Prague and the Hotel Mucha

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The new Berlin rail station was very organized with excellent signage. We easily found our train and seat reservations and enjoyed the 2nd class comfortable seats for the 4 ½ hour train ride to Prague. The train also had a nice dining car where we enjoyed cold Czech beer and a goulashsuppe.

We arrived at the Prague rail station but couldn’t find our driver from AVE Hotels who was supposed to be waiting for us on the arrival platform. He was nowhere to be found, so we proceeded to the arrivals area. Still no sign of our driver, so I ended up negotiating for 2 taxis to take the 6 of us from the rail station to the hotel. We definitely got ripped off paying $25.00 USD per car for a 7 minute ride to the hotel, but had little choice.

We were greeted with a big smile by the Hotel Mucha Manager, Juri (aka George), who checked us in quickly. The hotel lobby was charming, decorated in art deco but a bit worn. A small bar and restaurant were adjacent to the lobby and a free usage computer was available to guests along with free wi-fi. Informational signs were posted near the elevators with directions on how best to utilize the metro and tram system.

Two nice size elevators transported us to our rooms. We were in a standard double. The room was large with two twin beds and well worn pine furniture. The pillows were flat and the bed linens on the thin side, but the beds were fairly comfortable, albeit a bit hard. The bathrooms were quite large by European standards with a large shelf and glass shower with handheld shower head. A mini bar and electric safe were also included along with an old fashioned 27 inch TV that only had a few cable stations in Czech. However, the free in room wi-fi was very fast.

We rented a wheelchair and got our first taste that Prague is not as handicapped accessible as Berlin. Few of the metro stations had elevators and the trams had very large steps up into the carriage. There were escalators at each metro station, but they moved very rapidly and were difficult to use when carrying a wheelchair.

The metro itself was fairly easy to use and the three lines were well marked. The stations were modern art designed but lacked the electronic count down signs found in most other European city metro stations. Florenc was the stop located one block from our hotel.

We ventured to the Mustek area to visit the Pivovar U Medviku and Restaurant U Medjovak. The place was packed and we had to wait about 45 minutes for a table in the restaurant, but were able to get a table in the brewery where we enjoyed their local brew. We were surrounded by smokers which is one of the big differences between beer halls in Germany and Czech Republic.

The restaurant was a long cellar of rooms with wooden block tables and benches. We snagged a fairly quiet table in the corner and feasted on large plates of pork tenderloin fried in potato pancake batter, roast pork, dumplings and sauerkraut. They also had nice grilled chicken with fresh spinach. The beer served there was Budvar from Cesky Krumlov which is home of the original Czech Budveiser.

After returning to the hotel, Billy and I headed across the street to the local jazz club bar. We walked through a long hallway and then descended several flights into a dark, smoky bar. It had a real Bohemian feel to it. There were a few tables pushed tight together all filled with young people enjoying a night out with friends over beer. They also had interesting photos on the wall showing the great flood damage in 2002 from the over flowing Vtlava River.

We decided to grab the two free seats at the bar. Standing up, I could just about rest my chin on the bar and I needed a step ladder to get up on the bar stool. After eventually getting settled on the bar stool, we enjoyed a half liter glass of Bernadus Lager that comes from an area just north of Plzen. We met a lovely young lady from Prague who was also sitting at the bar. Her name was Lena and we had a great time while she practiced her well spoken English.

We turned in about midnight and had trouble falling asleep with the sound of the trams passing by outside our window. Once the window was closed, the sound proofing worked well and the air conditioner came on which cooled the room fairly well.

George made arrangements for us to get picked up by the tour company at the hotel who took us to the Mustek area to meet our tour. We went with Premiant City Tours on the City, Palace and River tour. The tour vehicle was a nice mini bus with a glass roof, so we could see the beautifully designed copper roofs and frescoed walls of the buildings in the Stare Mesto (old town). Our guide was named John, who unfortunately, was one of the worse guides I’ve ever experienced. He seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but conducting a tour and provided very little information about the city and sights we saw. A guide book would have provided more info.

We did a walking tour through the old palace gardens, watched the uneventful changing of the guard and stopped in St. Vitus Cathedral before heading to the river. We boarded a river cruiser and had a nice one hour float down the river passing under a few of the famous bridges and got great views of the Prague Castle grounds while enjoying an ice cold Kozel dark beer.

After the cruise, we did a short walking tour through the old Jewish ghetto and ended in the old town’s main square with the Astronomical Clock. We bid our guide farewell and strolled through the square where we saw a fashion show and food stall market. We went past the Old Jewish Cemetery, but unfortunately it was closed.

We walked along the river through some lovely green spaces to the Charles Bridge and walked across with the mass of tourists to the old castle grounds with its winding streets. We found an odd group of musicians playing on a stage next to three people eating spaghetti with their hands in a strange performance art. A bit further on, we rewarded ourselves with a rest at a riverside café with cold beer and apple strudel with vanilla ice cream.

We found a tram that stopped close by and had to change trams a couple of times until we found the right direction to drop us back at the metro. A little supermarket next to the metro station was a great place to load up on bottled water for 50 cents a piece and bottled beer for less than $1.00 a piece. We walked the one block back to our hotel for a short rest before heading out for dinner.

George recommended another brewery restaurant downtown that we were able to take the tram to which was the same tram as the one that stopped close to our hotel. We ventured off, but after missing our stop, had to cross and take it back in the other direction. We found the restaurant, but unfortunately they were full and there was no place close by to sit and have a drink to wait for a table to open up. So, we ventured back on the tram and eventually found U Fleku, which is the largest beer hall in Prague. The gatekeeper sent us into the outdoor beer garden because we didn’t have reservations, which was great. It was a beautiful evening and the setting of wooden tables and benches under a garden of chestnut trees was a beautiful setting. There were several large groups of Czechs having a great time after too much beer, laughing and dancing to the roving Czech style mariachi band.

We grabbed a table and enjoyed fried pork filets, roast pork and sauerkraut dishes along with their own brewed dark beer which was quite tasty. They also served trays of Becherovka, a very sweet herbal liquer made in Czech Republic.

It was a short walk to the metro from there and a quick ride back to the hotel for a well deserved rest.

In the morning, we took the metro and tram to the Peltsin Hill park where we caught the funicular to the top. A beautiful rose garden greeted us with winding lanes to the Eiffel Tower looking structure. Ellen and I paid about $6.00 USD for the privilege to climb the 299 steps to the top. The elevator cost an additional $3.00 per person but only held 3 people at a time and had a thirty plus minute wait. The climb wasn’t too bad and the reward was a spectacular view over the city of Prague. We took some photos off the two different viewing platforms and then took an easy stroll back down. We were amazed at the workers hanging off the edge working on the outside of the tower and took dizzying photos of them as well.

We enjoyed a refreshing cold beer in the beer garden underneath the tower and then strolled through the forested lane to the midway funicular station. We took the funicular back down and walked down to the Child of Prague Church. It was a very elaborately decorated church with a lot of gold leaf all dedicated to a baby Jesus statue that was a gift from Spain. The church also housed a museum with all of the statues different garments made of fine silk and jewels.

We caught the tram in front of the church and headed back across the river to old town where we made our way to U Tygra, which is one of Prague’s oldest and traditional small beer pubs. President Clinton was entertained here on his trip about 15 years ago. We took advice and were there when it opened at 3 PM so we could get a seat. The place was small and only had seating for about 40 people. We enjoyed our Pilsner Urquell and then headed over to U Vedvoju Czech Restaurant for some Czech Potato and Herb soup and a cold Kozel beer.

We hopped on the metro one last time to head back to our hotel and stopped at the beer garden outside our metro stop that was set up on the vacant lot where a building collapsed during the flood. We named it “Rubble Park”. The beer was cold and the price was right at less than $1.00 for a small beer.

We had a quick rest and then bid our fond farewell to George who was going on a well deserved two days off. He pointed us to a local restaurant called the Gate, just a block from our hotel. It was a nice contemporary restaurant that served international cuisine. It was nice to eat something other than pork for a change. I had a delicious hand made pasta with goat’s cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. Others had nice large salads, burgers and meat and cheese plates. I also tried a local Moravian Sauvignon Blanc with dinner that was light and crisp and went well with the salad. Dinner and drinks including service charge were about $15.00 per person.

It was a nice ending to our three days in Prague.

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Photos

Rose Window
St. Vitus Cathedral

George
Hotel Mucha Hotel Manager

U Medjovik Restaurant
Ellen, Pat and Helen

Metro Escalator
A long way down