Tales of an Amorphic Destiny

James' Birthday in Prague

January 22nd, 2007 at 07:13pm James

Prague has been called the "Paris of the East" for it’s beautiful architecture and rich culture. It’s also known for hearty food and low prices and has become one of the must-see destinations for those travelling to Europe. This city in the Czech Republic has been on our list of places to visit for a long time and an excuse finally came in the form of my birthday (long) weekend – despite it being a bit chilly we had an amazing time.

We landed in Prague on Friday afternoon and managed to find our hotel without too much trouble. After checking in we went for a stroll to get acquainted with the area and were surprised by the sheer number of bars/restaurants around. Almost every second building had a sign out front advertising goulash, pork knuckle, dumplings and of course cheap beer – things were looking up!

We had planned on eating at the "Pivovarsky Dum" brewery but after trekking half way across town we found the place was packed. So instead we ended up at another restaurant on our list – U Vejvodů, with its huge German-style beer cellar downstairs and a bar covered by the top half of an old beer tun. This was our first taste of Czech cuisine and the huge plates of meat, dumplings and gravy set the tone for the next couple of days.

We wandered further in to the old town to take a look around and finally reached the old square, with it’s famous astronomical clock. We didn’t really understand it at the time but apparently it shows the positions of the sun and moon as well as the month, day, time etc. The most imposing building in the square however was undoubtably the Church of Our Lady in front of Týn. One of the most strikingly gothic buildings we’ve ever come across and lit up at night its twin spires looked straight out of a movie scene.

We relaxed with an overpriced drink in the square, just in time to see and hear the clock run through its hourly clockwork. Then it was back to the hotel for some sleep before the long day ahead.

Our hotel was conveniently located in the old part of town, not far from the banks of the Vltava river. So after breakfast on Saturday we headed towards one of Prague’s most famous monuments, the Charles Bridge. That’s it in the background…

The bridge was named for King Charles IV who began its construction in 1357. Today of course it is a focal point for tourists and even in the winter it was still very busy. The bridge itself is accentuated by the tall, gothic tower on the eastern bank and the many statues that line its edges.

Having made our way across the bridge, we continued along the well-trodden tourist path up the hill to the Prague Castle – apparently the largest ancient castle in the world! Along the way we stopped a couple of times – first for a cleansing ale and then again further on to take in the lovely view.

The castle complex itself was indeed enormous, taking up a fair chunk of the hillside. There was plenty of space inside the grounds for their Cathedral of Saint Vitus – in fact they probably could’ve squeezed another one in without too much trouble.

We had a look in St George’s Basilica which was opposite the cathedral and much smaller. Then we visited "Gold Lane", an alleyway of tiny medieval-style shops. Most of the shops’ wares were fairly unremarkable…

… except of course for the medieval weapons shop with it’s vast collection of arms and armour! Wow! This place was tucked away up a staircase and down a long hallway, but it had the most amazing collection of beautiful and finely crafted medieval weapons I think I’ve seen anywhere!

Apart from the usual array of swords, axes, maces and the like, this place stood out due to it’s more quirky items – axes and knives that also concealed single-shot pistols for example. In the picture on the bottom-right is a sword-breaker dagger… the notches have a one-way opening designed for catching an opponents sword and twisting it from his hands. Outstanding!

We eventually left and while I walked away with only a knight’s helm keyring I definitely could’ve spent even more time and money in that cool little shop. On our way out of the castle grounds we were lucky enough to catch the new guard marching up to their posts too, brandishing slightly more modern weapons than the ones we’d just seen.

After walking down from the castle we ended up back down near the bridge where we’d started. We weren’t sure quite what to do next but seeing as it was my birthday we decided on having cake. After a revitalising combination of cake, strudel and coffee we went back up the hill to a place we’d passed earlier and that Sarah had noted as somewhere we might like to visit – the U Sedmi Svabu Medieval Tavern!

Initially we were only going in for a beer or two while we decided what to have for dinner. For the record, 29 Czech Koruny, (the price in the picture) is about €1.00, 70p or AUD $1.70 – not bad for half a litre of tasty Czech beer! However once we got inside and saw how cool the place was we started to get a little settled…

The atmosphere was amazing and being low season it wasn’t packed with tourists. After discussing it over a beer or two more we decided to stay for dinner, which turned out to be a great decision. Sarah’s Spatzel was delicious but it was my extremely rich ale goulash that stole the show. Made with strong, dark ale the flavour was simply amazing, especially soaked up with bread and potato dumplings. After many hours we finished up with a round or two of mead – their version was a warm, spiced honey liquer – a delicious finale to a wonderful meal.

We strolled through the night, back down the hill and once more over Charles Bridge. We managed to grab a nightcap and catch the band’s last couple of songs in a jazz bar just off the main square before finally heading to our hotel. It had certainly been a fantastic birthday!

We’d seen most of the major sites by the time our final day came around so we went for a walk south along the river to the ruins of Vyšehrad, a 10th century castle. We didn’t know much about it but it turned out being worth a look, with quite a bit of the old fortification still standing.

The hilltop location of the castle also afforded great views back over the city itself – here you can see the Cathedral of St Vitus and the rest of the palace on top of the hill, with Charles Bridge in the distance.

It was a long walk down to the castle ruins and back, so naturally we were feeling a bit peckish by the time we got back in to town. We thought we’d give the "Pivovarsky Dum" brewery another try, hoping that Sunday lunchtime was a little less busy than Friday evening.

Fortunately we were in luck and we sat down to yet another meal of hearty ale, succulent meat and soft dumplings. This time Sarah was feeling a bit adventurous and went for rabbit, which was cooked to perfection. As much as I probably didn’t need it after the excesses of the previous days I went for the pork knuckle – a favourite of mine from our trips to Germany.

It was every bit as good as I remembered, the soft meat offering no resistance as it fell form the bone. The first round of beers was excellent too – a fine dark ale that reminded me a little of my favourite Tooheys Old from back home! I can’t quite say the same for the banana and cherry beers that we tried afterward though – not bad, just not too good either…

One of our final destinations was the Jewish Quarter, where we saw the old synagogue. This cute little building was apparently one of Prague’s first gothic buildings – we thought the turret was especially cool.

Backing on to the synagogue was the old Jewish cemetary, which was used between 1478 and 1786 and houses an estimated 12,000 graves. The place wasn’t free to enter but we managed to sneak a pretty good look through an opening in the back gate…;-).

After a final walk through the shops in the centre of town we settled on a nice little restaurant for our last meal in Prague. This time around we both had seafood – any more meat could’ve been seriously detrimental to our health!

With another outstanding meal finished off  there just enough time to pick up our bags and jump in our taxi, bound for the airport. We’d seen a lot of beautiful things, enjoyed some amazing food and drank plenty of beer, but it was time to head home.

Prague was a beautiful place to spend a birthday weekend – I’m sure I’ll be thinking of it with every sip of the high-grade Absinthe that we smuggled back with us!

Entry Filed under: Europe