five days in prague - what to do?

[julian]

my very lovely partner has just sprung my birthday present on me - it appears im being whisked off to prague for a few days : )

i suspect a number of people here have been there, but can anyone give me some comments on what must be done?

kostnice is somewhere that ive wanted to see ever since i heard about it, but, other than that, i really have no idea at all.

so yeah, what would you suggest, except for going to see this little cherub? : )


http://www.oook.cz/places/kostnice/5755.jpg



oh, and things id ideally really like to avoid are -

stag parties,
red light / hustler zones,
and - i still havent been away from corporate nighclubs for long enough that the idea of ending up in anything but a very specialised club isnt all that apealing either

.

[jukka]

1.get drunk on czech beer
2. get drunk from beer
3.get drunk
4.get drunk again
5. guess what ? drink beer

[Irrungenwirrungen]

Eat goulash
Eat onion/garlic soup, served in a bread bowl with lumps of cheese in it.
As Jukka said!

[julian]

Hmmm...

One problem -

I gave up drinking when i was 18

[wheezer]

Goulash is not a czech food. It's hungarian.

There is some very nice art nouveau stuff to check out, such as the hotel evropa on wenzesalv (sp?) square - more sites worth visiting here: http://perso.orange.fr/artnouveau/en/villes/prague.htm .

if you want to avoid the stag party crowd, avoid old town by night, especially on weekends.

by day, old town should be visited though - from the square (don't forget to check out the old town hall, Church of Our Lady before Tyn and Church of St.Nicholas), head for jewish town - you should at least visit the old-new synagogue (13th century) and the spanish synagogue (18th century). check out the kafka museum, have a walk over charles bridge, check out Rudolfinum, the Prague old gardens (wallenstein, castle, and Vrtba) and Vysehrad.

My favorite place to hang out is probably Kozicka on Kozi 1, not far from the old square. It's central but generally devoid of tourists and the prices are very reasonable. It's a shame you don't drink alcohol, because some of the best beer in the world is served here! ;)

[Irrungenwirrungen]

Hmmm...

One problem -

I gave up drinking when i was 18

Well, it's never too late to start again.
There is loads to do culturally. We went the middle of February, so the idea of drinking in warm open fire places usually outweighed the idea of traipsing from one sight/museum to another. The thing we found though, was that Prague was much smaller than, say Berlin, so most of the cultural things could be done in a relatively short space of time & there was absolutely no need to use public transport, other than to & from the airport.

[automaton]

go up the big tower thing on the hill. it wobbles a bit but it's quite cool...

[[sik]]

for info on techno stuff going in prague check
http://www.scratchplastics.cz

directions
http://www.scratchplastics.cz/mapa.php?PHPSESSID=df5df339718 df3716e16fc6d6ea6ca48

[edit]

If you find the time or inclination to visit a 'specialized' club, it's got to be Cross Club - if not for the music, for the decor and design of the place, which is absolutly insane (ie tables made out of motherboards and car engines; quite Giger stylee some of it). Good to just go for a lemonade and a look around.
http://www.crossclub.cz/

[bob]

the tv tower is worth going up.
That osary is cool, but be warned that its quite far away (2 hours or so on the bus I think) and there is absolutely nothing else to do in that town apart from look at one castle.
letna park is nice in the summer and as someone mentioned there is loads of cubist architecture. Head to vysrehad (??spelling??) as there is a nice castle which is loads quieter than the one in the centre and about 3 or 4 cool cubist buildings

[julian]

Thank you all very much for the comments.

So often, when i go anywhere, i think "next time ill get a bit of a plan sorted before i leave", and this time ive just about remembered to do it : )

I understand the osary is some way out too, but i still hope we end up going. When i first read about it, i was intrigued. Im sure its probably not as odd as i immagine, but id still like to find out, if not just to rid my brain of wondering...

The cross club looks interesting. Im not alergic to them or anything - ive just spent too long mixed up in brighton seafront, tending to the beast, to have forgett just yet.

Anyway, I accquired a book on the region yesterday, so i shall read some of that now, looking up the places mentioned, and then possibly mutter some more.

: )

[JE:5]

Just wander around and admire the gothic architecture stopping off for beer, that's what i've done every time i've been there!

[julian]

Hehe...

http://www.port23.co.uk/prague.jpg

looks like i shouldnt have mentioned that i wasnt interested in hookers!