Coffee with a local in Prague
IdealShortBreaks.co.uk heads to the beautiful city of Prague to get the insider tips from local Andrea Barlien.
So, you’ve brought us to your favourite cafe/bar – tell me about it.
This is Cafe Calma and is my favourite place for breakfast. It's my local and sits on one of the most beautiful squares in suburban Prague. They do lovely scrambled eggs with fresh baguette.
Mmm... this is good, what are we drinking?
It’s a local favourite, linden flower juice on ice. It’s very refreshing. Cafe Calma also do a lovely refreshing limeade too, which is also popular in Prague.
What are your favourite local dishes?
Anything with beetroot is my favourite. The beetroot with balkan cheese and caramelised onions is a particular favourite.
And where would you suggest we go to find these?
My favourite restaurant is called Maitrea and is just off Starometska Namesti, the Old Town square.
The sky is blue and the sun is shining, what’s the best thing to do on a day like today?
Go to Letna Park for a walk or a bike ride and then stop for a beer at the Letna Beer Garden, which overlooks the river and the city. On a really hot day it has a fabulous breeze. Another good option is to take a walk up Petrin Hill. The views are amazing as you make your way through the Castle and down the hill into the Wallenstein Gardens. It’s fabulous and all for 80 korunas (crowns) per person.
And if it rains?
Check out one of the dozens of great museums and galleries. My particular favourite is the Kafka Museum, but the National Technical Museum is pretty amazing too.
If there’s one thing we should do while I’m here, what is it?
Go to the Lobkowicz Palace, the only privately owned Palace in Prague. Listen to their brilliant audio tour narrated by the family themselves. Don’t forget to stop to eat carrot cake and have espresso on their wonderful terrace overlooking the city.
Give us a local tip that other tourists wouldn’t usually know...
Spend the day checking out the city's many David Cerny sculptures - from the babies crawling up the old TV tower in JZP Namesti and the big crawling babies in Kampa park, to the weird peeing men outside the Kafka Museum, whose bodies are made of hundreds of shapes cut out into the shape of the map of the Czech Republic. These are things not mentioned in many of the guide books.
For 32 korunas you could also hop on a tram for a 90 minute tour of the city. The tour will take you to some interesting places; I did it once myself for three hrs and saw nearly the whole city. There are some pretty amazing things to see here.
You can also sit in most cafés, for the price of a coffee, all day reading the paper (as long as you don't choose a very touristy one). Try The Louvre or The Savoy for good food and good people watching.
