Welcome to Praha!

By Sandy Pérolle

This year, Prague is where you need to be. The young and dynamic capital of the Czech Republic is far from being the historic and melancholic city, as the traditional travel guides say. It is also a moving city, where youth is having a growing role, where clubbers and urban nomads like to meet. Here are ten reasons that will make you go where people like to call “the Paris of the east”.

Two hours from Paris

Welcome to the city where everything seems so simple. Close to big European capitals such as Paris, going to Prague only takes 120 minutes and an ID card. You can already pay in Euros even though the change of the official currency will be by 2010. Also, there isn’t any jetlag: Prague and Paris are on the same time zone. As for the language, you will be utterly surprised: many French people live here and it is common to switch from English to French in shops.

A soft city

Prague is a soft city. A funny adjective to depict a city, but there really isn’t any other word to describe the healthy and relaxing lifestyle. With its paved streets, parks, gigantic gardens, its magnificent river (the Vltava) and its red-hot tramway, it is impossible to not feel good. You irreversibly fall in love, subjugated and calmed, because the air is fresh, the inhabitants are smiley and welcoming, and the traffic is fluid.

Prague, a gourmet’s capital?

Czech dishes don’t have a good reputation: too heavy, too greasy and under-elaborated. However, it tastes incredible. Full of flavours and colours, the traditional cuisine is enjoyed with pleasure, mainly made with porc (the local meat). Soups are really delicious even during summer, such as the Bramborova polevka, the potato soup. For desert, you absolutely have to taste Knedliky, these small potato balls filled in jam (sometimes with prune cream, the local specialty) sprinkled with grated white cheese. A nourishing dish that is interesting to try.

Beer, the main beverage in the Czech Republic

Czechs are the top beer drinkers in Europe, topping the Germans and the English! Elected national beverage, it is unavoidable. Served in gastronomic restaurant but also in small taverns or breweries, beer is a must in this country. Along with a St-Thomas brown beer (the best) at the Augustine hotel, order Bohemian tapas with plethora of local cooked meats. My favourite? Small and spicy sausages.

A historic stay…

As a historic city, Prague is also a chance to get drowned in the past before taking a romantic walk. The Augustine hotel is an ancient 13th century monastery located in the historic Mala Strana area. This hotel is a contemporary haven, a few paces from the sumptuous Italian-style Wallenstein garden. An unusual place where are hidden the very impressive St-Thomas church and an ancient religious library, reminding the “Au nom de la rose” movie.

… that is filled with romance

Prague is also the city of lovers. Ideal for walks on summer nights, it offers multiple paths through Mala Strana. A head-to-head cruise along the Vltava, a walk hand-in-hand on the famous Charles Bridge, shopping in the cristal de Bohème boutiques, everything is within reach for a passionate weekend! What you shouldn’t miss: the keychain bridge near the French Embassy where couples leave a keychain as a token of their love before engraving their initials on the rock.

Let’s party!

Prague has now become a destination for the people who come to party and have fun. Like the most electric capitals in Europe, Prague is slowly becoming a place for party and celebration. The Sasazu restaurant-bar-club (a concept that is arriving to Paris and New-York) reminds us the Buddha bar (but much cheaper) with its Asian design ambiance. The immense club can hold up to 2500 people, has a very chic setting and the DJ is elevated in a cradle shaped like a spaceship! Jazz amateurs will prefer the design club right by the lock, Jazzy Dock, where artist performances and the long fluorescent green bar make a great duo. If you are in a hurry and need to get back at the hotel, call a cab by sms! Simple and easy, you receive an answer by the minute with the colour, brand, and licence plate of the car.

A modern city

A boiling city, that is what Prague is, a city that’s ready to explode and where artists try to impose an ultra modern vision to a population that needs time to accept the changes. David Cerny is an example of this vanguard, young and violent art, where he makes fun of his country (he was known for painting tanks in pink during the communist era). We particularly like his bronze “babies” displayed near the Kampa Museum, but also hanged on the city’s TV antenna.

Prague, an outdoor sculpture

Prague deserves to be called an artistic city, as its architecture is filled with cheerful odds-and-ends, where every styles are combined. It is not rare to go from the baroque style (The Saint-Nicolas church of Mala Strana is a perfect example), to the Renaissance style, or gothic for even the Belle Epoque. But what surprises the most, is the colours on the buildings’ walls: red, orange, blue, pink…Prague has a rainbow architecture. The city even has an extraordinary statue-building called “la maison dansante” and created by Frank O.Gehry. Unavoidable.

Design and fashion

Prague is filled with surprises. While you expect a historic city where treasures of the past come at first sight, what you really see is a European capital where design and fashion are very developed. Facing the big name boutiques in the Venceslas place and the luxury boutiques on Paris Street, in the heart of the jewish area, young Czech designers are rising. You shouldn’t miss the Parazit shop, where young designers have fun by expressing Czech’s lack of creativity when it comes to fashion. Helena Fejkova is all as surprising, with her ultramodern clothes with asymmetrical cuts, the young designer is all about length and materials. As for design, go for the Modernista gallery and get a collector’s piece from a 20th designer, and Maxim Velcovsky, designer and director of the Qubus Design gallery. His credo? Rethink Czech’s cultural references in a contemporary approach thanks to a corrosive and staggering sense of humour. I love it!

How to get there?

With Czech Airlines, direct flight from Paris, Marseille and Strasbourg.
Round trip Paris-Prague from 216€.
Czech Airlines Paris
17, avenue de l’Opéra
75001 Paris
France
par@czechairlines.com

Where to sleep?

Hotel The Augustine
Letenska 12/23
Prague 1 – 118 00 – Mala Strana
T. : +420.266.112.233
F. : +420.266.112.234
info.augustine@roccofortecollection.com

Where to eat?

Czech, with a view on Prague

Villa Richter Piano Terra
T. : +420.257.219.079
info@villarichter.cz

French, with a view on Vltava, in a contemporary setting

Bellevue
Smetanovo nabrezi 18, Prague 1
T. : +420.222.221.443
bellevue@zatisigroup.cz

Addresses

Jardin Wallenstein
Malostranska – Accès par la rue Letenska
Mala Strana

Kampa Museum
U Sovovych mlynu 503
Prague 1

Saint-Nicolas Church
Malostranske namesti
Prague 1

La Maison Dansante
Rasinovo Nabrezi 80
Prague 2 – Nouvelle ville

Sasazu Prague
Bubenske Nabrezi 306
P.O. Box 50, 170 04 Praha 7
T. : +420.284.097.444
info@sasazu.com

Jazz Dock (Jazz & Blues Bar & Café)
Janackovo nabrezi 2, Praha 5 – Smichov (riverbanks)
T. : 774.058.838
info@jazzdock.cz

Parazit
Karlova 25
Prague 1 – New Town

Helena Fejkova
Stepanska 61
Prague 1 – New Town

Modernista
Celetna 12
Prague 1 – New Town
Open everyday from 11am until 7pm.

Qubus Design (boutique and studio)
Ramova 3
Prague 1 – New Town

For more info.

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