After spending a few days in Germany (which you can read about here and here), Nate and I ventured to The Czech Republic for a quick 24 hours in Prague with our pals. The adventure started the second we hopped in our tiny rental car to drive there. We quickly lost track of our friends, who were driving at light-defying speeds in their BMW on the autobahn. Our rental car happened to not be a BMW and started ferociously shaking at 160 km/h, and our rental GPS (circa 2000) immediately died after crossing the Czech border. I am not sure how we reconnected with them but miraculously we found them at a town square in Plzeň –a town we were eager to leave immediately. We then realized we needed gas, however, had no way of knowing if it was regular gasoline or diesel since everything was written in German. No one could understand our query. Finally a friendly Czech gentleman literally shoved his face into the gas tank to smell it and said, “benzene!” Obviously. We should have smelled it.
Prague is such a beautiful place and we had so much fun exploring. I especially adore a city that is filled with giant trees, parks, and water yet also boasts a legitimate city vibe. It’s the best of both worlds.

I’d never been to Prague before and was so excited to visit The Czech Republic, which is where my grandmother’s family hails from and also the source of my killer kolache recipe. My goal was to try as many kolache as possible to determine just how good the family recipe is. (The answer: my grandmother’s recipe is the most amazing recipe ever.)

If you find yourself in Prague, here are a few highlights from our short time there:

Sleep: We stayed at the Hotel Monastery Prague and had a great experience. The views are amazing and it is in a quiet, peaceful location. It’s not in the center of the city yet is walking distance there. The free(!) breakfast was great, which is always nice to have one less meal to buy. We capped off the night with sunset views and a glass of Czech wine at Bellavista, which is right next door and overlooks the city. When a string quartet started playing as we enjoyed dessert, we thought that maybe it was too cliché…but that thought quickly dissipated when we realized it was just plain glorious!

Coffee: I love traveling with people who are as serious about their coffee intake as I am and don’t think it’s weird to center adventures around finding the best place to enjoy an espresso. Fortunately everyone in the group felt strongly about frequent coffee breaks and searching fervently for worthy cafes. The best place we went to in Prague is Nový Svět, which is a tiny little cafe that may not garner a second glance when passing by. It’s on a nondescript side street, so I am glad we had the wherewithal to pop in. I ordered an affogato, which is my new favorite obsession: espresso with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Lunch: Oh my word, we got a little in over our heads on this one. We set out to find a restaurant my friend had read about, Home Kitchen. We figured we’d walk there as it didn’t seem that far and there were surely many sights to see en route. We found ourselves quickly getting in less populated areas and the restaurant seemed to be moving further away with each step. Fewer people spoke English when we stopped to ask for directions. There were no taxis and no way to buy tram tickets on a Sunday, which we soon learned we needed. To get there in the end, we crammed into the car of a nuclear physicist student who we asked for help outside of a church. He felt so badly for us he gave us a ride (yet for some reason didn’t want to stay for lunch?). He said tourists don’t tend to venture that far, which provided such a unique traveling experience, I think. It was all worth it when the meal turned out to be phenomenal. So good.

Děkuji!