Prague – Day 1

From Berlin, we took a train to Prague, enjoying the views of small German and Czech villages and vast fields of yellow rapeseed flowers and catching up on my Rick Steves Prague book.  That afternoon in Prague we explored a little bit, buying some handcrafted pairs of earrings for Ella and me at an open-air market and eating some street food, and also trying to get the lay of the land.  The Czech Republic apparently drinks the most beer per capita (and we love beer) but Jonathan was not looking forward to drinking pilsners all weekend (especially after drinking German beer for a week—he’s more of an IPA guy).  So, as a special surprise, I booked a “Craft Beer and Tapas Tour” around Prague.  We met our Charles University student tour guide, and group of about six others, at Wenceslas Square and hopped on the metro to head to a few brewpubs and breweries all around Prague. 

Our first stop was Vinohradský Pivovar (brewery) which was in this cool old brewery building from the late 19th century that had been updated to reopen as a brewery in 2014.  The walls were so thick and the ceilings and windows rounded, so the space kind of felt like a cave.  They offered unfiltered pilsners, an amber beer, and even an IPA (you can guess which one Jonathan tried).  I thought our tour would be a few tastings at each brewery and light “tapas” food as described on Viator when I booked the tour, but we got one or two full mugs of beer at each stop and platters of food (which was great because I know we never would’ve known what to order on our own to get a sample of good Czech food).  After the brewery, we headed to a beer hall in New Town that had the biggest selection of beers, including several IPAs.  We enjoyed a few beers here—this was Jonathan’s favorite spot for the IPAs and sausages.  Next stop was right outside Old Town, Restaurace U Pinkasů which is the original brewery that brought pilsners to Prague (pilsners are the style of beer originally from Pilsen, just like budweiser to Czechs means the style of beer from Budweis, a point of contention for Czechs).  We were a pretty rowdy crowd by now, as you can imagine after several large mugs of beer—but luckily we were doing quite a bit of walking to each new spot.  Our last stop was in Old Town at Pivovar U Dobřenských, a small brewery with herbal beers where we enjoyed beers and dessert to close out the night of gluttony. 

After our fun night of brewery hopping, we decided to walk off some of the beer and food by exploring the Old Town.  We headed to the Charles Bridge and then to Old Town Square.  I couldn’t believe how crowded the streets were at 11pm.  I had read that the Astronomical Clock of the Old Town Hall strikes on the hour until 9pm each day, but we just happened to catch it going at 11pm (which turned out to be crowded even at that time, but a lot less crowded than the daytime on the hour).  That was probably a sign that we were visiting in high season for Prague tourism.  Berlin was not nearly as crowded, but I guess Berlin also doesn’t have the small, cobbled streets you find in Old Town Prague. 


{watch tower and statues of charles bridge, view of the vltava river and prague castle, and klementinum (national library).}


{charles bridge, vltaka river, and prague castle; tyn church in old town square; old town hall; astronomical clock; and, the powder tower.}