🙂

About Me

Hi guys! Welcome to the first post on my blog. I hope you like it.

About Me:

My name is Pranay and I am currently in high school. I created this blog because of my love for travel. After all, I have been to 18 countries despite only being 14! I have to admit, however, that I was not always a travel enthusiast. When I was younger, I would feel as if my parents were dragging me away from my friends to take me to unknown places. I thought they were doing this to make sure that I did not have fun :(. However, the COVID-19 outbreak has made me realize how much I love traveling. I miss traveling a lot right now. I hope we can go on vacation soon. Quarantine has made me realize that the expression “You never know what you have until it’s gone” is so true. However, some good has come out of this quarantine. I’m starting a travel blog now :). I hope that I can show other kids the beauty of traveling through this blog. Trust me, guys, there is more to life than school and Xbox 😜.

Traveling, to me, is learning about different cultures. I find it fascinating to experience how other people live in this big world. Additionally, seeing all these beautiful monuments in different places is truly special. The intricate details put into these historical monuments are amazing. It is hard to imagine the effort people put into building these monuments. Thoughts like this put into perspective how lucky we are to live in this day and age even though it may not seem like it right now. 

Travelling is also about spending time with my family. Usually, my family and I are always busy with work and school. Traveling is a way for us to spend more time together. Going on vacations together has given me so many memories that I will treasure always. It is another part of why I love traveling so much. 

My family is the greatest. My dad loves to crack jokes and is funny. My mom is super nice and loves to look out for me. Oh man, I just realized they are going to be reading this!! One of their favorite things to do is to plan trips. Don’t get me wrong I love to learn a little bit about the places we are going to before going there. However, it can get annoying at times. Especially when my dad cracks out his guidebook while we are viewing these cool places. He tells me way too much about the monuments we are going to see. Information overload, I say😜

My younger sister is just the worst sibling ever :). I’m just kidding. She is a great sister who can be annoying at times. She’s sweet and kind and a great person in general. While it is true I find her bothersome at times (particularly when she argues with me), I love her. Overall, my family makes for super travel companions.

That was my first ever post. I hope you enjoyed it. Come back later for more adventures and misadventures of “The traveling teen”! Bye for now! See you next time as we head to Bosnia and Herzegovina.