Adventures in Gastronomy

I’ll try to keep this post concise, bit it’s going to be hard. OK – here goes: Prague is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. Period.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have a soft spot for Paris (which has more cultural opportunities than Prague). And I still find Minneapolis so clean and attractive (for US cities). But Prague had the most gorgeous and clean architecture and lovely vistas and bridges. The people were friendly, the weather (compared to London) was lovely while we were there, it was a very affordable city (though that is likely to change once word gets out), and there is loads to do.

We arrived on a Tuesday afternoon to a spectacular sky. It was cloudy earlier in the day and it was breaking up – providing evening sun (which sets after 9PM) that cast light on buildings with perfect shadows for photo-taking. And the sky was ominous looking in the distance where the clouds had moved off to….but sunny directly above us.

The first thing we did was walk to the river and climb one of the Charles Bridge’s towers. From there we got a spectacular view of the region. For the record, Prague is known as the City of Towers…and for good reason. Nearly every old public building (not residential) comes with a tower or spire of some sort. And many of these towers are available to climb. All told, I think we climbed at least 4 of them – each with a slightly different perspective than the last.

We then crossed the river from Old Town to Lesser Town and had dinner at this lovely little authentic Czech restaurant. Surprisingly, I really loved Czech food (which was something that concerned me since it all sounded so heavy to me in guidebooks). They love their ham, pork, chicken, cheese, and saurkraut – and often incorporate all of those items into every dinner item.

The next day we walked through an outdoor market, down Wenceslas Square, and to the National Museum. The building is gorgeous – but it’s mostly a natural history museum on the inside (which we weren’t to keen on). Oh, another thing I loved about this city was that it offers student discounts to enter everything. By the end of our time there, I’d guess I saved over $20-$25 on entrance fees (compared to Randy) just by showing my Harvard ID.

After the museum, we walked toward the National Theatre (and the river again) before heading back for some rest before going to dinner at a cafe overlooking the Old Town Square.

On Wednesday, we explored the Jewish Quarter. Quite frankly. this tour was a waste. You pay an entrance fee to enter all of these old buildings (mostly churches) but the insides are no longer original – instead it’s all been replaced with various exhibits and displays. You’re also not allowed to take photos. The best part was the Jewish cemetery. Oh well, at least I got the student discount.

The next day we decided to take the funiculaire up Petrin (Love) Hill – a huge park across the river. The park is enormous and we climbed to the top of Petrin Tower (a mini Eiffel Tower) which afforded spectacular views from perhaps the highest vantage point in the city. It’s simply breathtaking to look down at all of the red-roofed buildings and distant rolling hills.

We finally returned back into Old Town (where we were staying) and climbed the old Town Hall Tower. This tower offered the best view of the old downtown area.

On Friday we finally tackled Prague Castle. This really isn’t a castle, per se. More of a palace with a few churches inside. It is enormous, however, and more of a fortified town. Still it was interesting. Perched atop a large hill, the castle has gigantic gardens, a gothic cathedral (with yet another tower we climbed), a shopping district, the former royal residence and housing for the workers (built into the side of the fortified wall).

By that night we were exhausted. We did a little bit of shopping (gift for mom, of course) and walked through the city a bit more…soaking up the architecture and atmosphere.

The only two downsides to the trip were that the city was swarming with tourists – even midweek. I think this was the most touristy place I’d ever been to. The second downside (for me, as a non-drug user) was that there was only one time (out of dozens) where we walked through the Old Town Square and weren’t asked if we wanted to buy drugs. It’s not dangerous at all (the place is swarming with people day and night and there is a constant presence of police to offer directions or assistance). I guess pot (or ganja, as they kept calling it) is something the police worry about.

All in all, I absolutely loved Prague. I can’t recommend it enough. I suspect it’s going to get more expensive as more and more people discover it’s beauty…and when it starts using the Euro in the near future. Hopefully these things won’t ruin the city. I definitely want to return and explore more of the city – and more of the surrounding hills (where you can find castles and old towns.

Here are just a few (of my) crappy photos. Randy’s are better and the bulk will eventually appear in my Yahoo Photo Gallery.

This is the view from Charles Bridge (on that first day I mentioned with the spectacular sky)

That’s me (duh) on the wall of Prague Castle, overlooking Lesser Town.

…and Randy, same bat channel, same bat time.

This is the view looking down from the tower at Old Town Hall.

This is one of the buildings overlooking Old Town Square.

Finally, Prague Castle from the Tower on top of nearby Petrin Hill. The green-topped tower in the center of the photo is the one we climbed.

June 6th, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl

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