Czeching out Prague

Botel Matylda - fabulous location to stay

We had been told that Cesky Krumlov was a smaller less touristy version of Prague, next stop Prague (Praha to the local, which we were not) to confirm if this is the case.  We arrived at our accommodation, our fourth boat-home of the trip: barge on the Mayenne River, stationary barge on canal in Amsterdam and overnight ferry with bunk beds traveling back from Scotland (not the highlight).  This one was an old beautifully renovated boat moored near the centre of Prague.  We had an amazing view over an old bridge and weir, with ducks & swans floating past our balcony type doors.

Tracey with Botel Matylda behind at right

Prague has a reputation for beauty and although constrained somewhat by early autumnal rain, we managed to see a few highlights after braving throngs of tourists (there are a lot of tourists in Prague - we reckon maybe more even than in Venezia):

• The Charles Bridge - thick with crowds ambling across towards Prague castle, which we skipped based on our acquired knowledge that castles are generally best seen from afar rather than from within. Vendors peddling a variety of art (some OK, some "your caricature in five minutes"), jewelery (some very cool and unique pieces - maybe you'll see some), touching religious statues and icons including a very unusual statue of the crucifixion with Hebrew script overlaid.
• A marionette performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Some almost slapstick humour, featuring traditional marionettes, finger puppets and a big surprise appearance of a human in costume to grandly portray the overwhelmingness of the gods.
• The Astronomical Clock (Prague Orloj) which was surrounded by swarms of dangerous umbrella-wielding tourists. From Wikipedia: "A legend, recounted by Alois Jirásek, has it that the clockmaker Hanuš was blinded on the order of the Prague Councillors so that he could not repeat his work; in turn, he broke down the clock, and no one was able to repair it for the next hundred years." At times we felt like the blinded clockmaker, as the crowds were so thick that our view was often obscured. We did, however, see the saints parade at the chiming of the hour...it must have seemed the highest of tech back in the 16th century and still looks cool today.
• Trams that hurtle along like Italian drivers on the motorway. These things are seriously fast and, being quite quiet, dangerous!



Don Giovanni, by marionettes

• Pork. It seems like everything in the Czech republic is pork, or pork with potatoes, or pork with cabbage.....oh for a piece of lamb. Still there was some excellent pork, it can't be denied.

Of course there were other notable food moments:

• Artisan, where we enjoyed scallops on a greenpea puree, raspberry pork ribs, jerk chicken (for the sake of Jamaican nostalgia), a risotto of dried tomato and basil with Italian sausage, a chocolate "lava cake", and a reprise of a wine we learned about in Italy, Nero d'avola (from Sicily). Andrew couldn't resist trying out the local delicacy, slivovice. Smells better than it tastes, and packs a wallop. One is more than enough :)
• Matylda, where we revisited Italy with great simple spicy pastas with roasted garlic and tuna tartare, carpaccio of octopus, a terrific Osso Buco with saffron rice (points to the Czechs here, as this was far more our style than the one we tried in Arezzo). Nostalgia was also on the menu as we found a bottle of Chilean merlot from Santa Rita, where we stayed at the end of our honeymoon.



Astronomical clock (tourists omitted)

• Mlejnice - liver dumplings in beef broth, a humongous plate of pork ribs, chicken livers with bacon, garlic, onion and rosemary. Hot wine, definitely welcome on such a chilly and wet day!.