Prague, ‘the mother of cities,’ pleases

I’m not saying that you should book a flight to Prague just so you can eat dinner there. But, should you find yourself in the neighborhood, there are some damn fine restaurants to visit.

Julia and Gary Bentley, Alan and I just returned from a Viking River Cruise on the Danube River from Budapest to Nuremberg, and we added three days in Prague to the end of the trip. We fell in love with the Czech Republic capital for its beautiful scenery, architecture, food and friendly people.

Our first food find was a restaurant named Field that a friend of Julia recommended. It bills itself as “free range dining” and is basically a farm-to-table eatery. You can tell from the menu that they believe in using all of the animal, a concept I struggle with. I mean, I believe you should, but I just can’t dig into sweetbreads, beef tongue, rabbit and dried deer heart, all of which were on the menu during our visit. Fortunately, there were seafood options that saved the day. And they were fantastic.

Our entree is at the top of this blog post.

Tonka beans are not really beans, but a spice that is finely grated, the way nutmeg is. They are actually banned by the FDA in the United States but are widely used in other countries. (Apparently at very high amounts they have proven to be dangerous to rats.) They are often used in love spells and other magic potions.

I don’t think it was the tonka beans that caused us to fall in love with this restaurant, though. It is sleek and hip and the service and food are excellent.

Prague is an extremely beautiful and storied old city. Home to 1.24 million people, it is not only the capital of the Czech Republic, but also the historic capital of the region known as Bohemia. At 1,100 years old, it was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire in its heyday. More recently, however, it has been occupied by both the Nazis and the Communists. Prague is the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Istanbul and Rome.

Julia had a great idea. On the recommendation of a friend of hers, we ditched the Viking guided tour we were offered and opted instead for a free three-hour tour by Sandeman’s New Europe. Our guide, Michael Pittham, was fantastic. The guides work only for tips.

“Prague is said to be ‘the mother of cities,’ ” Michael said. “Rome is the father and London is the bastard child!” Michael is from London. “London is a stinky, expensive, interesting mess,” he declared.

Speaking of the Astronomical Clock, Michael said it is “the second most disappointing tourist attraction in Europe.” The first, according to him? The Mona Lisa at The Louvre in Paris. “It’s small. It’s behind plexiglass. And it’s a reproduction. The original is in storage.” Hmm. Didn’t know that about it being a reproduction.

Michael said the Astronomical Clock, installed in 1410, is so disappointing because folks have heard that, on the hour, the figures of the “Four Vices” on the clock will move. That’s true, to a degree. We weren’t there on the hour so Michael acted out what the moving figures would look like if we had been. He moved forward maybe two inches and then turned his head almost imperceptibly to the right and then to the left and then he moved back the two inches to his starting point. It was hysterical. Better than the real thing, I imagine.

Michael was full of advice about eating and drinking. “Water is more expensive than beer,” he related. “Sprite is more expensive than beer. Drink beer!” Unsurprisingly, he reported that Czechs drink more beer per capita than the residents of any other country in the world.

Regarding restaurant service, he advised, “If a server is being rude to you, you’ll know it. If they are just standoffish, that’s normal. Don’t take it personally.” Ironically, we found most of the servers and shopkeepers we interacted with to be very friendly.

Regarding pickpockets, he said to be careful when you are in crowded places. “But it’s not Barcelona,” he quipped. (Which made me rethink my bucket list wish to visit Barcelona.)

We said goodbye to Michael after tipping him in American dollars when he told us he was planning a trip to New Orleans to meet his girlfriend’s parents.

Later that day, we hopped on a little cruise of the Vltava River, which runs through Prague.

Another great restaurant we discovered was located in the Four Seasons Hotel.

So, Julia and I figured out the secret to this. Smash up some shredded wheat, pour melted butter in it and use it to bread the fish (or whatever you choose). We are going to try it at home.

On our last day in Prague, we would end up walking eight miles (20,000 steps on my pedometer) and having another fantastic dinner.

But first, we wanted to go to the Petrin Lookout Tower, also known as “Prague’s Eiffel Tower.”

Next destination: the Prague Castle, which dates to the 9th century and is actually a castle complex.

We had purchased online tickets to a classical concert. It was held at Lobkowicz Palace at the castle and featured three members of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra playing piano, flute and violin.

We had a snack at a cafe near the concert hall while we waited for the doors to open.

Next up: more sightseeing.

And then, Gary was determined that we would find a very unique monument to Kafka in downtown Prague that he’d heard about.

If you want to see what makes it so special, click on this short video I took:

Cool, huh?

Our last fabulous restaurant of the trip was called Bellevue.

The staff at Bellevue was terrific. They were friendly and accommodating. But their English wasn’t excellent. In fact, at the end of our meal we got a laugh when Julia went to ask one of them to please call us a cab. She returned to the table and, with a puzzled smile, reported, “Well, they’re either calling us a cab or they’re bringing us a bottle of cab!”

And there you have it. A wonderful three days in Prague. Go if you can.