Return to Prague - Part One

Prague is one of the world's top tourist destinations, and it is easy to understand why. This beautiful city, formerly hone to the kings of Bohemia, and for a time capital of the Holy Roman Empire, emerged relatively unscathed from World War Two, unlike many of its Central European counterparts. For the next 40 years the city was stuck in a virtual time-warp thanks to the stagnation that accompanied four decades of communist rule. Now the city has emerged to take its rightful place on the world stage as capital of the revitalised and vibrant Czech Republic. What follows is a short account of my recent trip there.

The tail end of December 2009 saw me visiting Prague for the second time, some 25 years on from my first visit. Obviously much had changed during the intervening years, a process that had begun with the collapse of the communist regime in 1989 and then accelerated with the country joining the European Union in 2004. Along the way the country had split into two in 1993 when the Czech Republic and Slovakia went their separate ways.

Back in 1984 I had travelled by coach over-land to Prague, with a stop-over in the famous brewing town of Pilsen on the way, but this time a short 2 hour flight from Stansted brought me direct to Prague's Ruzyne Airport. From here a 20 minute bus ride, followed by a short journey on Prague's Russian-built metro system took me right into the heart of the city.

The weather was sunny but cold when I emerged into the sunshine of Wenceslas Square, which seemed much busier and bustling than on my previous visit. I had a couple of hours to kill before I could check into my hotel, so where better to spend this time than in a pub! Bredovsky Dvur, a pleasant, modern pub with orange-painted walls provided a welcome respite from the cold outside and, what's more, served a very acceptable half-litre of unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell direct from tanks in the cellar. Unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell is a relatively new phenomenon in the Czech Republic. Being unpasteurised the beer tastes fresher with a fuller and more rounded malty flavour, as well as a more pronounced bitterness but, as it perhaps lacks the stability of the pasteurised version, only pubs with a high throughput of beer are allowed to sell it. I can certainly vouch for its tastiness, as I enjoyed the two mugs I had in Bredovsky Dvur alongside the excellent roast pork with sauerkraut and potato dumplings.

After looking at the map I decided to walk to my hotel. I wasn't certain which tram would take me there and it didn't appear too far, so off I set. About 20 minutes later I was checked into the comfortable Hotel Ariston on the edge of the Zizkov area of Prague, and after un-packing and being acquainted with which tram to take by the hotel's receptionist, I was back out again, eager to explore more of the city.

I soon found my way to U Fleku, Prague's original and legendary brew-pub. Twenty-five years ago my companions and I had spent our first evening in the the city enjoying U Fleku's rich dark lager along with some typical Czech cuisine in one of the brew-pub's sizable beer-halls. Now a quarter of a century later I was back, but this time seated in one of the two smaller bars to the left of the main entrance lobby. As I sat enjoying my glass of U Fleku's 13 degree beer, I was joined by a family group from Baltimore who were staying in Prague over both Christmas and New Year. They too enjoyed the beer and also ordered some food. I refrained from the latter, having not that long eaten, but grabbed another beer from the passing waiter. I had a brief look around before leaving, but was unable to locate the hall where I had eaten and drunk on my previous visit.

Feeling quiet tired after my early morning start, I caught a tram back to the hotel and walked across to a bar listed in Evan Rail's excellent Good Beer Guide to Prague & the Czech Republic. Kure v hodinkach was listed as selling Bernard beers alongside Budvar and Gambrinus. I must have hit it on an off day as only the latter was available. Nevertheless the Gambrinus Premium was quite palatable and I had two mugs of it to wash down my beef goulash with bread dumplings. Kure v hodinkach was a pleasant, modern-style bar and the staff were quite friendly. The place was starting to fill up as I was getting ready to leave, testament to it's obvious popularity with people from the locality. As for me, I was just about ready for my bed and a good night's sleep, before getting ready to explore the city in earnest the following day.