For a break from the more obvious tourist souvenirs, or if you have underestimated the brutality of the Prague winter, pay a trip to Model Praha Klobouky off Wenceslas Square and buy yourself a hat.
This delightful shop, tucked away on an arcade leading off Wenceslas Square, seems to hark back to a time where nice young ladies donned hats and gloves each day before leaving the house. Perhaps this is due to its impressive stock of TONAK hats – world renowned felt hats of the highest quality. TONAK is a Czech manufacturer with a legacy stretching back to the mid-19th century, which is borne out in all of its creations.
Model Praha stocks top hats, fedoras, ladies headwear (suitable for weddings and the races) and a small selection of fur.
The ladies who work here are charmingly patient, and speak enough English for everyone to get by without too much difficulty.
A great place to invest in a little piece of Czech fashion history, starting at a very reasonable 450 czk.

www.modelpraha.cz/eng/
Václavské náměstí 28, Praha 1
Nearest metro: Mustek or Muzeum
Mon-Fri 09.00-19.00, Sat & Sun 10.00-17.00
Google map: bit.ly/vto0Vg

* Helen is our Been there local for Prague. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/prague-local-helen-ford.jsp and she has her own blog here: czechingin.wordpress.com/

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For national Czech history don't go to the National Museum at the top of Wenceslas Square. The building is beautiful but the collection has just been shut for at least four years for extensive and long-overdue updating.
Instead, go to the National Museum site at the Vitkov Memorial in Zizkov. This site is home to one of the biggest equestrian statues in the world and a very interesting exhibition about 20th century Czech history.
A steep climb to the top is rewarded by a great view over the city, from the roof-top viewing platform or the very good café.

www.nm.cz/
U Památníku 1900, 130 00 Praha 3
+420 222 781 676

November 2011 untill March 2012:
Monday–Wednesday: CLOSED
Thursday–Sunday: 10 AM–6 PM
Google map: bit.ly/vukUJR

* Helen is our Been there local for Prague. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/prague-local-helen-ford.jsp and she has her own blog here: czechingin.wordpress.com/

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Czech tea houses are a relatively recent development. Local legend claims that a good cuppa was unheard of in the Czech capital until 1848 when Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin requested tea in a Prague café and was met with blank faces.
Fast forward 150 years and the tea drinking, which took off at the end of the 19th century but subsided under the communist regime, has flourished once more. Prague boasts innumerate independent čajovny as well as one small tea chain, each with distinct character and appeal but all offering a wonderfully relaxed environment in which to while away a few hours.
Čajovny serve čaj in abundance – fresh loose teas from across the globe. Most offer extensive menus (around 60-80 tea varieties is a standard) and some offer hookah with flavored tobacco.
Čajovny are casual, hippified places, popular with Czech students, offering a relaxed, chilled-out vibe. A great antidote to an afternoon of sightseeing!

My favourites include:
Dobra Čajovny on Wenceslas Square – www.tea.cz/cajovna/
Nearest metro: Mustek or Muzeum

Tea in the Tower
www.dojo.cz/cajovna/rozvrh/index_eng.html
Na výšinách 1 / Korunovační Prague 7
Nearest Tram: Sparta (1,5,8, 25 or 26)

* Helen is our Been there local for Prague. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/prague-local-helen-ford.jsp and she has her own blog here: czechingin.wordpress.com/

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When you step into Café Louvre on Národní, it is as if you step back in time. Opened in 1902, Louvre has always ranked highly in Czech kavarna culture. For a time it was the meeting ground of philosophy groups whose members included Franz Kafka and Max Brod. Many key players in the European literary scene of the early twentieth century spent time here, including Czech the Čapek brothers and Otto Pick.
Although the café closed for several years under the communists, its interior underwent considerable reconstruction in the 1990s. Today visitors will still get a feel of the grandiose café scene that existed at the beginning of the last century, as they walk up the wide staircase with marble walls and an iron handrail. The main room of the café, overlooking Národní below, boasts high ceilings, large windows and huge mirrors, which makes this one of the most splendid locations to drink caj or kava in the whole of Prague.
Louvre does offer full savoury meals, including soups, salads and pancakes. However, the best reason for a visit is the magnificent coffee and cake menu. Their homemade cakes, strudels and waffles will satisfy even the sweetest tooth – the blueberry cake on linz dough with vanilla ice-cream (65 CZK) keeps me coming back again and again.
An impressive drinks menu makes Louvre a winter time favourite – hot chocolate with rum and whipped cream (59 CZK) will keep you warm when it’s cold outside.
For good quality coffee and dessert set in historic opulence, look no further.

www.cafelouvre.cz/
Národní 22, Praha 1, 110 00
+420 224 930 949
Nearest metro: Narodni Trida or Mustek
Nearest tram: Narodni Trida (6, 9, 18, 21, 22 or 91)
Mon-Friday: 08.00 to 23.30
Sat-Sun: 0900 to 23.30
Google map: bit.ly/mQerhN


* Helen is our Been there local for Prague. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/prague-local-helen-ford.jsp and she has her own blog here: czechingin.wordpress.com/

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One would be hard pressed to find a more moving film location than the crypt of Prague’s Orthodox Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius that featured in the 1975 film 'Operation Daybreak' which was based on the true story assassination of SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich.

In retaliation for Heydrich's death the Nazis killed the entire male population of Lidice while the women and children were all sent to concentration camps.

Seven parachutists, including two of the assassins, hid in the crypt of the Prague church but were betrayed. 800 Gestapo and SS soldiers tried to storm the church and flood them out and were held off for 14 hours. Three died and the remaining four shot themselves. Holes from the bullets can still be seen in the crypt wall. The crypt now serves as the National Memorial Of The Heroes of the Heydrich Terror.

Resslova 9, Prague 2 Metro Line B (Karlovo namesti )
Open every day except Mondays Apr-Oct 10am-5pm Nov-Mar 10am-4pm

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Prague Jewish quarter is one of the most popular areas of Prague. There are several kosher restaurants, Prague Jewish community, apartments with kosher breakfast and you can also have a very interesting tour of Jewish Prague. Prague Jewish museum is one of the most visited museums in Prague. Probably the most famous places are the Old new synagogue (the Maharal shul) and Old Jewish cemetery with all the known Rabbis from Prague Jewish history.

Jewish Prague
www.kosherprague.com/
www.jewishprague.cz/
www.jewishprague.info/
Josefov, Old town of Prague
nearest metro station: Staromestska
Tel: +420-731-108-744
Email: info@kosherprague.com

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Out-of-town must, if you have more than a couple of days in Prague. This fortified 18th century town was used by the Nazis as a "model Jewish town" - a transit camp for thousands. It's a strange, fascinating place, oddly empty though a good many people have lived there since the war. Good museum includes a film made to fool the Red Cross, showing happy smiling people. The few communist-style shops evoke that era too. Very well worth a visit.

About an hour's bus ride from Prague, you can get a bus from the Florenc bus terminal; www.pamatnik-terezin.cz

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Synagogue set in the Jewish Quarter. The walls are marked in 1cm high writing with the names of all the local Holocaust victims. The walls are covered. It is a sobering, astonishing thing to witness. Sounds morose but I can't see any point to visiting Prague without seeing this.

Jewish quarter

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There are reminders everywhere in Prague of people who struggled against oppression. Jan Palach, the student who burnt himself to death in protest at Soviet occupation, has a statue in Wenceslas Square.

But the most moving experience of national defiance that we had was at the spot where Reinhard Heydrich's assassins (Czech paratroopers flown over from Britain) were gunned down in the Church of St Cyril, just off Charles Square.

You first notice the bullet-scarred wall where the church was besieged in 1942, when German troops mounted an assault on the Czechs who were hiding there. Surrounded, they took their own lives and the crypt of the church is one of those places where you feel the hand of history.

The cafe next door to the church acts as a wonderful museum that honours those brave parachutists.

The Church of St Cyril: Resslova Ulice, Nove Mesto, the entrance to the museum is at the side on Vizeoska Street.
tel: 420 224 920 686
Nearest metro: B line to Karlovo Namesti; Trams: 10,14,16,18, 22, 24

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On the hill on the eastern side of the city is the current Jewish cemetery (not to be confused with the old cemetery in the Jewish quarter) where Kafka is buried.

Enter through the main gate and walk to the right side of the ceremonial hall within. There you will find a sign pointing to Kafka's grave. Follow the direction of the sign until you reach the sector 21 sign. Turn right at this sign and head towards the wall. Turn left when you get to the wall and walk until you reach the end of the sector (also marked by a sign). Kafka's grave is next to the sign, facing the wall.

Mounted on the wall is a memorial plaque to Max Brod, Kafka’s friend who published his work after his death. Non-Jewish men - don’t forget to take something to cover your head (I used a baseball cap which is better than nothing).

Olsany cemetery, Zelivskeho metro

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In Wenceslas Square, near the Wenceslas monument, there is a sculpted cross set into the pavement in memory of Jan Palach, the student who burned himself to death in 1969 at this spot in protest at the Russian occupation. It is still regularly decorated with flowers and is a memorial for the Czechs of all who suffered under the Communist regime.

Wenceslas Square

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25 kilometres south west of Prague, Karlstejn is a picturesque village worth walking around in itself, but it also boasts its own impressive castle. Built by Charles IV in the 14th century, it sits on top of a hill and rather dominates everything from the streets below, looking suspiciously ‘Disneyesque’ amid the surrounding fir trees. The views from the castle are sufficient reason in themselves to make the climb, though the interiors are interesting enough, if somewhat restricted due to some unfortunate past acts of vandalism.

By train – from Smichov station in Prague (Smichovske nadrazi metro) or take a guided tour, widely available in the city centre

www.obeckarlstejn.cz/en_default.html

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