48 hours in Prague

In any case I of course had to scrap/ postpone the two former plans and go to Prague, which was really exciting as I was headed with my favourite travel companion Sarah Hucal. So it was set to be an epic weekend as usual.

Flight to Prague: I’m fortunately seated by George and Leebor – two decent looking Czech guys in their early to mid thirties, so as I browse my Lonely Planet guide to Prague, they offer their expertise on how to do make the most of two days in the city. It so happens that tips on restaurants, cafes and bars take priority. We already know that sight-seeing is a form of killing time between meals and generally going ‘out’.

I arrive late on Friday at our hostel, Art Harmony, where Sarah is waiting in our elaborately decorated (in jungle/ earthy style) private room. This hostel had character if anything, from the insane decor of fairy-lights, fake trees, wall art and the strong perfume of incense. The hostel itself wasn’t the only thing with character, but we weren’t to know about that until later….

I brief Sarah on my new Czech friends’ sweet recommendations of where to head for a drink, and we’re off at mid-night to Cuban cocktail bar, La Bodeguita del Medio. A fun recreation of Havana, this place was a maze of smoky rooms where the girls are sucking lollipops, drinking mojitos and dancing away to pop reggaeton. I liked it, it had atmosphere and wasn’t too touristy. Next stop is George and Leebor’s second recommendation for the night, “COCO disco bar”, just opposite La Bodeguita. A radically different crowd comes here, SUPER local and overly made-up local girls on the prowl. I felt like a 12 year old boy in comparison to the scantily-clad pouting girls who boasted surgically enhanced shapes left right and centre… I mean it was certainly where you’d expect to find Prague’s stag-do (bachelor) groups, however it was untouched tourist territory somehow. We had to take photos with this crowd, is was too surreal. We met a lone Frenchman in the club who was more than happy to take snaps of us with the ladies! He ended up partying with us the whole night. The music was fun, really euro, and we stayed till 5(ish) when we decided we should move on. Hearing rumours that a place called Aloha was the place for the after-party we set off on the search, only to be lured into a kebab stall where we decided to call it a night pretty sensibly.

Our first day, after a heavy dose of local nightlife culture, we went to the famous Cafe Louvre, an Art Nouveau-style grand coffee house where the likes of Einstein and Franz Kafka used to go. For lunch this was the perfect spot and I really recommend the homemade spaetzle with mushrooms, onion and crispy bacon.

After lunch our plan was to visit the castle. The sprawling Prague Castle atop a hill overlooks the Vltava River, Charles Bridge and The Old Town, conjuring a real fairytale picture. We took the tram up there, to spend the afternoon walking around. We’ heard it was pretty manageable, despite the huge scale of the complex… I’m not sure I recommend buying a ticket though. The most noteworthy site was the gothic Vladislav Hall with its intricate stained glass windows, and this is free to see. Other than this, walking around and taking it all in is the best way to see it. We found our ‘ticket’ kind of useless in the sense that it didn’t give us access to things that we didn’t already have available to us on a free basis… I could be wrong, we may have missed out on something really impressive but it seemed that all the courtyards and spaces were free regardless. The Golden Lane and St George’s Basilica were the only sites included in our ticket that were truly worth visiting.

Our second night in Prague was fast approaching and I still hadn’t exactly recuperated from the first. In any case, it’s a weekend in Prague so we’re going all out. We were torn between two Italian places we’d been recommended – again  the invaluable tips from George and Leebor. So we were opting between Pizzeria Grosseto, a boat restaurant with views of Charles Bridge and Pasta Fresca in the Old Town. Our friends G&L had at all costs dissuaded me from the ‘traditional Czech’ restaurants… so Italian it was and I’m always OK with that. We chose Pasta Fresca as it had a younger and less formal vibe. WE LOVED IT. Really exceptional homemade pasta and there’s a glass-fronted room where you can see the pasta makers at work. That was a nice touch. What really blew me away, and I’ve had my fair share, was the tiramisu. Definitely one of the best I’ve tasted if not THE best. Take note of any extras on the bill when you ask for this, we were nailed for the finest imported water from Italy which was more expensive than our pasta dishes. When we flagged it up they kindly removed it but just watch out for things like that.

Shutting down shop at Pasta Fresca we moved on to the popular Dhoula road (this is actually pronounced Loha i.e  like Aloha – hence the confusion the night before). So we hit Bombay, fun music but a bit of a sad spot with hordes of awkward bachelor groups. They were all waiting for something to happen but it was just men hanging out in here so not quite what they were going for I imagine – we wanted to give COCO a shout out – “that is where you should go!”. We left to check out somewhere new, in fact the newest opening in town, James Dean, a 1950’s styled American diner, bar and club. This was probably the best place in terms of actual quality – still for me, Coco was the funniest and more euro experience I was after in Prague.

In the bathrooms at James Dean, as girls do, we made friends with two local girls. They were probably 18ish and raved about this club called Nebe. Before I continue, DO NOT GO HERE. As Sarah best described it, it was a shit show. In any case we weren’t to know and we shared a taxi with the girls to this club in Wenceslas Square. On entering, it didn’t appear too offensive, until we realised the kids here were around 18-19 years old, cocky and content with the horrific tunes…you name it Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera… I lost track. On the dance-floor, our new girlfriends started making out to our surprise! They claimed it was to ‘detract attention from all the boys’ … Really? Oh and the bartenders were uncontrollably rude. It was a weird ending to the night which left us with a bit of a bitter taste in our mouth… and it wasn’t the local beer in this case, it was the general vibe from the locals period.

The next day, more drama. We woke up later than the check-out time but hang on a moment, this is a hostel. Since when is that a huge dilemma to be running a bit late? So anyway we had a bolshy she-man hurl abuse at us as we proceeded to check out. It was crazy, we essentially got chucked out and the reasoning didn’t make sense. She/He was worried about the reviews Art Harmony would receive if rooms weren’t ready for guests on time. As much as we apologised, it didn’t help, and all of this was a slight exaggeration when it was 12 but anyway she/he was getting emotional about our “disrespect for the f-ing rules!!” ….. so bizarre!!

Our farewell lunch in Prague was at James Dean, the funny diner-style restaurant and bar from the night before. We went back for a well-deserved burger.

The perfect weekend break, our 48 hours in Prague were unforgettable, from the magic of the city’s cobbled streets to the crazy nightlife. I’m coming back!