On our second full day in Prague, we decided to hire a walking guide to show us some of the hidden parts of the city.
We followed the advice in the Lonely Planet book and hired George. At first, I thought that we were paying George a lot of money for a few hours (1500 Czk - approx £37.50) but I can honestly say that it was money really well spent.
George turned up at our hotel and we just told him what we wanted to see! We hadn't been to the castle or the Jewish quarter and we wanted to see them. You may have also noticed a lack of talk about the local food. So had we, and we wanted to go somewhere for lunch that served 'real' Czech food.
We set off and took a walk towards Charles Bridge and then ducked behind the Maltese embassy. It was amazing - we had walked along this street a couple of time but we hadn't noticed the odd water-mark half way up the buildings in the area. This mark was several metres above the pavement level and had been the height of the flood in 2003! Whole areas of Prague had been underwater and you could see areas where people had repaired/repainted buildings (sometimes badly). We also saw the John Lennon wall - interesting if a little odd.
George then took us to see a building overlooking Charles Bridge. It seemed a little familiar and he then explained that the building (and the bridge) had been used in the film Mission Impossible I.
We then spent the next few hours being shown around the castle and the Jewish quarter. The best bit was that we felt we saw things that others were just missing. There were crowds of people at the castle, but George always knew a way to get the best sights whilst letting others 'crowd' around sights.
George then took us for lunch. Yum, yum - a micro-brewery that served 'real' Czech food. The best bit was having someone to decipher the menu and explain the history behind some of the dishes. It is illegal in the Czech Republic to charge foreigners a higher rate than for locals. Most places, however, offer daily specials at a reduced rate but as this menu changes so frequently, it is not translated in to English (unlike just about every other menu in Prague). Of course with George there we could take advantage of any of the dishes. And the beer brewed on site. Did I mention the beer? :-) [If it is illegal to charge less for locals, how come the funicular railway appears to charge nothing for people who have lived in Prague for 35 years or over?]
Looking back on it, it was money well spent. £40 for two people for about 4.75 hours. You can't really complain about that.
The afternoon was taken up with some shopping (actually, the afternoon was taken up with walking around shops filtering out the 'rubbish' looking for something to bring back as gifts for people - we didn't really succeed). We ended up in a great café - Café Savoy - for a coffee - it had the most amazing ceiling you will ever see in a café.
Claire sorted the location for dinner that night [Staropramen Brewery] - which is why we took the wrong tram, then got on the correct tram and but got off too early. Hunted round for the restaurant. Got very odd looks when we went into the brewery reception looking for the restaurant. Found the restaurant only to find that we should have booked.
We ate at an Italian restaurant instead! I can't remember the name but we had nice starters, great pizzas, several beers and coffee for about £12.
[Apparently the dinner here is good!]
Our last day was taken easy, with a little more shopping [rubbish filtering] before we got a car to the airport.
The trip was great - Prague (Praha) is an amazing city with some amazing sights. The beer was good and overall the visit was fairly inexpensive. I can heartily recommend Hotel Julian and George's walking tours and also getting a cheap travel ticket. We didn't have any problems with pick-pockets or anything such whilst we were there (although we were careful) and we both look forward to hopefully go back sometime soon.