As we wandered the winding streets of Prague, it was impossible to avoid the sense of history, the majesty of the buildings, and the allure of spires sprinkled across the skyline. Prague tries to embrace and capitalize on all of these aspects: the Bohemian origins, twice the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, the story of not one but two defenestrations by the Hussites, the reign of the infamous Hapsburgs, and the Communist takeover and subsequent effects and revolutions. In 1968, under the Czech leader Alexander Dubcek, many of the facets of Communism were removed despite the negative and threatening reaction of Moscow. This political move ushered in decades of usually peacefully resolutions and movement away from Communism. It also helped to create the political temperment that has helped Prague establish itself as one of the wealthiest cities in Eastern Europe and as a tourist destination. The precipitating event to all this came to be known as the Prague Spring.
Now, I have found myself in Prague during spring, and it is gorgeous. The weather, which we anticipated to be cold and rainy, has been warm and sunny. The gardens on the hill around Prague castle were in full bloom, and every flowering tree and plant was breathtaking, especially with the castles and Prague skyline as the backdrop. Upon our arrival, reception made some recommendations for authentic Czech food and gave us some very useful advice: "Here, beer is cheaper than water, and so I recommend you just drink beer." She was not joking: she was seriously telling us to drink beer over water, and beer was seriously cheaper than water. Obviously, we went with her advice, and most of our outings and sightseeing involved regular beer breaks, which we regarded as cultural immersion time.
Though Prague is large, we walked almost everywhere, because all of the historical and notable places are within close range of one another. We stayed next to the Charles Bridge, which gave us conventient access to both the castle and old town areas. We went on a free tour of the city (though the guide frequently reminded us that tips were accepted). The tour covered the old town buildings, the Jewish section of the city, St. Wenceslas Square, some historic musical and theater buidings, and some churches and statues. One of the most remarkable statues was the Franz Kafka statue. There is also museum devoted to Kafka's life and work that we went to on our last day in the city. Seeing what an influence he was artistically and philosophically make me regret not having read his works. Another notable place on our trip was a rather small church in Stare Mesto that had an interesting legend. According to the legend, a statue of the Virgin Mary was adorned with a beautiful necklace. One night, a thief hid in the church until all the priests had left. He climbed up to the statue, reached out for the necklace, and much to his surprise and chagrin, the statue grabbed the man's arm and held him aloft until the next morning when the priests returned and summoned the executioner with his axe. The thief assumed they would cut off the statue's arm, but he was wrong. The thief's arm was cut off and he was sent to jail. Whether the story is true or not, an old, blackened, shriveled, severed arm remains hanging in the church as a warning to theives.
Over the next few days, we saw too many people wearing Czech Me Out shirts, learned that sitting inside a smoky bar (all of which are smoky) makes your clothes smell too terrible to wear, ate Bohemian and potato dumplings ( knedliky), found a delcious bagel place, and ate traditional cuisine at some of the Easter markets. Czech food is heavy in nature and usually incorporates a cream of some sort, meat, potatoes, and bread. They also had the most genius idea: fried toast. We discovered this upon ordering beer cheese and toast. The beer cheese was unique, a little stinky, and unforgettably delicious. The toast was the real treat. It wasn't merely toasted; it was crispy, greasy, and beyond grilled. I think fried bread should be a staple on any menu. One of the other amazing dishes we sampled was garlic soup (cesnekova). The broth is garlicy to the point of perfection, and crouton-type-breadcrumbs are dropped into the soup right before it is served, so the bread is still a little crunchy, and therefore amazing. On a visit to a monastery, we saw the monastic library collection and also visited the monastic brewery, which had a seasonal Easter beer, so we had some cultural immersion time at the monastery. We also found an amazing microbrewery called Pivovarsky Dum (pivo is Czech for beer) that served traditional beer in addition to banana, sour cherry, nettle, and coffee brews. We went there twice and banana was by far my favorite. After spending too much time at Pivovarsky Dum, we also learned that the Prague metro is amazingly efficient and was probably the reason we made our train on time.
In many ways, visiting Prague in spring has accompanied a sort of spring awakening in my traveling mentality. After becoming a little jaded in my travels, it was nice to go to a place where no one tried to buy me, where prices were set on a menu instead of being inflated based on my passport, and where I was not considered scantily clad while wearing a short-sleeve shirt. So, we have now moved on to Krakow, Poland, where we have met up with Mike and are currently holed up, with some friendly American students studying abroad in France and some very rowdy Spaniards, inside a rather posh hostel on a rainy Easter Sunday.
Now, I have found myself in Prague during spring, and it is gorgeous. The weather, which we anticipated to be cold and rainy, has been warm and sunny. The gardens on the hill around Prague castle were in full bloom, and every flowering tree and plant was breathtaking, especially with the castles and Prague skyline as the backdrop. Upon our arrival, reception made some recommendations for authentic Czech food and gave us some very useful advice: "Here, beer is cheaper than water, and so I recommend you just drink beer." She was not joking: she was seriously telling us to drink beer over water, and beer was seriously cheaper than water. Obviously, we went with her advice, and most of our outings and sightseeing involved regular beer breaks, which we regarded as cultural immersion time.
Though Prague is large, we walked almost everywhere, because all of the historical and notable places are within close range of one another. We stayed next to the Charles Bridge, which gave us conventient access to both the castle and old town areas. We went on a free tour of the city (though the guide frequently reminded us that tips were accepted). The tour covered the old town buildings, the Jewish section of the city, St. Wenceslas Square, some historic musical and theater buidings, and some churches and statues. One of the most remarkable statues was the Franz Kafka statue. There is also museum devoted to Kafka's life and work that we went to on our last day in the city. Seeing what an influence he was artistically and philosophically make me regret not having read his works. Another notable place on our trip was a rather small church in Stare Mesto that had an interesting legend. According to the legend, a statue of the Virgin Mary was adorned with a beautiful necklace. One night, a thief hid in the church until all the priests had left. He climbed up to the statue, reached out for the necklace, and much to his surprise and chagrin, the statue grabbed the man's arm and held him aloft until the next morning when the priests returned and summoned the executioner with his axe. The thief assumed they would cut off the statue's arm, but he was wrong. The thief's arm was cut off and he was sent to jail. Whether the story is true or not, an old, blackened, shriveled, severed arm remains hanging in the church as a warning to theives.
Over the next few days, we saw too many people wearing Czech Me Out shirts, learned that sitting inside a smoky bar (all of which are smoky) makes your clothes smell too terrible to wear, ate Bohemian and potato dumplings ( knedliky), found a delcious bagel place, and ate traditional cuisine at some of the Easter markets. Czech food is heavy in nature and usually incorporates a cream of some sort, meat, potatoes, and bread. They also had the most genius idea: fried toast. We discovered this upon ordering beer cheese and toast. The beer cheese was unique, a little stinky, and unforgettably delicious. The toast was the real treat. It wasn't merely toasted; it was crispy, greasy, and beyond grilled. I think fried bread should be a staple on any menu. One of the other amazing dishes we sampled was garlic soup (cesnekova). The broth is garlicy to the point of perfection, and crouton-type-breadcrumbs are dropped into the soup right before it is served, so the bread is still a little crunchy, and therefore amazing. On a visit to a monastery, we saw the monastic library collection and also visited the monastic brewery, which had a seasonal Easter beer, so we had some cultural immersion time at the monastery. We also found an amazing microbrewery called Pivovarsky Dum (pivo is Czech for beer) that served traditional beer in addition to banana, sour cherry, nettle, and coffee brews. We went there twice and banana was by far my favorite. After spending too much time at Pivovarsky Dum, we also learned that the Prague metro is amazingly efficient and was probably the reason we made our train on time.
In many ways, visiting Prague in spring has accompanied a sort of spring awakening in my traveling mentality. After becoming a little jaded in my travels, it was nice to go to a place where no one tried to buy me, where prices were set on a menu instead of being inflated based on my passport, and where I was not considered scantily clad while wearing a short-sleeve shirt. So, we have now moved on to Krakow, Poland, where we have met up with Mike and are currently holed up, with some friendly American students studying abroad in France and some very rowdy Spaniards, inside a rather posh hostel on a rainy Easter Sunday.
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