A Fantastic Day

It really doesn’t get any better than today. We were on the Charles Bridge at dawn to see the sunrise, then out for a self-guided walking tour for several hours, and then a foodie tour that included history and culture and a great group of people.

We were out of the apartment around 6:30 making our way through Old Town. It was great to see it at that time of day, just starting to wake up but really quiet and empty. We were the only ones on the streets – streets that were teeming with people just a few hours later. The bridge did have a few people, some jogging and some waiting on the sunrise like us. A few hours later, hundreds of people were strolling the bridge.

When the sky was full of light, we returned to the apartment for coffee and to get ready for the day.

Exterior of our apartment, located where the first set of windows is shown

By 10 a.m., we were out walking and listening to an audio tour describing the sites, history and architecture of Old Town and New Town. The tour began at the statue of Good King Wenceslas (actually Saint Wenceslas) in the square that carries his name. It’s not really a square, but instead a long boulevard with a pedestrian walkway in the center. It is an important space for Prague and for the Czech people, as it is where freedom was claimed, lost and claimed again. The square hosted the celebration in 1918 of the creation of the Czechoslovak state. Soviet tanks rolled through the square in 1968 to suppress a Czech uprising, and then, in 1989, more than 300,000 Czechs filled the boulevard every night for two weeks to demand freedom during the Velvet Revolution. They jingled their key chains as a symbolic sign for the Communists to leave the city. It was then that the Communist government resigned and democracy won.

The tour first took us through New Town.

A memorial to Jan Palach, a student who set himself on fire in 1969 to protest the Communist regime

We continued down the boulevard, taking in the views and enjoying the busy vibe.

One of Prague’s original modern trolleys, now a cafe

As noon approached, street carts were beginning to serve food. We didn’t want to eat much since we had reservations for the food tour, so we split a paprika-forward frankfurter. I’m not a hotdog fan at all, but this was pretty good. It didn’t have that bologna taste that I don’t like and it was grilled kind of crispy. The mustard was muted, and the bun was fresh.

Several venders were cooking meat over live fires in this area

After lunch, it was back to the audio tour to see and learn more about the city. The Powder Tower is the former main gate to the city and the only surviving part of the wall built in the 1400s.

The Municipal House, built in the early 1900s, is considered the Pearl of Czech Art Nouveau. It is home to a bar, cafe, restaurant, performance hall and more.

One of the most interesting structures in New Town is a Cubist design known as the House of the Black Madonna.

The tour then led us back into the Old Town Square, which is just a few steps from our apartment.

The main monument in the Old Town Square pays tribute to Jan Hus, born in 1369. He became a priest who challenged the Catholic church and secular rulers’ claim to dominion over people. He was burned at the stake for his stance on freedom. The Hussite Wars followed his death and tens of thousands died before the rebellion was crushed by the ruling Habsburgs.

We walked the same route we did at dawn to get to the Charles Bridge, but this time it was much busier with people and open shops. The bridge was also filled with people.

We heard some music and came across these guys playing some Dixieland jazz. They were great, particularly the guy playing a washboard and another metal pan instrument.

Charles Bridge is lined with several statues of Czech patron saints, including this one of St. John of Nepomuk, a 14th Century priest. The queen confessed her secrets to him and legend has it that the king had him killed for refusing to reveal those secrets. Today the tradition is to touch the plaque and make a wish. We hope ours come true.

Back home again to rest a bit and then meet the guide for the food tour. The Prague Foodie Tour from Taste of Prague lived up to and exceeded its 5-star Tripadvisor reputation. Our guide, Anna, was delightful, knowledgeable, funny and just perfect. The Taste of Prague website describes her as a “food nerd,” in the best possible way. She shares stories about food and the role it has played in Czech history and culture – but she knows just as much about the current trends in food in Prague and the country and is able to tie all of that history to the innovative dishes being developed by today’s chefs. Prior to this experience, we thought of Czech food as heavy, and a lot of it is, but some really talented chefs and creative restaurants have put their own twists on those traditional staples and also created entirely new dishes that are wowing locals and tourists.

Little dishes of typical pub food were passed around for everyone to try. We filled our plates with a little meat, horseradish sauce, pickled cheese (better than it sounds) and a few other treats. We did not choose the pickled fish.

The first stop was a very traditional Czech pub, which is rare to find in Old Town. Lokal is a busy place serving traditional Czech pub food and lots of beer. The Czechs drink more beer than any other country and they are proud of it. They also drink better beer. The beer in this pub is unpasteurized, which typically means it must be consumed within about 45 days. That’s not an issue in this pub, where the tanks are refilled every 7 days, meaning the beer is extremely fresh. The taste difference is amazing. As an example, Betsy does not like beer and never drinks it no matter how often I beg her to take a taste. But drinking a beer at this pub is part of the Prague experience, so we both ordered a small mug. Betsy was surprised at how good it was.

This beer tanks get filled several times a day.

Next stop took us back to Wenceslas Square, this time by tram, where we went to a steakhouse located in the lower floor of the former Communist Parliament building, now the National Museum.

The restaurant we experienced, Kantyna, is all about high quality locally sourced products and excellent cooking. The beef is aged on site. This stop in the tour introduced us to some rich, traditional food with creative twists. The dishes are all shared, so everyone gets a few bites.

Beautiful wall of pickled fruits and vegetables in Kantyna

We left Kantyna and took a subway to the Liquid Office, a beautiful cocktail bar. We had a refreshing digestive that included ginger ale and a special liqueur with a long history and a top-secret recipe, Becherovka.

It was a great group and we really enjoyed the company of Carrie and Chris from western Australia.

Back on a tram, we arrived at our last stop, Ezka, a gorgeous open-kitchen restaurant and bakery located in a former industrial space where boilers were produced. We tried their famed burnt potato dish surrounded by a creamy potato sauce and topped with dehydrated grated egg yolk and bit of smoked carp – yes, carp. It did not taste fishy, but just added some smoky umami to the dish. It was excellent.

Desserts were either a caramel treat, which we enjoyed, or something chocolate and then some raspberry sorbet to end the night.

While Anna was definitely the highlight of the tour, the food and restaurants were excellent and the people in our group made the experience even more enjoyable. Everyone was gracious, interesting and fun. We had a group of 11 and we all got along great, which matters when spending four hours together around various tables of food and drink. It’s likely we’ll be in touch with a few of these people again in the future and we look forward to it.

The Art of Design

We are always amazed at the tile designs in European cities, but Prague has such an abundance of cobblestone streets and sidewalks — more than in any city we’ve seen, with the possible exception of Lisbon. Think about the amount of work that has been put into this over the centuries — hand-cut stone, carefully considered design and the actual installation of what has to be millions of stones in this City of Spires. Repairs are still made by hand, with chisels and hammers.