Plague (Plahg) Brog: Heidi's Top 5

So, let's say you want to go to Prague, but you only have one day to do "not the usual tourist thing"?

I'm the kind of person that goes to the "big sights" just to say I've been there, but I really get my traveling kicks doing "normal" things around town.  I like feeling like I live somewhere, not so much like I'm just paying to stare at [granted, I know that I'm staring at really cool] things.  So, if your touristy style is sort of like mine, then you might think about checking these things out.

#5:  Walk around the Castle District and Malá Strana

Loreta Church

You don't get completely out of the tourist zone in the Castle District, but since it's up a pretty steep hill past the already steep Castle hill, there just aren't as many people up there.  I liked walking up to the Strahov Monastery with its bell towers and bright, white walls.  The roads near the monastery and down to the castle are all pretty quiet and residential, with little old churches and gardens around every corner, it seems.

Along Nový Svět

My favorite road in the Castle District was this little lane called Nový Svět that began behind a few hidden turns near the Loreta church.  The Loreta has a replica of what is believed to be the house St. Mary lived in during the Annunciation.  I would have loved to see it, but we were there after it closed.   Nový Svět ends at the gates of Prague Castle, which is convenient for reorienting yourself at the end of your walk.  I loved the windy streets, flower boxes, colorful walls, teeeeny houses, and intricate doors, lanterns, and doorknobs along this street.

Zámecké schody

To get down from the hill and back into the lower neighborhood of Malá Strana, take the stairs that run along the south of the Castle complex.  We came across the stairs by accident after using the more obvious, sloped roadway to the castle on our way up.  But, the stairs give you a totally better view and take you past some small, not-as-touristy souvenir and Trdelník pastry shops.  We bought our single souvenir along those stairs--a blown egg, dyed blue and etched with a traditional flower design.  It was love at first sight--I just hope I can keep it in one piece.

One last sales pitch-- the stairway is called "Zámecké schody" which just... makes me happy.

Churchill and I

Then, of course, there's Malá Strana, running along the river across from the older, more touristy part of the city.  We stayed over there, so we got to see it a bit.  I really liked seeing old German street names still painted on some walls from when Prague was under the Hapsburgs.  Plus, it's where a lot of the embassies are based, so we walked by our legal homeland for a bit and noticed that Great Britain had installed a Churchill sculpture on their block.

Then, of course, there is The Bambino.  It's a wax doll of the baby Jesus that is enshrined in a church in the neighborhood.  Apparently it has quite a cult following and you can easily find its church from all the Bambino souvenier shops across the street.  We saw the Bambino.  We were duly reverent about it.  We saw the photo on the wall showing when the Pope saw the Bambino.  The Pope!  So, you might want to see the Bambino--if only so you can keep saying "Bambino" as you walk to it.


Of course, one of the best things about >Malá Strana is its most beloved Cafe Savoy.  It was around the corner from our hotel, which I took to mean it was fate that we were meant to be together.

#4 Eat at Cafe Savoy and/or Cafe Imperial

Do it.  

I. Love. Good. Food.   And this is where you find it.

And when you go downstairs to the
restrooms, you can look through this
window into the kitchen!
Their gift to the Top Chef
fans of the world.

We just had soup for a meal at the Cafe Savoy and it was one of the most blissful culinary experiences I've had in my life.  SOUP!    Cream of Pea soup!  Of all the soups!  When I get an empty bowl with this pureed potato and crouton sculpture in the middle and then a waiter comes up and slowly pours my [unbelievably good] soup into the bowl in an arty, refined way?   Well, yes, I will love you forever.

I liked the Cafe Savoy because our waiter didn't speak a lick of English.  That can be scary...but it's also a good sign.  You know what else is a good sign?  The fact that this place is perpetually busy.  So, might think about making a reservation.  (Totally Worth It).

The apple strudel there was amazing too.  After struggling through trying to order our soup in really, really bad Czech to our poor confused waiter, there was absolutely no language barrier when we just pointed to the apple strudel display.  He looked at us with a huuuge smile and a knowing nod that said, "You really are intelligent beings, aren't you?"

We went there a few times.  For the strudel.  We were really annoying about the strudel, actually.   It was Hunn crack.

Cafe Imperial, after a late-night meal

I will pay for another train ticket
just to go get more of these eggs.

Then, there's the Cafe Imperial.  It's a little less expensive than the Cafe Savoy (neither one actually being expensive in comparison to American or other European prices), and I had some pretty great food there too.  It's located closer to the main tourist center, a couple blocks away from the famous "Powder Tower."  I'll always love the Cafe Imperial because they let me order Eggs Benedict and Boar with Dumplings at the same time, at 9:30pm, without giving me too much of a "you're weird" eye roll about it.  It was my first try at eggs benedict, and all other egg dishes are now ruined for me.  It was that good.  I could have eaten their eggs benedict all day long till the end of time.  

I'm drooling as I type.  It's very embarrassing.

#3:  Compare Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque religious architecture

One of the cooler things I thought about our Prague trip was that I got to see fantastic examples of a Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque church in the same day.  For anyone who has taken and actually remember a bit from Humanities 201 and 202, that's sort of the architectural order big European churches went in history (And I know I'm excluding others like Rococo, Renaissance, Neo-gothic, and all that).   I loved my Humanities degree, and so I still remember a lot about the way arches and vaulting changed through the middle ages and through the renaissance into the modern age.  But, it was so amazing to see all those lectures played out in real life in a 12 hour period!

We went to a birthday concert for Paul at St. George's
Basilica, building began in 920 A.D

Had a tour of St. Vitus Cathedral, building
began in 1344 AD

And we wandered (overwhelmed) through
St. Nicholas Cathedral, building
began in 1702 AD

It's getting physically painful for me to refrain from launching into a very spirited regurgitation of four years of humanities lectures in reference to these three pictures, so I'm just going to move on.  Quickly.

#2:  Walk through the Old Market Square and across Charles Bridge at 10pm (or later)

And it helps to have a handsome
companion on these romantic
wanderings

I understand that touristy places begin to be touristy for a reason--usually because they're really cool.  So, here's my thing.  You totally need to see the area around the  Old Market Square and walk across the Charles Bridge when you go to Prague.  Totally.  They are really beautiful, amazing places.  But, my favorite time to go through these main attractions was definitely late at night.  Everything is lit up beautifully, you can stroll across the river without a crowd.  You can stop and listen to that dude play Mozart melodies with water-filled crystal goblets or watch the puppeteer putting away his marionette show.  You can climb the astronomical clock tower and see a beautiful view, grab a cup of hot chocolate, and it's all just very romantic .  I loved it.  It was my favorite time to be out and in the city.

#1:  Petřín and the Funicular

All time favorite thing.  It was so incredibly not-touristy to ride that funicular to the top of Petřín hill that I could hardly contain my glee.  Plus, if anyone has watched more than one season of The Amazing Race, you know that there is usually some kind of funicular that someone is going to have to ride at some point, and this was my Amazing Race funicular.    It made me incredibly happy.  Plus, only crazies would hike all the way to the top of that hill without some transportation help.  


Once we were at the top, I decided that Petřín was my favorite place in Prague.  See the rose garden, the observatory, the mirror maze, the mini-eiffel tower observatory, and hike around in all those miles and miles of trails through the trees and across the apple orchard meadow.  It didn't hurt that we were there right when all the leaves were changing colors.  It was so beautiful.  It was actually the only place we deliberately went to see twice.  I think you might end up doing the same thing when you go to Prague.

You might find me there.  Right on that second bench on the right, looking out over the meadow toward the city, eating my Trdelnik.