The Posh Side of Prague

Many tourists go to Prague for stag dos and cheap pivo, however, there is a chic side to the Czech capital. When our Tasmanian friends came to visit, we decided this would be the perfect excuse to check out all those fancy places we had walked past and read about, but not tried out yet.

We found the hotel Pure White online and made a reservation through www.bookings.com, as reserving through the hotel website was not that straight forward. The photos of the hotel looked great and when we arrived we were not disappointed. The entrance and reception area is stunning and the rooms are modern and tasteful with some nice touches.

Double room at Pure White

Toilet and wet room with rain shower

The best thing about Pure White is the price; for a 4 star stay, €53 a night is excellent value.

Once we had checked in and freshened up, we decided to head into the centre of Prague. First stop was the beautiful Zdenek's Oyster Bar. I had walked past this little place, tucked into a side street, not far from Staroměstské náměstí (Old Town Square), on a previous trip. The bright Veuve Clicquot parasols caught my eye and I knew I had to come back and try it some time.

At night, the interior of the bar is simply gorgeous. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

I was a bit dubious about having seafood in Prague. After all, the sea is a long way away. However, our Australian friends were happy with their Marennes oysters and my shrimp and prawn platter was very fresh and much bigger than expected for the price. We each had a glass of 2004 Veuve Clicquot, which was served with complimentary caviar.

We left the sultry interior of Zdenek's Oyster Bar for another dimly lit establishment: Hemingway Bar. This cocktail bar only opened about a year ago and as you can probably guess is decorated with photos of American writer Ernest Hemingway. Upon stepping inside you feel as though you are entering a gentlemen's club (not of the Spearmint Rhino variety, but the old fashioned London variety); there are leather sofas, book cases and lots of dark wood.

The cocktail menu has some classics, but also a good list of house cocktails that I had never tried before. I went for the "Walk in the Clouds". The pink pepper on the top and the white chocolate syrup made it really unusual, yet delicious. My OH had a "Hemingway's New Fashioned", which comes in a small bottle inside a book!

Many more cocktails ensued, naturally. Well, with the bar being open till 1am, it would have been rude not to, wouldn't it?

Cherry Julep

 Apricot  and White Chocolate Caipirinha and Six Fingers Cat

It was great to have a little luxury for an evening and better still, it cost us a fraction of the price it would have done in London or Hobart. 

Out and About in Olomouc

With fabulous weather predicted, we decided to make the most of the sunshine this weekend and head to Olomouc in North Moravia for the day. Olomouc is only an hour away from Brno and we opted for the Student Agency bus, which at only CZK 210 return for 2 people, was excellent value.

We got off the bus at Olomouc hlavní nádraží (main station), which looks like it has recently been renovated. It certainly is much nicer than the sight that meets your eyes when you arrive in Brno.

Olomouc hlavní nádraží bus terminal and tram stops

As it was a lovely sunny day we walked into the centre of town, over the river and towards the main square, Horní náměstí. The photos in our Eyewitness guidebook really didn't do the centre of Olomouc justice. When you arrive in Horní náměstí it is a stunning sight.

Old Town Hall and Holy Trinity Column

As we were there on a Saturday morning, we had the added bonus of a nice little market selling local produce including cheeses, coffee and beer.

Saturday market in Olomouc

The main sights in Olomouc are ancient churches, decorated in the baroque style. Unfortunately, photos of the interiors are not allowed, but after a long, twisty and somewhat scary climb (chunks of stone missing from the spiral staircase!) to the belfry of St Michael's church, we were rewarded with this view through the shutters. Even better, this tower is free to go up, whereas the others you have to pay for.

Olomouc panorama

After all this climbing we were ready for lunch. We wandered back across the main square and came across a fortified part of town, which now has restaurants, cafes and bars in the vaulted spaces in the wall.

Water Fortress with cafe

We stopped for lunch at Nepal restaurant which is inside The Crack Irish pub. The food was excellent, which is saying something, as we lived for many years in Whitechapel, the curry hub of London. I would definitely recommend Nepal if you fancy a break from standard Czech fayre. I had the saffron chicken, which was a quarter roast chicken in a tasty sauce with rice, chips (interesting but nice) and salad on the side for only CZK 160.

In the afternoon we walked over to Olomouc Cathedral, which is decorated inside with a mix of ornate baroque marble and gilt and 19th century floral patterns.

We were offered a free, very detailed guided tour of the choir and transepts in English. The guide was very keen to tell us all about the history of the cathedral and its architecture and even took us up into the gallery where the kings used to sit. There was another helpful guide down in the crypt who, not being able to speak English, pointed us towards the various relics on display and the recently restored sarcophagi of bishops from the 1600s with explanatory texts in English and German. I found that everyone in Olomouc was very friendly and eager to promote their tourist attractions to visitors. It makes a refreshing change from more well-known towns where they treat toursists like people to just make money out of.

Next stop on the Olomouc tourist trail was the Archbishop's Palace. The entry fee is CZK 60 and you can take photos inside for an extra CZK 50, so I decided to take advantage of that.

Before you trot round, in true Czech style, you have to put on your giant over-shoe felt slippers!

Again, the staff at the palace were really nice and welcoming. We had missed the last tour of the day by 15 minutes, but as the guide was still there, he took us round anyway.

We rounded our day off with a stop-off at a bar we had spotted on the way into town: Black Stuff. This place has an amazing array of whiskeys and other spirits and a really good cocktail menu.

Bronx

Dark and Stormy

Black Stuff bar

We stopped for a quick pizza at a restaurant at the station before making our way to the coach stop. The last yellow bus of the day pulled up and whisked us back to Brno as the sun started to set.