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Published: August 25th 2008
There is no question that Prague is an attractive city. It is very pretty. The Old Town of Prague is particularly picturesque and is exactly what you see on the postcards - with its narrow, cobbled streets, and grand, almost fairytale-like buildings, so full of history. Prior to arriving in Prague by train, we'd been really looking forward to spending time there. We expected that we would love the place - everyone else seemed to; and we did like it.....we just didn't fall in love with it. Its impression wasn't a lasting one. We also found that the huge amount of people and tour groups made it slightly difficult to take in the full ambiance of the place. Nonetheless, we tried our best to learn a bit of Czech, sample as many Czech beers and eat as much Czech food as we could, and see the sights...as well as meeting up again with our Aussie mate Dylan for more Euro 2008 encounters in local backstreet bars.
Like a Venus Fly Trap, but for Tourists
One of the things you immediately notice in Prague is that if you eat or drink near the main tourist attractions, like Wenceslas Square, you will
pay four times the price of what you will pay 200m down the road from the tourist area. Generally the food is of an inferior quality near the tourist traps as well. So, we spent quite a bit of time tramping through the back streets searching out cheap eats and drinks. Czech food is quite good, especially for those who aren't into chilli or spicy food. There are some spices in the food, but they're quite subtle, and typical Czech food is a goulash-like main meal with bread dumplings to soak up the gravy. There is often a wide selection of potato and sausage on offer at most local restaurants too. We found the food to be hearty, but generally not that exciting on the taste buds.
BEER
Buy a beer on Wenceslas Square, pay 90 kr ($6) for 0.5 litres of beer. Walk 200m up the street to an upmarket Czech restaurant, pay 23 kr. ($1.60) for the same thing. It is also worth noting that beer is often the cheapest beverage when travelling through the Czech Republic, usually costing less than bottled water or soft drink.
Some of the better beers on offer included Pilsner Urquell,
the original Pilsner-type beer, Budvar (the original Budweiser), Velvet (named after the Velvet revolution) but they were really universally excellent.
Our favourite beer experience in Prague was when we were travelling around with Dylan and we stumbled across a tiny beer garden on the top of the hill next to Prague castle, which overlooked the whole city. The beer was cheap and they had huge umbrellas which gave much-needed shelter from the blazing sun. After a full-on day of sightseeing, we felt like kings surveying our domain.
I have to say that there is not yet one beer I've encountered in Europe that I didn't like, and all Aussies should make a beer pilgrimage to Europe in their lifetime. Queenslanders especially should make their way to Europe, if only to wash out the taste of that fermented cats-piss they call XXXX.
Museum of Communism
Being a pair of nerds, we did the usual nerd thing and checked out a museum whilst in Prague. The history of communism in Czechoslovakia (now the modern Czech Republic and Slovakia) is actually quite interesting. The tiny museum (whose advertisements contain an image of a Russian doll with the face and teeth
A Damn Fine View
Waiting for a cold beer in the beer garden near Prague Castleof a monster) is split into three sections detailing communism “The Dream, the Reality and the Nightmare”, and if like us, your knowledge on Czech Communism is sketchy, then the museum is definitely worth a visit.
Alongside the wall-to-wall information boards, the museum has exhibits on some of the soviet achievements - Soviets built the first ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) and we often forget that the Russians did pretty well, if not won the space race, when you consider it objectively: first satellite, first animal in space, first man in space, first man in orbit, first spacewalk, first unmanned moon landing, first unmanned rover, first space station; basically most of the major milestones except for walking on the moon and first human orbit of the moon. I think we lose sight of this when we celebrate the moon landing.
There are also some parallels from communist Czechoslovakia to modern times, which the museum is quite open about. What seemed most familiar was the section on Soviet propaganda, which was designed to instill a sense of fear in the population, so that they could be ruled more effectively. The common theme of much of the propaganda was that the
US was a warmonger and that there was an imminent threat from these capitalist oppressors who were said to be building weapons of mass destruction. This 'threat' justified the size of the military and “preventive” wars, where the Soviets occupied countries like Poland and Hungary, to stop the threat of capitalism........ ring any bells?
The museum did prove a little difficult to locate, and saw us spend a good hour wandering in the wrong direction, before we finally happened upon it sandwiched between a casino and a Mcdonalds. In fact, the entrance of the museum is ironically located in the front foyer of the casino.
Canoeing in Cesky Krumlov
Cesky Krumlov (pronounced Chess-key Kroom-lov) was a great stop after Prague. It is a world heritage listed town that sits in a valley below a castle in the middle of the Czech countryside. It is very pretty, very quaint, and very relaxing. It also has a river that passes through the town, where you can watch people paddle by in their canoes. Both the locals and the tourists go canoeing and most trips are about 4 hours, or 15km though some are full day trips.
Our hostel was
perfectly located next to said river, in a lovely old building. Our room was in the attic area of the guesthouse, where the slanted ceiling was so low that you risked serious concussion should you rise from your bed too quickly. Definitely not meant for us tall people. Still it was cheap, and had bundles of character, so that was the main thing.
We decided that we'd had enough of wandering through old buildings and sight-seeing already, so one day we followed the crowd and hired ourselves a 2-person canoe, and set off on a 15km paddle downstream. It was so nice to get away from the towns and cities, and just cruise down the river, and out into the countryside, for a few hours. After spending so much time in Europe walking through cities it was great to get into the countryside.
Most people seemed to be taking beer in their canoes with them - we wish we'd thought of it too. Not to worry though, there were plenty of riverside bars where you could have a cold afternoon beverage. You just pull over by the riverbank, tie up your canoe, and hop onto dry land for
an hour or so, before continuing on your way. Very pleasant. The bars also had (much-needed) toilets and maps to show how far along the river you were. It was a great way to do a bit of people watching too.
Most of the Czech people wandering about were very jolly and had a good stash of beer in their boats already. Quite a few of the middle aged Czech blokes were paddling around with impressive bronzed beer bellies. Whilst on the river, they'd take their shirts off and sing various songs in a loud and enthusiastic fashion, swaying in their canoes and slowly turning pink in the hot sun. They'd also yell out 'Ahoy!' ('Hi!' in Czech) to any passing boat. Perhaps the first pirates were Czech.
Brewery Tour of Plzen
After a couple of days relaxing in Cesky Krumlov, it was time to move on and catch the train again, this time to Plzen (or Pilsen) - the fourth most populated city in the Czech Republic, located in West Bohemia. After a short detour on the wrong train for a few hours (we caught a historic sightseeing steam train rather than the modern train - we
thought it was bit odd that the Czech Republic still used steam power!). We finally made it to Plzen.
We decided to spend a couple of days in Plzen because we'd heard it was a bit less touristy and it is also the home of the original Pilsner Urquell brewery - something which Czech people are very proud of. It only seemed right that since we were in the area, we should do a brewery tour, and sample some of the famed beer for ourselves direct from the source. The tour was interesting enough, and at the end they took us into the (very cold) cellars, where we were able to sample some of the golden beer from one of the barrels. Direct from the barrel Pilsner was quite bitter - perhaps because it had not been filtered or pasteurised yet. If you're into beer, the brewery is definitely worth a visit. It also worth having something to eat in the on-site restaurant "Na Spilce" - as we did. They offer very good Czech food and it's surprisingly cheap.
Plzen itself is a decent city to spend a couple of days in. There isn't a lot going on
Beer and Bread
Is there anything better? in the way of tourist attractions, but it has a nice Old Town area, similar colourful historic buildings as you'd find in Prague, with some impressive Gothic architecture thrown in, and a burgeoning cafe/bar culture. The food and drink is also significantly cheaper than in the capital, as one might expect.
We actually went to the cinema a few times in Plzen - which might sound like a strange thing to do, but the movies were in English and when you're living in China, these sorts of opportunities are hard to come by.
All in all, we enjoyed our visit to the Czech Republic. It is a beautiful country and a relaxing place to spend some time in. It was definitely nice to move away from Prague and visit the lesser known places, and if we return we'll pass on Prague and keep exploring a little further afield. After Plzen, we had another train to catch that would take us East. Next stop Poland.
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Enrico
non-member comment
Cool
Hey Toby i like your moonwalk:) I was convinced that the Urquell is german. It probably was untill we had to give it back, damn it:)