City Guide
I had three days in Prague at Easter and spent most of them going off the obvious route, which turned out to be the right decision.
The Easter markets in the Old Town Square are the first thing. They are genuine. I expected something staged for tourists, colourful but hollow. What I found was Czechs actually buying things, eating food made on site, watching egg-painting demonstrations done by people who clearly know what they are doing. The smell is mulled wine and grilled meat and something sweet I couldn’t identify. I went back twice.
The Astronomical Clock is worth seeing once. It is genuinely beautiful and the mechanism is extraordinary when you understand what you are looking at. What it is not worth doing is standing in the square for twenty minutes waiting for the hourly performance, which lasts approximately forty-five seconds and ends with everyone looking slightly confused about whether that was it.
The castle complex is a full morning and most people rush through it because it is uphill and large and they have other things on the list. St. Vitus Cathedral alone is worth the walk. The stained glass is extraordinary, particularly in low light. The views from the castle walls over the city are the best in Prague by some margin.
I ate well throughout. Czech food is heavier than you expect and better than its reputation suggests. Svickova, which is beef in a cream sauce with bread dumplings, is the dish to order. The dumplings are nothing like any dumpling you have had elsewhere. Do not skip them.
Three days is the right amount of time. Long enough to find the neighbourhood restaurant with no sign outside. Long enough to walk the river in both directions. Short enough that you leave wanting to come back, which is usually the sign that a city has been good to you.
