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| | | | Not only here for the beer
Standing in the chancellery room in Prague Castle, I was gazing at rather than out of its eastern window.
To the American and German tourists milling about, the window probably passed unnoticed. But it took me straight back to school.
The Defenestration of Prague in 1618, when two radical Protestants threw two Catholic ministers out of this very window, was the first topic we tackled on my A-level history course.
The two ministers survived because they fell into a moat below that was full of sewage, but the event began a devastating religious war which lasted for 30 years.
If you visit Prague, known to generations as 'the city of 100 spires', you are immediately embedded in our European past.
Yet even if you are not swept up by the city's World War II history and its six-year occupation by Hitler's Nazi regime, the extraordinary - and unchanging - Gothic character of Prague must fascinate.
I went for a weekend in November: the weather was damp and foggy, which only increased the city's spectral beauty.
Below the castle, in the cold, watery light, we saw the city's delicate spires hovering over elegantly curved 18th-century Baroque roofs.
Their sugary-pink and yellow colour made it look as if you were walking through a ballet set or a fabulously illustrated children's book.
The original Disneyland in California aspires to this - it has a reproduction of Prague's famous 10th-century Tyn church, with its fairy-tale clusters of spires, but this is the real thing and nothing can match it.
Even more modern buildings, art nouveau or cubist in style, that were constructed in the early 20th century blend in perfectly. No gherkins with cracked glass here.
Crossing the ancient Charles Bridge in the semi-darkness of early winter, a new moon rising over the Vltava river and its 31 statues of saints set against the glittering lights on the surrounding medieval spires, must be one of the most memorable of European experiences.
Remarkably there is no sign anywhere of the torrential floods which hit the city on August 2, 2002.
At the time 70,000 people fled from Prague and it was feared that many architectural gems would vanish if the Vltava river burst its banks.
The river swelled to its highest since 1890, its waters engulfed the city including the zoo, where many favourite animals drowned, but fortunately all the main major art treasures had been removed before the flood hit.
Travel Guide: Prague
How to do Prague on the cheap
From the Mail on Sunday
There aren't many capitals where a pint of beer costs just 50p, a hearty meal less than £2 and a trip from the airport to the city centre 25p.
But Prague is one - as long as you know where to look...
GETTING THERE
Low-cost airline Go (http://www.go-fly.com tel: 0870 607 6543) flies to Prague from Stansted and from Bristol and East Midlands airports.
Bus 119 will take you from Prague airport (buy tickets at the arrivals hall transport desk) to the end of the metro line, then it's just a few stops to the city centre. Total journey time 40-60 minutes, total cost 25p.
If you have lots of bags, a Cedaz minibus takes one to four passengers right to your hotel for £7.50.
GETTING AROUND
Within the city centre, you'll only need your feet. However, a ride on the efficient Russian-built metro or the trams costs only 15p-25p, a 24-hour pass £1.50. You must buy tickets/passes in advance.
The most useful tram is 22, which takes you up to Prague Castle. If you take a cab, watch out for overcharging.
Travel Guide: Prague
Ducking the stag and hens
"Booze and culture," said my mate Shonagh, summarising the virtues of a weekend trip to Prague.
Most Britons heading to the Czech capital have exactly the same idea. But often they end up doing the first and ditching the second.
Within hours of our arrival, we saw a noisy hen party stumble across Wenceslas Square carrying the kind of plastic accessory best left to the bedroom, two blokes dolled up as birds and one fella in a Mr Incredible costume initiating some kind of underwear-swapping game in a pub.
It felt about as cultured as a trip to Blackpool.
But although cheap flights and even cheaper beer have turned Prague into stag and hen party central, you can avoid the beer-guzzlers by choosing your spots wisely.
Like Prague Castle, for example - perched at the top of a steep, cobbled street, this Gothic medieval building was hard enough to reach when sober - "you need crampons to get up here," moaned Shonagh - never mind with a hangover.
Tickets are flexible to allow you to choose which palaces and buildings you want to visit within the sprawling complex.
After wandering past the pretty stained glass windows of St Vitus Cathedral, we headed for the viewpoint of the Great Tower which meant climbing a head-spinning 287-step spiral staircase. Once I'd stopped gasping for breath at the top, Prague's red-tiled roofs, spires and cathedrals swam into fairy-tale focus.
Despite this lofty vantage point, the best way to appreciate the city is walking around, but this means choosing your footwear carefully.
We quickly realised that flat sandals didn't do anything to protect our feet from endlessly cobbled streets and wearing heels, whilst chic, was just plain reckless.
Your best bet is a pair of trainers cushioned with at least five inches of air. They will probably cost more than your flight to Prague but will make sightseeing a painless experience.
Better still, opt for a Segway tour of the city, a two-wheeled scooter that is a favourite with stag parties. You may look a bit daft but it cuts through the crowds, which is useful in Old Town Square.
Stuffed with gorgeous Romanesque, Baroque and Gothic buildings, the square looks like it's leapt straight out of the pages of a storybook, with moody-looking, dramatic towers and steeples next to pretty pastel facades.
Even when the astronomical clock on the old town hall failed to chime on the hour as the guide books had promised, it didn't matter. It was still magical.
The best way to soak up the atmosphere here is by chilling in one of the al fresco cafes, although this could bring you into closer-than-desired proximity with a bleary-eyed stag group. One such encounter led to an inspired sightseeing tip: "Avoid the Sex Museum, it's rubbish."
If there's one other place you definitely shouldn't avoid, however, it's Charles Bridge. Originally built in the 13th century for knight tournaments, the bridge is now the stage for a different kind of joust. This involves prodding your way through hundreds of tourists, souvenir stallholders, caricaturists and buskers to get from one end to the next.
But the bridge is a great spot to linger at sunset when it's far less crowded and heaps more romantic. Although I was with four female friends, I knew as I gazed at the castle in the fading light that I had fallen utterly in love with the city.
If there's one place that failed to steal my heart, however, it was Wenceslas Square.
Although it played a pivotal part in the Czech Republic's turbulent past, there was no evidence of this as I traipsed past umpteen shops and restaurants. Even The National Museum looming at one end of the boulevard failed to convey any real sense of history.
But I was looking in the wrong place. Tucked away on one of the side streets is the Communist Museum, which ably dramatises the country's political past via memorabilia, photos and a short video documentary.
If there's one museum you visit in Prague, make sure this is it.
All of this exploring is sure to whet your appetite but sampling the local cuisine could be short-lived unless you like beef, dumplings or goulash.
I stuck to international fare - of which there is plenty of choice. Try the excellent, uber-cool, Barock restaurant in the Jewish quarter, delivering everything from sushi to curry at decent prices - and with a smile.
Unfortunately, you'll find that good service is a rare as a sober stag in Prague. Wherever we went, waiters and bar staff shot us steely glares.
But if there's any compensation, it's the price of beer. At just 60p a pint, I got excited - and I don't even drink the stuff.
Whatever your choice of poison, after you've sunk a few drinks, be prepared to explore Prague's legendary nightspots.
Wander through the twisty streets of the Old Town, past the occasional neon-lit, lap dancing joint, and head for underground club La Fabrique. It's tiny but has a relaxed vibe.
If size and thumping tunes matter, visit the riverside Karlovy Lazne Dance Club. It may resemble an NCP car park, as Shonagh wryly commented, but it's central Europe's biggest disco.
You'll have fun if you don't mind steel pipes, sticky floors and the antics of hen groups that cause even the boldest stags to blush… but what can you expect? This is Prague, after all.
Feeling inspired? Book a holiday
Travel Guide: Prague
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| | | | Bridges, castle and Baroque palaces
Prague's priceless architectural heritage was saved by emergency metal barriers placed on top of the city embankments. 'The wall of hope', as locals dubbed it, saved the day, but it was a close-run thing.
The historic bridges, castle and Baroque palaces have been battered by the tide of history for centuries and now look as pristine as ever.
In the quiet, narrow streets, passages and alley ways, lit by soft lights in old gas fittings, you feel that there might be a ghost lurking around every corner.
On the first evening of our weekend break we took an hour-long ghost trail, costing 300 crowns (koruna), about £5.50.
Nina, our guide, described in perfect English a 14th-century 'spirit raiser' who resurrected the dead relatives of poor people, but got overly ambitious and tried to bring back a dead nun inside the Tyn church.
He was torn to pieces outside the church by other furious spirits. In a dank, vaulted passageway off the old town square we heard how a jealous Turk had murdered his unfaithful bride and now haunts the area, holding her head under his arm.
There is the ghost of a 500-year-old butcher who was executed because he stayed at home having sex instead of going to war, and opposite a new pizzeria there is the place where a dead Jesuit priest appears on September 28, mourning a prostitute he killed after she unwisely flashed her breasts at him.
This rather morbid tour ended happily at Bistro Rudolf, a popular underground dive, for a well-earned beer and some food.
Prague is the home of the original Budweiser and Pilsner beers. A pint costs about 50 crowns, or £1.
Among the numerous excursions around the city there is one devoted to the beverage.
More of it is drunk in the Czech Republic than anywhere else in the world, 160 litres per capita per year, and hardly any beer is imported.
You are generally encouraged to drink gluhwein, hot wine and spices, or grog, rum and spices, which are on sale in the market square, or as takeaways from restaurants.
Meals may end with slivovice, the Czech plum brandy, at about 60 crowns a glass, around £1.40.
But drunkenness British-style is frowned upon and if you get too tipsy you can easily end up in a cell over night.
It is, however, hard to get drunk as the food is so nourishingly solid.
At Rudolf, where spicy bread sticks shaped like knots decorate the table, my friend was surprised by the size of her mushroom soup served inside a fresh loaf.
Where to stay and eat
WHERE TO STAY
Good-quality budget accommodation is hard to find. For somewhere appealing bank on spending at least £70 a night B&B for a double in high season (April to November).
Book well in advance for the following hotels, which are small and very popular. Rates are for B&B in a double room this summer. Add the prefix 0042 02 to phone numbers.
Dum U Velke Boty, Vlasska 30 (http://www.volweb.cz/rippl/ tel: 575 33 234), £69-£84. The 17th Century house has eight lovely bedrooms, excellent breakfasts, caring staff and a quiet position under the castle. My favourite.
Pension Dientzenhofer, Nosticova 2 (tel: 573 11 319), £73. Tucked away in a peaceful corner near Charles Bridge, this quaint 16th Century house has spacious bedrooms with modern furniture.
U Suteru, Palackeho 4 (249 48 235), £69-£81. A medieval/Baroque pub-with-rooms in the new town, not far from Wenceslas Square. Bedrooms are large and stylish.
Excellent, cheap Czech grub fills the pub with locals.
Pension Unitas, Bartolomejska 9 (http://www.unitas.cz tel: 242 11 020), £41. If you don't mind sharing a bathroom, stay in this former prison. Basement rooms were once the cells, and many - including Vaclav Havel's - still have iron doors.
BEST PUBS AND CAFES
To eat cheaply, go to a beer hall. In the old town, at U Medvidku (Na Perstyne 7) a plateful of goulash and dumplings costs £2, and half a litre of Budvar beer is 50p.
In Mala Strana, Baracnicka Rychta (Trziste 23) is a cosy hideaway where sausages in a beery sauce cost £1.20.
If you want just a beer, find a space at one of the packed communal tables at U Zlateho tygra (Husova 17).
Even the trendiest of Prague's cafes are affordable. At Barock (Parizska 24) in the old Jewish quarter, a bowl of spinach and smoked salmon soup at lunchtime, amid photos of models in various states of undress, costs £3.
The city also has several grand Viennese-style coffee houses, including Kavarna Obecni dum (Namesti Republiky 5); Slavia, opposite the National Theatre, and the Ebel Coffee House on Tyn, the old town's prettiest courtyard.
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| | | | Pig's knee with fat dumplings
Prague is a great place for pork, but she ignored the roasted piglet, and 'pig's knee with fat dumplings', in favour of a smoked gammon cutlet in cream sauce and horseradish, which melted in the mouth. She also had the traditional bread dumplings.
I tucked into beef dumplings and goulash, a meal big enough for someone who had just been boar hunting, or sightseeing in the cold.
We washed this down with a hot chocolate and a hot wine, at a total cost of 500 crowns, about £10.
Prague is remarkably compact, with excellent buses and trams. You are suppose to buy bus and tram tickets before you board, but for a weekend it didn't seem worth it.
Late on our first evening we hopped on a tram near Charles Bridge and off after three stops without paying.
After that, for the sake of simplicity and to shake off a few calories, we walked everywhere.
If you do want to use a taxi, it's best to book in advance.
One of the great joys of Prague involves shopping: but ignore the chain stores, head instead for the small specialist shops.
Most noteworthy are the Marionette shops, with skilfully carved puppet characters. Among them, some of the characters from Harry Potter.
Some of the more enchanting shops are full of wooden toys and mobiles for babies and small children.
Czech children are obviously still encouraged to use their imagination rather than computer screens.
For grown-ups wanting authentic goodies there are numerous Bohemian crystal, agate and amber shops.
Wenceslas Square, known as the heart of the city, has a romantic name and a huge market, but it is tawdry. A good place to buy cheap marzipan, gloves and chocolate.
Whether you plod about trying to see everything from the 9th century onwards, as we did, or sip hot wine and watch the world go by in the old market square, there are always some surprises.
In one of the covered market square cafes, where large basket chairs are wedged up against each other, we were presented with a piece of sachertorte 8in long and 4in high.
Around our feet dozens of fat sparrows came out from under the wicker seats to pick up crumbs of chocolate cake.
The quality and quantity of this cake may be the answer to the mystery of London's disappearing sparrows.
Prague is a place of charm and elegance. There are a little more than a million people living there, so it is a refreshingly uncrowded capital city.
However, since the fall of the communist regime in 1989 ugly modern reality has cut in.
You can see evidence of this in the Thai massage parlours and sex shops. Fourteen years of democracy has also brought an unprecedented upswell in crime.
There is a risk of robbery at all the main tourist attractions, the railway station, and on public transport.
But then my friend and I were walking about so avidly, trying to see a lot in a short time, that thieves would have been hard-pressed to catch up with us.
TRAVEL DETAILS:
Crystal Cities offers breaks to Prague (0870 160 4951 or visit www.crystalcities.co.uk).
Sightseeing and entertainment
SIGHTSEEING
The Prague Card (£11.50 from the tourist office on Old Town Square) gives unlimited use of public transport and entry to 40 museums and sights over three days. Note, however, that some major attractions are not covered.
Best free attractions: With its buskers, artists and statues, you can't beat a stroll across Charles Bridge.
Access to much of the castle - including Golden Lane (the row of cute cottages where Kafka once lived) - is free. Don't miss the changing of the guard at noon.
Avoiding the crowds: The castle and the Jewish Museum are best visited first thing in the morning, at lunchtime or teatime. At nights the castle takes on the moodiness that must have inspired Kafka.
The Foreign Office warns that pickpocketing is common at the main tourist attractions.
ENTERTAINMENT
To find out what's on, get Bohemia Ticket International's monthly programme; its office is at Male Namesti 13 in the old town.
The year's big cultural event is the Prague Spring, a music festival (http://www.festival.cz).
The Prague Post, a weekly English-language newspaper, has a useful listings section or look at http://www.praguepost.com
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