Prague

PRAGUE BLOGPOST

Only take AAA cabs (Call: 14014; www.aaaradiotaxi.cz).  I’m not entirely sure of the reason, and have been told a wide variety of things from “you don’t know if the cab driver will have a gun” to “other cabs will rip you off”, so I’d say just play it safe and only take AAA cabs. You can get them from these “Taxi Stands”.  If you call them, they WILL come, and even call you if they can’t find you which is considerate.

Tram system is GREAT.  It’s like the express bus in NY where you get your ticket and then have to validate it on the tram/metro.  They don’t check, but if they do check (they actually checked Steph and Stan once) and you don’t have it validated/a ticket you have to pay a huge fine.  They have 24 hour and 72 hour passes in addition to 30,60,90 minute ones.

Currency is the Czech Crown.  It has like a 20CZK to 1USD rate-ish.  It kind of feels like fake money when you’re running around with 1,000dollar bills.  High rollers.

They speak Czech.

Accommodations 

We stayed at the Czech Inn.  It was in a residential area, but completely accessible to everything via the 22 tram, and I really enjoyed my stay there.  It had a very cool, modern theme to it and the breakfast buffet was AMAZING.  Steph and Stan stayed at Residence Belgicka which was absolutely incredible.  I mean, they were upgraded from a studio to a one-bedroom apartment due to a booking error, but it was gorgeous and apparently VERY similar in price to what I paid at my hostel so I would certainly look into it.  It’s not in the center of Prague, but VERY accessible.  Other people stayed at Prague 1, which is closer to the center.

Food

Tip is like 10%.

First let’s talk about the new love of my life, my obession, trdelniks.  They are just dough cooked on some spiral thing, coated in sugar, or cinnamon, or other treats and then either nutella or plum jam on the inside.  Omg they were delicious.  I would highly recommend this particular stand on the stairs up to the Prague Castle and Old Fashioned Goodies.  They are essentially the same stand.  Old Fashioned is located near Old Time Square.  If you find the TGIFridays and face away from it so this red building is on your left.  Walk to the right.  There will be two roads, take the leftmost one.  You will see a “Hotel U Zlate Studny” on your right.  Old Fashioned Goodies is right next to it.  Both the nutella and plum jam are delicious.

FRIED CHEESE: Get it from a stand.  It’s like a hamburger, but with fried cheese instead of a burger.  Delicious.  Especially after a night out.  It’s worth trekking around at night to find one. Go to Wenceslas Square for them!

There’s a lot of hot wine stands.  It tastes like a combo of wine and apple cider and is delicious.

Radost: a brunch place near our hotel.  It’s near the “Namasti-Something” tram stop on the 22 and A Metro line.  Amazing brunch, good menu, I got fancy water.  Apparently Rihanna filmed her latest music video(not latest anymore.  Don’t ask me the name) in the lounge there.  It had a purple and silver decor going on, and that is a favorite color scheme of mine.  Their mocha coffee was delish.

Bohemia Bagels: REAL bagels.  They were really good.  It had a very CTB-like atmosphere for Cornellians who want to feel right at home.  There is one very close to the Jewish Quarter and I think that is the one to go to.  There was another one which seemed like a “Bohemian Bagels Express” and didn’t seem as legit.  They have avocado!  And chocolate chip bagels!

Cantina– Mexican restaurant that is also on the 22 line. Amazing strawberry margaritas and fajitas.  Reminded me of Panchos which I of course have an unhealthy obsession with (Steiner shoutout!).  Sooo delicious.  They also had a really good Tex-Mex salad.

Noi: WELL I didn’t get to go here because it was completely booked (how is that even a thing?), but everyone else said it’s amazing Thai Food and I trust their opinion and think you should go if you want delicious Thai food.

Modry Zub: The Thai place we ended up going to.  It was fine, it was Thai.  Had Pad Thai and spring rolls and didn’t think they were anything spectacular, but it was good because the cuisine itself is good.

Yammi: Good sushi.  I weirdly haven’t really craved sushi here, but if you’re going to eat raw fish- it should probably be good.

Cafe Globe: Lunchy

Bakeshop: Desserts!  Right near Bohemia bagels (after exiting the Bagels place walk to the left until you get to an intersection with like 5ish streets.  It’ll be like diagonally across) I was told to get a macaron from here, but honestly wasn’t super impressed with them.  The cupcakes and other things looked really good though, as did the merengues.  They also had a rose water lemonade (in a bottle) which was FANTASTIC.

U Pivrnce: Near Jewish Quarter, typical Czech cuisine (amazing dumplings and beef and beer and such).  There are very vulgar drawings on the wall that might make some people queasy…

Lokal: Also typical cuisine and unfiltered beer!

Activities

Wenceslas Square: It’s a street with a lot of stores on either side.  Very pretty.  This is where you will get your fried cheese at night, so map out how to get here from whatever you do.  You will thank yourself later.

Jewish Quarter:  I don’t feel like I really got the full experience here.  We did the audio tours, and it wasn’t worth it.  I would try to get an actual tour guide.  We got the ticket to see the 6 sites, but not the Old New Synagogue and I thought that they all offered a lot of Jewish culture and appreciation.  Some of my friends said they liked it more than Anne Frank house, but I disagreed on that.  The quarter itself sells a lot of Jewish paraphernalia which was great- even some things they sell in Israel.  Don’t miss it.

Terezin Concentration Camp: There’s a like 10-3 tour that I didn’t go on, but my friend did and she loved the experience, although love is clearly the incorrect word to use to describe a concentration camp.  This particular one is cool because it’s a camp that the Nazi’s allowed to Red Cross to come visit so they build a swimming pool, movie theatre, and made a propaganda movie which you’ll get to watch.

Old Town Square: I don’t know what all of the buildings are, but it is gorgeous and amazing.  Take note of the Astronomical Clock tower.  Notice the four statues next to it, representing the 4 things most despised at the time it was made.  1. Vanity (figure looking in the mirror) 2. Greed (stereotypical Jew holding bag of gold) 3. Death (skeleton that strikes time) 4. Pleasure and enjoyment (a Turk).  You can climb it!  And every hour (I believe) this guy plays a trumpet from the top and everyone gawks and it’s pretty great.  There’s a lot of gorgeous buildings (St. Nicholas and Tyn Church- the spikey one) in the area and a huge sculpture of Jan Hus (he was burned at the stake for being a heretic.  It’s also an anti-communism thing I believe).  It’s great to just sit and people watch here.  There are also a lot of delicious food stands.

Charles Bridge: It’s HUGE.  So much bigger than I expected.  The sculptures are great, look for my favorite- the Jesus with the Hebrew letters on it near the middle.  Apparently some of the mortar for the bridge was made with egg yolk!  The bridge towers are so haunting and considered one of the “most astonishing civil gothic-style buildings in the world.”

Lennon Wall: It’s like to the left when you cross the bridge.  It’s a pretty inspiring story: under the communist regime they weren’t allowed to listen to John Lennon’s music because he sang of freedoms they didn’t have.  They were also very repressed, so when he died someone painted a picture of him on the wall as a peaceful act of anti-Communism, and it just grew from there as a place for people to express what they weren’t allowed to.  It’s smaller than I expected, but really wonderful to take your cliche pictures.  Please stop to read the lyrics (assuming there are deep lyrics when you see it)

Prague Castle: I was a little unclear as to what is actually considered the “Prague Castle”, but it’s so pretty up there.  They have the same stoic, unmoving guards that they do in England so you can take obnoxious photos with them.  Although Steph got in trouble by a security guard for throwing up a Charlie’s Angels pose.  There’s a church when you walk in that is pretty, and if you’re facing the church and walk around it counter-clockwise you can climb up the tower.  Gorgeous views from up there, but a very long, windy, spirally, claustrophobic staircase.  We spent a lot of time up here in the castle area, there are really a lot of gorgeous views form the city.

Toy Museum: Located up in the Prague CastleI was the only one who went.  If you REALLY love Star Wars or Barbie Dolls then I think it was really great.  If not, don’t both spending the money.  There are no gimmicks- just actual dolls behind plexiglass.

Mini Eiffel Tower: Actually called “Petrinska rozhledna” it’s an observation tower with a great view

Palladium: HUGE AWESOME MALL.  Highlights: express multifloor escalators and a topshop!

Karlovy Lazne Club: “Biggest Club in Eastern Europe”.  It’s 5 floors, with a different music style on each (we spent the night on the “house music” floor, with a little bit of “hip hop”).  It was A LOT of fun, but only go if you’re willing to have that type of night, if you know what I mean.  I’m like pretty sure there’s an Ice Bar here too that I almost went into until my friends dragged me out (I LOVE ICE BARS), which is disappointing but the club was great.

Lucerna: Go on a Friday for a 80/90s dance night.  They play the music videos for you!  Obviously the most fun you will have, ever.

Beer Factory and Cheapeau Rouge were mentioned to us by various people, but we did not go because of time.  But a lot of people pg there before.