Prague is my favorite city in Europe. Having visited in two different decades, once in 1997 and again in 2004, I feel lucky to have seen the remarkably inexpensive and lovely city Prague was before the tourist invasion. Today, despite gads of visitors running around with cameras, Prague, now a remarkably cosmopolitan city where one can hear several languages spoken in the midst of Old Town Square, still retains its irresistible charm.

My return trip to Prague coincided with my favorite holiday, Halloween, and I was thrilled to see a few American children in costume. The cobblestone streets and medieval architecture made Prague the perfect spot to celebrate a holiday devoted to ghouls and goblins. On that very evening, my boyfriend and I, on a weekend jaunt from Poland, where we were living at the time, enjoyed mulled wine and roasted nuts as we watched the fifteenth-century astronomical clock tower work its magic, the little figures of Jesus, his disciples, and death rolling out before us.

The next day we set out with a list of record shops and bookstores. We found the Globe Bookstore and Coffee Shop, a warm, well-lit shop full of English-language books, definitely a must-see for any English speaker living in Eastern Europe. Then, I left my boyfriend to flip through old records in the center of the city and discovered Havalske Trziste, Prague’s central market, with tables bearing puppets, marzipan candies, leather goods, and ceramics. Later, we made our way over to Wenceslas Square, a glorious boulevard lined with shops and leading to the National Museum. We breathed in the scents of sausages wafting from street vendors and ducked into a restaurant to sample fried camembert with berry jam.

On our final day, we walked across the romantic Charles Bridge and headed up a long, steep cobblestone street that looked like it hadn’t changed in a century (ignoring the cars, of course) to catch the sumptuous view from the castle grounds. I had a picture in my mind of how it had last appeared and was happy to find the view unchanged. Hundreds of red rooftops stretched over the hills, and I thought of how fortunate we were that here was one city virtually untouched by the excessive bombings of World War II. Perhaps Prague’s old-world charm will remain under such miraculous protection as the European Union brings its own changes.