Eurotrip - Prague, Czech Republic

In Prague, Dom left to the UK to attend a wedding, so it was up to Jen and I to explore Prague. My first impressions of Prague was at night, I was able to order dinner in Russian as the waitress didnt speak English. Felt very similar to Moscow. I was starting to feel a little cold and a sore throat, it was time to slow down a little. Jens friend who studied for a semester in Prague sent her an email about things to do in Prague (I pasted the email at bottom of the blog), we only had time to do a few things on there and they were great suggestions.

The first day we just bummed around, seeing the obvious stuff and went to dinner @ At Pivovarsky Dum, a top 10 brew pub in Europe, we had a great dinner and Czech beer. This is where a couple, seated next to us told us about "Free tours".

Charles Bridge

Prague Castle

John Lennon Wall

Pivovarsky Dum

A free tour is where you meet once a day w/ a tour guide, usually walking and they walk you around for 3 hours and show you the city, at the end if you like them, you tip about 5-10 euro. This couple was from UK and Portugal, they travel to a different spot in Europe on the weekends sometime and seem to be dating. She seemed really fond of Portugal and their beaches over Spain or France. After dinner, we went to an underground bar, SUDU,  that Jens friend recommended and were able to tough it out just for a few hours, smoking laws havent taken affect yet in Prague, so it was tough to be in an underground dungeon where everyone was smoking. I did like the bar though, nice vibe, but smokey, very smokey.

Next day, Jen and I  got up and went on the tour. This is a 3 hour Free walking tour, our first one. The walking tour was interesting and i learned how the transfer of government happened in Prague. First the Germans invade in WW2, then after WW2, Russians controlled Czech government via the military as one of the satellite states. Then after the Velvet revolution, they chose to go democratic. Then Slavakia separated to create an independent state as they felt like they could manage shit better. According to our guide, they can. An interesting personal story from the guide, whose grandfather lived through all these changes of government, regimes, etc (20 years).

We drew great partners at the preplanned lunch in Emilie and Ellie. At the end of the tour, we made plans to hang out, get drinks and dinner and meet at one of Jens friends suggestions below, Beer Museum.

Met Emilie and Ellie later in the night at the Beer Museum, another good (smoky) suggestion. Overall the Czech are very proud of their beers, especially the Pilsners, the beer is cheaper then water at most restaurants. The rest of the night we spent at a shisha bar and night club, having fun, goofing around and getting to know each other. 

Emilie and Ellie sold their business back home in Minnesota and decided to take a 10 month trip around the world, starting with hiking a section of the PCT, now Europe, then South east asia and back to Europe. An amazing trip idea :)

The last day in Prague was a hangover day, we tried to do a castle tour, but decided to get dinner at the monastery by the castle instead. As always the food and beer were great, it was time that we packed it up and headed for Berlin to reconnect with Dom...

My take - Prague had exactly what I wanted from my travels different culture, interesting history, great different food and beer, meeting fun adventurous people and partying all night. Overall, it has a unique vibe that is different from western europe. Its also kind of cool that it has old, medieval stuff throughout the town. Although cool and we had fun, the city does have a shady vibe to it (Russian like), so, definitely watch your back and stay off the main drag to not be taken advantage of

Jens friends email,

I am so excited that you will be journeying to Prague. I miss it dearly, so I hope you enjoy it! I have written a ridiculously long letter with probably more info than you’ll ever need but once I started writing I got nostalgic and just couldn’t stop. I have divided everything into categories. When we went to Berlin Matt’s brother outlined a ton of stuff for us to do and made our trip so much more productive, even though we couldn’t do everything on the list it was nice because it kept us moving. I hope this does the same for you.

General Info:

Na Zdravi!!! (This means Cheers! Say it every time you drink a beer for me!)

Initial things to know about Prague:

You’ll probably mostly be around tourist but should you ever wander away from the main tourist spots you should always remember that Prague is a former communist country. You may not be able to see the signs in just one weekend of being there but you can see it in the people. If you walk up to a random Czech to ask directions, chances are they won’t speak English. Only people our age or younger speak English because it wasn’t allowed to be taught until 1991.

Also, they’re not the friendliest bunch… They don’t mean to be rude and they genuinely don’t think they’re being rude they just tend to keep to themselves. Be prepared to be the loudest people in the room at most places you go. Young Czechs are friendly and cool though!!

When you get there you’ll need to exchange your money for Czech Crowns. Not a ton of places take cards so you’ll need cash. When I was there 100 Czech Crowns was about $6.

Drink beer. And lot’s of it. Beer is cheaper than water in most Czech restaurants and Pilsner is the beer of the Czech Republic. Don’t be afraid to try the goulash and bread dumplings. It’s their traditional dish and is always pretty tasty. They don’t have a lot of veggies so don’t bother looking for them. They like starch and meat.

More phrases to know:

Dekuji- (Dee Kwi)- Thank you!

Dobry Den (doe-bre-den)- Hello, Good Day!

Pivo (Pee-Vo)- Beer

Un Pivo Prosim (Un- Pee-Vo-Pro-Seem)- One beer please

Un check prosim (Un-check-pro-seem)- Check please!

I think that should be enough culture for one weekend… I’m sorry this is so long!!!!!

Things to See:

-Old Town Square

This is my favorite place in Prague. You can go here and find the guys with yellow umbrellas from trip advisor and they’ll take you on a free tour. It’s a great way to see the city! Halfway through the tour they’ll ask you to buy tickets for their pub-crawl. Do the pub-crawl, don’t do the pub-crawl. It’s a great time but not a must.

-Charles Bridge

It may sound ridiculous but there is no sight in the world that compares to Charles Bridge at sunrise. I would recommend either staying up all night or waking up early to see it rise here. It gets really packed during the day but if you can’t see it at sunrise you still HAVE to see it at some point. Beautiful, eerie statues.

-Prague Castle

There should be these guys in Old Towne Square with red umbrellas. You pay them like 200 crowns ($12) and they’ll take you on a pretty good tour of Prague Castle.

-Gardens

There are several miscellaneous gardens around the castle, you can ask your tour guide to point you to a really great one. They’re beautiful, often have peacocks and it’s a nice calm thing to do.  (If you have to choose, do the Lennon wall, not gardens).

-Lennon Wall

Okay when you come off the Charles Bridge (headed opposite Old Town Square) take your first left. Follow this road, past Bohemian Bagel, past Anglo-American University (MY SCHOOL!!). Stay to the left and just veer around with the road. Eventually you should stumble upon the Lennon wall.

The Lennon wall started the day Lennon died. A few kids snuck out during the night to paint a memorial for him. When they woke up the next day it was painted over. The communist wouldn’t allow the painting so every night the kids would paint the wall until finally the police stopped bothering to paint it over. It’s not only a nod to Lennon but also a symbol of Czech’s time under the USSR.

-Locks of Love Fence

Not far from the Lennon wall is a fence covered in backpackers’ locks. They say if you leave a lock on the gate with someone you love, you’ll love them forever.

-Petrin Hill aka Poor Man’s Eiffel Tower

It is a beautiful view of the city and nice hike to get there.  But do the things listed above first. There is also this beautiful rose garden and small maze.

- Jewish Cemetary

You’ll pass it on your Old Town square tour, if you go on it, and that will probably be all you’ll need to see. If for some reason you don’t see it on the tour, make a point to swing by. It’s pretty amazing and sobering at the same time.

-Prague Zoo

Consistently one of the Top 10 Zoos in the world and it was always a favorite place of the guys. Before we went I was like whatever, it’s a Zoo. But I’ll admit it’s a pretty awesome Zoo. Takes a while to get out there and it would take an entire day, but Prague doesn’t have good museums so if you find yourself with 4 hours to spare, I’d say it’s worth it. There’s a bat cave you walk thru AND a polar bear.

This should be enough… But if for some reason you have some extra time, message me and I’ll find y’all something to do ASAP.

Places to Eat:

-Klasterni Pivovar

Eat here when you visit Prague Castle!! It’s a little walk up the hill from Prague castle but it’s worth it. Ate my last Prague meal here. It’s a monastery that brews its own beer. They have beer bread, beer soup, beer goulash and beer ice cream. But don’t worry it doesn’t all taste like beer! But it is all delicious!

-Pivovarsky Dum

Great authentic Czech food and it’s down in this cool basement and very small. This is where Anthony Bourdain eats when he comes to town, but it’s not that expensive don’t worry. Gotta eat here! Although it is also off the beaten path.

-Café Colore

Only ate there once for breakfast but it was yummy. A lot of girls would go for dinner.

-Café Louvre

Yum!

-Don’t eat right in Old Town Square

Walk a few blocks away and just stumble in someplace or tripadvisor something. But if you eat close to the square you will get ripped off.  Trip advisor is always a safe bet in Prague.

Completely random but there is a place on the street just down from where you would enter the park to climb up to Petrin Hill. It is a little coffee and pastry shop with white stucco and green shutters. Their desserts are amazing & so cute. If you see it, you should go! If you pass the Communism park memorial statues, you have gone too far.

Clubs & Bars (C=Club; B=Bar or Pub)

-Rodust FX (C)

This is where Rihanna filmed Please Don’t Stop the Music. It’s a restaurant up top, although I never ate there and then the basement is the club. And it is pretty awesome. You get on the 11 Tram from Venesclaes Square, up behind the museum at the end of the square and take it like 3 stops or so, and then it will be on your left.

-U Sudu (B)

You can get to U Sudu from the 9 and the 26 trams. It’s two stops from Venecleas Square. It is an underground cave bar and it. Is. Awesome. If you don’t even want to go out the whole time you’re there, you at least need to go here. It’s very chill; they have a pool table and stuff, plus cheap beer!

-Beer Museum (B)

People may tell you to go to the Beer Factory, but go here instead. It’s cheaper and the sampler beers are perfect. Plus a lot the beer is unique to the Czech Republic. Fun and relaxed place.

- Roxxy (C)

It is right across the street from Beer Museum and is club that plays mostly dubstep. Lots of Native Czechs and a pretty good time, but not the best club Prague has to offer.

- Double Trouble (C/B)

Not far off Old Town Square, this bar/club is underground like U Sudu but it much more popular. There are always a ton of guys on stag weekends.

-Chapeaux Rouge (C)

Cool club around Old Town Square with a good mix of tourist and natives. Multiple stories and normally a lot of fun.

-Mecca (C)

The downstairs plays throwback 90s music; the upstairs is today’s hits. This place was always a favorite of mine. We had Mecca Wednesdays but it is kinda far out there, like in Prague 5. You’ll most likely be in Prague 1 the whole trip.