We both agree that, while each city has much to offer, Prague was our favourite. Aside from the costs (it is cheaper here) and the beer (Prague is the beer capital of the world apparently), there is just something about this city. While it has a population of about 1.2 million, most of the places you would want to see are within walking distance if you stay in the older part of the city. We were here for just over 4 days and we didn't get to everything we wanted; such as a tour of the Jewish Quarter (while we stopped there briefly on our walking tour, I would have liked to do the formal tour here like I did the first time I was here), Wenceslas Square and some more of the churches. Speaking of churches, we learned that about 80% of the Czechs are atheist or agnostic. That might be put down to years of communism except for the fact that 98% of Poles are Catholic.
Over the last couple of days, aside from the 7 hour tour to Terezin, we just wandered around Prague stopping into churches, pubs and restaurants. You can see what our priorities are! We checked out organ concerts but Kath felt the programs were geared toward tourists (naturally) and they didn't really appeal to her.
With myriads of beer offered everywhere - not to mention guided pub crawls and beer tastings - it is a beer lover's dream. We went to one pub which receives fresh unpasteurized beer from the Pilsner Urquell daily. Apparently, a big truck pulls up, attaches a hose from its tank to pump the beer into the pipeline going to the restaurant and filling the vats. Sort of like having the oil delivered to your home oil tank, just a different product. The pub, Restaurace Minkova, is located on a corner of Old Town Square and it was fun to be there. The food also looked good although we didn't eat there.
We discovered another pub on our last day and this one has a brewery on site. Beer had been brewed at U Medvidku apparently since 1466. Kath enjoyed her beer while I had a glass of Muller Thurgau. We shared a plate of some very tasty pate which was served with toast and onion marmalade. Then we just had to try the beer ice cream; yes, beer ice cream! The waiter told us about half of the people who try it don't like it at all and the other half love it. Put us into the latter category. We both thought it was good although it does taste strongly of hops. We were told it's made from boiling down beer and then using what is left as the basis for the ice cream. When we told the waiter that we were Canadians who gave it a "thumbs up", he immediately asked us where we were from. We told him and it turns out he has been to Victoria quite often as he has relatives who run a hotel or pub in Sooke. Again, what a small world!
The Czech food seems a bit heavy - lots of meat and dumplings. We actually ended up eating in Italian restaurants more than Czech once. Vegetables rarely come with meals unless you order them on the side and, even then, they have been very salty and over-cooked. Two Italian restaurants which were very good were Oliva Nera (we ate there twice) and Ristorante Pagana where we had our last meal here. It was very quaint and lovely restaurant and its signature dish is flambeed spaghetti which Kath ordered. The restaurant is tucked away in the basement of a building which is probably older but in a very modern mall. It is very small; I think the waiter told us it has only eight tables. What a find! Both our meals were very tasty (I ordered lamb cutlets), the wine selection by the glass was good (I started with some Prosecco and then had Chianti), and the prices were reasonable too.
No comments:
Post a Comment