Advertisement
Published: September 13th 2018
Our last day in Central Europe arrived way too soon.
Our third day in Prague, and our third disappointment. This time it was entirely our fault. We had been traveling too long, I guess, and forgot what day it was. We made our way to the Jewish Quarter, looking forward to visiting the synagogues and cemetery, only to realize it was the Sabbath and everything was closed.
We had to be contented to walk by Maiselova Synagogue, now a museum, Spanelska Synagogue, and Staronova Synagogue without going in. I particularly wanted to see the Old Jewish Cemetery, but it was not to be.
So, what else can one do? We decided right then and there that it was the universe's way of telling us we have to go back to Prague. Whether combined with the German Oktoberfest, or going back during Christmas Market season I don't know, but back in Prague we will be, and see everything we missed this time!
After Josefov, we decided to once more to do a little exploring.
Our first stop was the Klementinum. The Baroque library is no longer open to the public, much to my disappointment, and can only
be glimpsed through the doors. I wish they would have done like some other places and rope off a path through it to be able to look at the priceless world globes and astronomical clocks in the center of the library at close range. One particular world globe is worth millions or dollars. Regardless, a look at the beautiful ceiling frescoes is worth a visit. They took twelve years to be painted and it shows. Also worth it is the view from the tower, even if the climb to the tower by means of narrow, steep spiral stairways is a big alarming and could be physically demanding for some people.
Then, we made our way to another fabulous watering hall for a taste of their home brewed beer, Pivovar U Supa Brewery. We almost got sidetracked into entering another pub we had passed a couple of times. It was lively, and the lined up six beers tasting looked very attractive, but the name was The Fat Cat. Yep, in English, and one glimpse through the entrance doors showed the prominent position inside of a big screen TV. A sports bar? NOOOPE! We continued our search for the less well
situated but much more worth it U Supa.
The extra effort was well spent. U Supa ended up being my favorite pub. It was crowded when we got there and the tables outside and on the back patio were full, so we chose a cozy table by a back window for our tasting, and chose both the light and the dark home brewed beers to taste. One big thing in Prague is the half and half beers. They mix light and dark to come up with a very nice tan mix, but we didn't do it here. We tried each beer on its own. Oh, popular also is the "split" which is half foam, half beer and, even more weird, a full foam version that I forgot what it's called. Yes. People do order just foam!
We also decided we could not leave without tasting some Czech cheeses, so we ordered a platter that had very generous portions of what turned out to be really good cheeses, but no crackers! Hmm. So, there were some pretzels on the table and we helped ourselves. It did not come as a surprise when our bill came that we were charged
for each pretzel. Four pretzels, 100 koruna more!
Needless to say, when we left there we were wishing we had cancelled the restaurant reservation for that evening. It was at Lokal, in Mala Strana. Too late!
LOL! I wish I was less of a pushover. I originally had planned to have more of the fried cheese, but we had just had a full platter of cheese and I was curious about the waiter's recommendation of their pride and joy, the braised beef in cream sauce since I am a meat lover. Alas! He also said it was best having it with the dumplings! Gulp! Sigh. Looking at his angelic blond face and big smile, I could not say what was in my mind about the dumplings. So, I smiled back and said OK, with the consolation that I was not really hungry so I would not leave there starving if I left most of it, which I did. Not even dunked in the very good cream sauce could I eat more than two. Oh, how I wished for some plain white rice! But their unfiltered beer was delicious and, that, I did have two!
We also decided
to end our last night with a toast using the popular plum brandy type liquor (Slivovitz) that we had seen in every menu. Wow! Lokal had their own, and it was pure fire water, although after a couple of sips we developed a taste for it.
We crawled back to the hotel to prepare for the long haul home. It had been a visit with disappointing twists, but all in all it had been a wonderful time.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 33; dbt: 0.0354s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
