Since our return from Europe, something has been nagging at me about our travels to Prague. And that is … I really didn’t like it. I know that is blasphemy in this travel-savvy world, but I don’t want to return there for quite some time.

Yes, Prague is filled with architectural masterpieces and old-world charm; the Charles Bridge is simply spectacular. But I felt uncomfortable the entire time I was there.

Perhaps it was the rip-off cab driver who grossly overcharged us that started it all. We thought we were choosing a driver from The “Fair Price” area, but I guess not. That should have been a tip-off to what was ahead.

Then the dozens of people who approached us asking if we wanted to exchange money. (I still can’t figure out why anyone would exchange money with some stranger who walks up to you on the street)

I was also put off by the relentless crush of people moving through the narrow streets behind someone lifting an umbrella high in the air. Tourists like ourselves…thousands of them in front of every monument, inside every building. One of the reasons we travel on our own is because I am uncomfortable in tight crowds, and here I felt like I was squashed in the middle of it all. This might not be an issue for most travelers to Prague, but I know that there are others like myself. We were there in late September; I can only imagine the crowds in summer!

Then there is the fact that even though the Czech Republic is not yet on the Euro, Prague is still as expensive as any other European city, with fewer choices for dining and hotels. No bargains here. And speaking of dining, we noticed at the bottom of the menu card at more than one restaurant the warning: Demand a receipt from your waiter or waitress. If you do not receive a receipt, contact the management. This means that the restaurant owner does not trust his or her own employees not to steal. A sad case.

And finally, for the corker…We stayed at a nice, moderate hotel near the old town and used the lobby each evening to write our posts. One night as we were typing, two men flew down the nearby steps in the middle of some fight. We found out from the receptionist that the police had been called because the one fellow had been caught stealing goods from the employee’s lockers. The hotel security guard had him in a back room when he tried to escape right before our eyes. The police arrived shortly thereafter and we could hear how that was going because the back room was just a few yards away. It was not going well for the thief. We could hear him crying as the police meted out their own form of justice.

The Czech Republic won their freedom from the Soviet Union in 1989, but there seems to be a lot of baggage from the old way of life that has lingered. If you want to travel to Prague, you need to know up front that it is not like most Western European cities; it has a lot to offer and offers a lot to think about as well.  The tourist areas have a myriad of beautiful buildings to visit, but the soul of Prague is still not well.