10 Differences Prague vs Moscow

Matt
Matt
Aug 8, 2017 · 4 min read

I’ve spent more than half a year living in Moscow over the past 14 months and now I’m revisiting Prague for the first time since 2015. I thought I knew Prague well but having experienced its Eastern Slavic cousin it’s been interesting to me to re-experience it and see how these two cities compare. So here are 10 differences between Prague and Moscow that I’ve noticed.

  1. Prague is the centre
    Outside of the centre, things tail off pretty steeply, even quicker than back home in Adelaide. 15 minutes by metro (about 6 stops) from the middle of the city and it feels like living in a sleepy country town. The 10 story apartment building I’m living in towers over the 2 and 3 story cottages that dot the single lane streets and avenues of my district. One supermarket stands alone to service the district surrounding my metro and I’m pretty sure it’s even closed on Sundays.
    By contrast in Moscow I was living 45 minutes from the Kremlin and there were 5 supermarkets within a 5–10 minute walking radius. On the one hand, you can’t beat the convenience of Moscow where everything is plenty, on the other hand, there’s something tranquil and relaxing about about being in Prague that no matter where you go in the Russian capital you can’t find something similar. You trade the convenience of your immediate area with the convenience of the city at large. Today I wanted sign up to a gym that was two metro stops away, something you wouldn’t dream of in Moscow.
  2. A Tale of Two Metros
    The Moscow Metro dwarfs Prague’s, no doubt about it. With only three lines and three connecting stations, it’s difficult to even compare the two. However, the Prague Metro is a better example of public transportation. The stations are clearly designed for the purpose of being a public transport system with friendly signage and intuitive design, where as Moscow’s stations, while indubitably more grandiose and opulent in their architecture and vision, don’t have much time for user friendliness. The difficulty level for navigating the Moscow Metro is level 99 boss compared to Prague’s baby’s first Metro. (Well Helsinki, you still win for being the least complicated Metro in the world hehe)
  3. Everyone in Prague is tanned
    It’s a possibility that the cold, rainy, faux Summer we’ve had this year in Moscow has made this more of an issue, but it seems everyone walking about here is several shades darker than in Moscow.
  4. Muslims, Check. Diversity, Czech (see what I did there…)
    While you do see pockets of diversity in Moscow, it’s usually in the form of Uzbek or Kazak migrants, rather than anyone middle eastern. I’ve seen more hijabs, burkas and different ethnicity groups in my two days back in Prague than I did in several months living in Russia.
  5. Your friendly neighbourhood bohemians
    In Prague, pretty much every elevator ride with your neighbors begins with a “dobry den” (good day) and ends with a “something arather” (goodbye) that being said…
  6. The level of English in Prague is worse
    This might or might not be the case, but at least it feels that way to me. The people here who speak “a little bit” of English, usually speak it a lot worse than the “little bit” of English spoken by those in Moscow. And what more..
  7. Knowing Russian seems to be pretty useless…
    For me so far, I’ve been trying to use Russian as a first step at attempting to communicate rather than English, this hasn’t gone well and actually seems to make people angry. This has the effect of making me feel more alien in Prague than I do in Moscow, where if English isn’t spoken I can at least communicate what I want on some elementary level.
  8. Czech cuisine is one of the best in the world, Russian cuisine is Shaslik or gtfo
    I love Czech food so much, it’s peasant, hearty, delicious. Russian food on the other hand is slop. Other than Shaslik you might as well be eating dirt.
  9. Russian women are way more beautiful on average
    Czech women have weird noses. Don’t know what that’s about, but weird Michael Jackson like noses are pretty common here.
  10. Prague is so much cleaner
    If you’re comparing the center of Moscow with the center of Prague, it’s a pretty close call as to which one is more beautiful. Prague has its old town charm, paved roads and red roof tops, where as Moscow simply takes your breath away with its size and breadth. As you move further out tho, Moscow becomes a much more dreary looking place. Not in terms of poverty, no one is living in huts, but the buildings are an ugly template of grey repetition. In Moscow they’re always driving around with water tanks cleaning the streets but never seeming to actually make them look any cleaner. Prague by contrast, maintains its beauty at a far greater radius.
Matt

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Avid F1 and NBA fan. I sometimes write about travel, women or sport.

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