Praha, Land of Dreams

I’ll start by acknowledging that yes, I’m being borderline-pretentious and using Praha as the name of my former city, rather than Prague. Because that’s its name in its native country, and that’s what I got used to calling it when I lived there. So Praha it will always be to me. Anyway, it flows much more nicely than the other version, don’t you think?

And for me, in many ways, Praha was indeed a land of dreams. It’s the first place I ever lived overseas, where I made some amazing friends and had a lot of incredible experiences (mostly good, some challenging, almost all memorable) that I still recall fondly nearly a decade later. I haven’t been back since I left, in part because I know that returning would be so strange without the presence of the friends I experienced the city with all those years ago, who shaped my time there so much. But nonetheless, Praha will always hold a special place in my heart.

I went to the Czech Republic to teach English, like so many other young Americans and Brits have done since the fall of the Iron Curtain a quarter of a century ago. And I may have taught a few people a bit about English grammar and conversation (I hope so, anyway!) but I learned far more. I learned how to survive in a foreign land, how to live in a place where I barely spoke the language, how to make friends with people around the world, how to navigate cobblestoned streets, how to order cheese in a Czech supermarket, how to figure out bit by bit what really mattered to me in life. (I admit, I’m still working on that last one). Praha really did change my world, and it gave me far more in return than I could ever have brought over with me.

In honor of all this, I thought one of my first blog posts on a specific place should therefore be about Praha and some of my favorite places and experiences in the city. Here they are, in no particular order:

1) Café life—Europe is famous for cafes and the whole concept of relaxing over cups of hot liquid accompanied by pastries, newspapers, or books, where you can while away hours on end without rushing. Praha excels here. Among my favorite haunts when I lived in there were the cafes, especially Kavarna Slavia, right on the Vltava River which bisects the city, and Café Louvre. My friends and I would gather every Sunday evening at Kavarna Slavia for horka cocolada (hot chocolate) and rehashing our weekends as we geared up for the week of teaching ahead. It’s still one of my favorite memories of traditions we established in the city, a routine that made life in a strange faraway city feel a little more like home.

2) Petrin Hill—in springtime, Praha is at its finest, and Petrin Hill was one of my favorite places to climb up to with friends, sit on the grass and people watch and observe the world go by as the flowers bloomed around us and heralded the arrival of warm weather.

3) Old Town Square—this probably should have come first, as it’s the first magical place that hooked me when I arrived in Praha. By the time I left, I usually avoided it, seeing it as a bit of a

tourist trap (which it unfortunately is—but with good reason). Tourists aside, this is one of the most beautiful public squares in Europe, and you can’t miss it if you’re in the city. The spires of the town hall building, the famous astronomical clock, the pastel-colored restaurants, cafes, and shops lining the cobblestoned central square, with countless streets labeled with red street sign placards in indecipherable Czech lettering branching off in all directions, just begging to be explored. I don’t recommend eating or drinking much here as it will cost you an arm and a leg, but sitting in the center of the square and gawking up at the amalgam of architecture will cost you nothing and will probably be the highlight of your Czech experience. Praha was mercifully spared from destruction or damage in WW2, so unlike many of the other rebuilt cities around Central Europe, here you’re looking at the real, unreconstructed old town of centuries past. Take it in, and be awed.

4) Beer gardens—I hate beer, but I love beer gardens. Rows upon rows of seats and benches in beautiful leafy outdoor settings—my favorite was perched on the edge of the Vltava and offered spectacular views—where you can soak up warm evening weather and hang out with your friends for hours enjoying nature and good conversation. What’s not to love?

5) The Charles Bridge—Touristy as it is, of course this makes the list. It’s beautiful, historic, and features live musicians busking for change as well as artists selling their wares—usually paintings or photographs of Praha, several of which I bought during my time there as gifts for friends and family back home, or just for myself. If you’re lucky enough to come when it’s less crowded, it’s even more magical.

6) Smazeny syr—Fried cheese. Need I say more? Well, I will add that this is considered a vegetarian staple by the Czechs, who don’t really do salads (or at least they didn’t when I lived there), and that this meal is both delicious and artery clogging and should be eaten sparingly. But be sure to try it.

7) The Mucha Museum and Museum of Communism—These were my two favorite museums in the city. Alfons Mucha was a reknowned Czech artist who became famous originally for his art deco work in Paris at the turn of the 20th century, before coming back to Praha to dedicate his life to the idea of an independent Czechoslovakia, which finally materialized in 1918 in the aftermath of WW1. His work from all stages of his career, including his haunting and beautiful paintings depicting the life and struggles of the people in his native land, are on display here, and it’s a fascinating glimpse into his life. As for the Museum of Communism, I’m a history nerd, and this place does a fine job of laying out the story of how Communism came to Czechoslovakia and Prague, before finally being shaken off by the Czech people in the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Both museums were highlights of my time in Praha and are well worth checking out.

8) Vasklatske Namesti—Or as the non-Czech world knows it, Wenceslas Square. This is one of those places that may not strike you as very interesting at first glance if you don’t have some

insight into the history behind it. Today, it’s essentially a big long plaza with a lot of shops lining it—including, when I lived there, a McDonalds and a Sephora. But Vasklatske Namesti has played host to the history not just of Praha, but of Europe itself in the 20th century. This is where the Nazi troops marched in in 1939 when they took the city under their control, and where the Soviet tanks rolled in in 1945 to drive them out. This is the place where students and other Czechs and Slovaks revolted in the brief Prague Spring uprising of 1968 before it was brutally suppressed by the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies, and twenty-one years later, it’s where the next generation rose up and threw off Communism for good in the peaceful Velvet Revolution during the magical autumn of 1989. Go see it, look around, and contemplate everything that happened in this square over the past hundred years. I don’t think it’s possible to come away unmoved.

Have you been to Praha? What did you think of it? What are some of your favorite places and experiences from your time there?