Novel set in ITALY (1950s glamour and WW2 legacy)
#TFBookClub: Top Tips from Marco Polo Guide books – 3 copies in our Prague giveaway!
25th May 2017
In conjunction with our #TFBookClub – currently reading Prague Nights by Benjamin Black – Marco Polo Guides offer their top tips for a visit to the city of PRAGUE. Plus we have a giveaway of 3 copies of their “Perfect Days in…. Prague” guidebook. Scroll down for more info (closes midnight, Wednesday 7th June 2017).
Experience the city’s unique flair and find out what makes it tick. Just like the people of Prague.
LOOK DOWN OVER THE STARÉ MESTO
Just how small the Old Town really is can be best seen from a bird’s-eye view high above the city. There are three ways to do this: from the east, from the Powder Tower and from the west, from the Old Town Bridge Tower as well as the Old Town Hall Tower where from time to time visitors can also enjoy the performance of a trumpeter in historical dress.
VISIT A COFFEE HOUSE
Prague has long since revived its legendary tradition of Grand Cafés. Guests once used to sit here for hours on end over a cup of coffee, studying the newspapers and magazines, and scribbling things down in their notebooks. No waiters charge up to a table with another menu or the bill unrequested. Highly recommended are: Café Slavia or Grand Café Orient.
CATCH A TRAM
Naturally, there are organised city tours that take in all the main highlights. Tram 22 does not do that, but from 32Kč you can travel right across the town with people who actually live in Prague. The tram starts off in the Vinohrady neigh- bourhood on the Náměstí Míru. Rumbling along the Národní Třída, it descends to the Vltava, the National Theatre and Café Slavia. Also en route: the Infant Jesus of Prague, the Church of St Nicholas, the Wallenstein Palace and Gardens as well as Strahov Monastery and Břevnov Monastery.
TAKE A BOAT TRIP THROUGH PRAGUE
A wooden rowing boat offers a nice way to explore Prague from the “wild water” – the translation of Vltava – in a couple of hours. As you row along squinting in the bright sunshine, you are rewarded with a postcard panorama in 3D quality. If the physical exercise sounds too strenuous, there are steamer trips available leaving from the Charles Bridge – choices ranging from small to large vessels, and with lunch or dinner aboard.
Tip: the best trips include a trip along the Devil’s Channel.
DINE WITH STUDENTS
You will soon find yourself engrossed in a conversation when you go to the cafeteria at the Prague Art Academy. Lunch is inexpensive and you can chat to the students about every- thing ranging from art and politics to ice hockey and the new city hot- spots. A choice of three different dishes is available on weekdays and the price is 70Kč. The entrance is on Malostranské Náměstí 13, opposite the Church of St Nicholas.
DELVE INTO THE SPIGOT SCENE
They are loud, stink of cigarette smoke and in the taproom there are battered-looking wooden tables without tablecloths, and chairs without cushions. The hospoda (pub), the pivnice (beer halls) and the výčep (bar) belong as much to Czech lifestyle as roast pork, dumplings and cabbage. Czech beer ranks among the best there is and remains by far the country’s most popular drink. The most original beers are to be found in the small breweries such as Klášterní pivovar Strahov or Pivovarský Dům.
GO TO AN ICE HOCKEY MATCH
Sports fans should try to catch an ice-hockey match. The supporters in the home country of six-time world champions and Olympic gold medallists of 1998 are both savvy and enthusiastic. In Prague there are two top Extraliga teams to choose from, Sparta and Slavia, plus the O2-Arena, which holds up to 18,000 spectators and is the largest ice hockey hall in Europe.
DANCE AND CHILL
The club and lounge scene in Prague forged strong ties with its western neighbours of Vienna and Munich long ago – and leading DJs often perform here. Yet the old haunts from student days, which have been around for decades, are also still going strong. Popular among these are the Buddha Bar (Jakubská 8) with its international sound and the SaSaZu; at the weekend up to 2,500 people dance on several floors in the gigantic SaSaZu disco.
Photos © Marco Polo Guides
Thank you so much to Marco Polo Guides for such ace tips for a visit.
GIVEAWAY
In our giveaway we have three copies “Perfect Days in… Prague”. Open internationally, just leave a comment below to be in with a chance of winning a copy: #PragueLove – books set in Prague, favourite food, your top tips for Prague. Share your thoughts by midnight, Wednesday 7th June and first three names out of the hat…!
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Congratulations to Sandy, Harriet and Francesca – their names came out of the hat!
I have never been to Prague but I have always wanted to go, It looks like a fabulous place to visit. I would love a copy of this lovely book. Thank you for the chance.
With architecture ranging from art nouveau to Frank Gehry, a truly beautiful city with way too much to see in one trip.
1 Comment
What a wonderful place to visit!
It’s over 10 years since I went to Prague so I expect things have changed a bit. I remember going to the opera for a bargain price and a wonderful restaurant in a fantastic baroque palace called Palffy Palace which was ridiculously cheap compared with the UK. Would be worth looking at but may be more of a special meal price now. The Xmas market was fun too.
I have never been to Plague. From the photos I have seen it looks wonderful. I would like to learn more about it.
#PragueLove I’ve never been to Prague, but enjoyed reading A Year and a Day by Isabelle Broom.
#PragueLove, I have wanted to visit for so long. My daughter went this past summer and really thought it was lovely. She and a friend spent 24 hours there on a crazy train trip.