Prague isn’t just a city, but an entity of some kind
Sezin Koehler
Welcome to Porkopolis, the land that vegetables forgot. The golden city of a hundred spires. Those nicknames for Prague pretty much summarize our long weekend getaway in this enchanting city. We ate a lot of meat and a lot of dumplings. Cabbage was the only vegetable in sight. The river, towers, domes, spires, cobblestone streets, and bridges were right out of a fairytale.
January is a rough month to visit Prague due to the bitter cold, but we were hoping to avoid the summer crowds and take advantage of the quick flight from the UK and reduced offseason prices. Czech cuisine is perfect comfort food to warm yourself up after a few hours touring around. I also couldn’t get enough of the hot mulled wine and spiked hot chocolates!
We flew in on a Friday evening after work and found ourselves having a late dinner in a 12th century Romanesque cellar at a restaurant named White Horse complete with traditional Czech cuisine – beef goulash with bread and potato dumplings and beef sirloin in a cream sauce with bread dumplings, a lemon, cranberries, and a dollop of whipped cream.
I was quite impressed by what I thought was going to be basic meat and potatoes. The beef sirloin had a unique combination of sweet, savory, sour, creamy, and salty. The perfect comfort food on a cold night in a cozy, romantic setting. I think I can get used to these international weekend getaways.
Day 1: Old Towne and New Towne
During our first full day, we learned a lot about Czech history and culture in a walking tour around town. Highlights included:
For lunch, we had the lightest Czech meal of the week, open-faced sandwiches called hlebicek at Sister’s Bistro. These were surprisingly delicious, and our selection included egg and watercress, roast beef, smoked salmon and cream cheese, and a fancy potato egg and ham salad.
Next door is a highly-recommended bakery that sells one of the most popular pastries according to locals – the kremroll. We had the salted caramel, and it was divine. The buttery, flakey crust enveloped a perfectly whipped and light cream filling.
Steep competition exists in the pastry world in Prague. The most highly promoted is the Trdelnik (chimney cake), which is claimed to be a local creation although it technically came from Hungary. Stands selling these line the streets and can’t be missed. Although a bit touristy, we had to try one for ourselves.
These cylindrical pastries are made from yeast dough wrapped around a stick and cooked over an open flame, so they get a slightly smoky crispness on the outside that is quite unique while maintaining a chewy inside. Then, they are drizzled with butter, rolled in a cinnamon-sugar mixture and stuffed with your choice of filling, such as apple compote with ice cream or strawberries and vanilla custard.
The inside wasn’t anything spectacular, and we thought the kremroll cream was much more impressive. But, the outside cylinder of dough, although touristy, gets high marks from us. And the heavenly smell permeates the streets of Prague. I can’t imagine a tourist being able to pass these up.
To round out our tour of the Old Towne, we walked across the famous Charles Bridge and soaked in the views.
The nativity exhibit was still up from the holiday season, so we enjoyed catching a bit of the Christmas spirit even if a bit late. Their unique versions of the nativity scene included the largest corn husk collection with 120 figures (in the Guinness Book of World Records for largest art work of its kind) and a life-size straw nativity.
As the sun goes down early in January, we then went underground and spent the late afternoon on a tour to see some early remnants of Prague. Underneath a modern-day pub, we visited what used to be the first floor of a palace that belonged to a rich nobleman in the 12th century.
We also saw the secret passageways (some now sealed up) in the old cellars that linked all the homes along the main street for quick escape during wartime.
To warm ourselves up after a long day of touring outside, we went to a popular restaurant and pub called Lokal and enjoyed traditional beef goulash and potato dumplings and a schnitzel with fried potatoes.
I was pumped to find the Czech version of the German Radler (they called it beer lemonade). Of course, Jimmy drank Czech beer. Did you know that the Czech Republic has the highest per capita beer consumption in the world? So, how could we not join in. I started with the traditional lemonade beer with our appetizer, a Czech staple, a breaded and fried slice of Edam cheese, and then I moved on to the raspberry lemonade beer with the main course.
As the finale for our first full day, we walked back through Old Towne Square to the Charles Bridge and the spectacular Prague Castle sparkling in the moonlight.
Day 2: Prague Castle and a Dinner Crawl
Prague Castle, which dates back to the 9th century, is the largest castle complex still in use in the world today. The complex has four churches, four palaces, five halls, four towers, and eleven gardens. Previously used by princes and kings, the current prime minister’s offices and residence are here now.
St. George’s Basilica was built here in the 10th century.
St. Vitus Cathedral was built in the Gothic style starting in the 14th century and taking almost 600 years to complete.
Above the Golden Gate cathedral entrance is a 14th century mosaic of the Last Judgement.
The tombs of both St. Vitus and King Wenceslas are inside; however, I was most impressed by the baroque, silver tomb of St John of Nepomuk.
A 3D wooden relief map of Prague dated 1630 was also an interesting highlight.
We climbed the Great South Tower of the cathedral to see some great views of the spires and bridges of downtown Prague.
After almost 4 hours of touring the castle complex, we were chilled to the bone and ready to embark on our favorite activity in any new destination – eating. We had considered a food tour but thought we could easily put one together on our own. And so we did.
First Course: Garlic soup with croutons
This may not sound that exciting but when you have been wandering outside in below freezing temps for a few hours, this garlicky, creamy soup is the perfect pick-me-up.
Second Course: Ovocné knedlíky (seasonal fruit-filled dumplings)
The plum-filled dumplings at Café Savoy are pure heaven. Topped with warm butter, powdered sugar, curd cheese, and grated gingerbread, you really couldn’t ask for a more amazing flavor combination.
Locals normally eat these dumplings for lunch, so although it is sweet, this fits in as our second course because it is not considered dessert. Café Savoy has been around since 1893, and the old-timey cafe ambiance just adds to the experience. I chose to pair the dumplings with a mulled wine. Of course, this was the fanciest one that I had while in Prague with dried fruit and nuts as accompaniment.
Third Course: Roasted pork knuckle and smoked pulled pork dumplings
You can’t have a proper Czech dinner crawl without a giant piece of meat. Our main course just had to be the famous roasted pork knuckle. Just in case that wasn’t enough pork, we also ordered dumplings filled with a smoked pulled pork.
The proper pairing is a giant mug of Budweiser beer. Yes, Budweiser. The American King of Beers stole its name from this company in the Czech Republic.
Fourth Course: Buchta (sweet yeast rolls)
We stopped in at another fancy café named Café Louvre for dessert. The Buchta is a traditional sweet bun stuffed with poppy seed and topped with vanilla sauce.
Since 1902, Café Louvre has been the pinnacle of Prague café society and hosted many prominent figures including Franz Kafka and Albert Einstein.
Our dessert drink pairing was a lovely glass of Royal Oporto ruby port.
We were pretty pumped how our impromptu dinner crawl turned out. We managed to spend time in two of the famous Prague cafes as well as a beer hall. We warmed up from the cold with a creamy soup and then enjoyed sweet and savory dumplings and pork two ways. Prague cuisine definitely exceeded our expectations. We also got to see some interesting lesser-known sights around town as we wandered, such as the random, slightly bizarre artwork.
In Kampa Park, yellow penguins line the river.
The artists made this as a statement to protect our environment and bring awareness to what “trash” can be used for. The penguins are all made out of recycled plastic bottles.
Near the penguins crawl a few creepy, faceless, giant bronze baby statues by Czech’s most famous artist David Cerny.
David Cerny’s most famous Prague statue is probably King Wenceslas riding an upside-down horse, which supposedly mocks the past and present leadership of Prague.
Day 3: Odds and Ends with Meat and Potatoes
Our last day exploring Prague was a lot more eating intermixed with a few more Prague sightseeing spots. We wandered around Vyšehrad in the morning. This historic fort was built in the 10th century along the Vltava River.
Inside the fort is the beautiful Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul constructed in the neo-Gothic style.
The oldest rotunda in Prague, the Romanesque rotunda of St. Martin, from the 11th century is also within the fort walls.
From the fort, we walked back toward Prague Castle along the river and took the funicular up to the top of Petrin Hill. We climbed Petrin tower for a birds-eye view of Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge.
Before heading to the airport for our flight home, we stuffed ourselves with one more meat and potatoes dinner at a quaint restaurant near Charles Bridge called Pod Vezi. We crushed the baked goat cheese appetizer with walnut sponge cake, honey caviar, and fig marmalade.
The main course for me was about as good as you can get. Duck two-ways (confit and roasted breast) with deep fried potato croquettes, dumplings, and duck gravy with foie gras. Jimmy enjoyed his veal tenderloin steak with stir-fried mushrooms and carrot confit.
This was one of the coldest vacation spot that we have ever visited, and although we were hoping for a layer of snow to enhance the atmosphere, we felt Prague lived up to the fairytale hype. And even surprised us with all the delicious, comfort foods they had to offer.
Nice read! Shana was in Prague a while back for a para swim event and loved it. I guess it’s one of the few European cities never totally destroyed by war so the architecture is amazing. She also said the beer was cheap haha. Hope all is well!