Advices

The page nelso.cz brought an interesting insight – if you come to Prague for good and cheap beer, this could be your guide to both. The map depicts Prague parts with colours according to prices, with little glasses, representing pubs and restaurant.

As it goes with the web 2.0, the map is interactive, so it still grows in information and quality. Prague citizens themselves form the information part. And how to summarize it? If you have a beer at the Old Town Square, you can pay ten times more than in the rest of Prague. Prague 1 prices are equal to those in Britain, but if you move just a little, you can find beer in normal Prague price – 25 czk or less for a 0,5 l.

The interactive map of beer in Prague is here

We already informed you about The Exhibition in Prague City Museum, called Prague Cafés and their World, where you can go to have a stylish cup of coffee, First-Republic style.

But if you want to simply go for a good coffee, you can go to Prague Starbucks, or you may choose the most famous typical café called Slavia, which marble tables has been a meeting point of artists since 1881.

For the list of the Best Prague Cafes with information, continue here

Since today, it is possible to buy a Prague Public Transport ticket from your mobile phone. That’s it – you don’t need to buy a paper ticket.

So here are the steps: you text DPT on the number 902 06 20 and here you go – you have just bought yourself a transfer ticket worth 20 CZK, which is valid since the moment when you have sent the SMS.

The ticket inspectors of Prague are equipped with a gadget, that can check, if the SMS ticket is valid or not.

At the beginning of 2008 the service will be extended of other tickets and coupons, so this could be the end of waiting for a coupon in queue. This time MHD does something else for their customers than just marking the prizes up…

SMS help link, which has been introduced at the beginning of 2007 have received 80 messages so far.

The number was established for police needs, but it provides help i.e. in the case of a deaf person needing a doctor, too.

603 111 158

What you should fill in the message? Surname, the place of occurrence (city), and some specific location like the number of public lighting where something happened, and a brief account of what has happened.

The police contacts the person via SMS, and sends a unit that was informed it is a case with a deaf, there. In the case of incident being further investigated, the police has interpreters into sign language prepared.

The provider of the service is T-Mobile

If you are left-handed, and going to Prague, it may be good for you to use the constantly profitable exchange rates of the Czech crown, and to do some shopping. Where? In the special shop for left-handed.

It is in Krizikova 109, Prague 8, and it is the only left-handed shop in Prague. Even when almost every 10th person is left-handed, office equipment that would fit him/her in work, for instance, weren’t sold in Prague. Where is the difference? For example, a ruler starts at a higher number, or a kitchen knife has a blade on the opposite side.

The first company ordering these stuff was, according to the owner, Microsoft CR. And you can check the shop here

If you are thinking about coming to Prague for the first time, and you are looking for one article to sum all the (legal :) joys that evenings and nights in Prague offers, you should go for this one: Experience Prague during the evening, which does it in nice and decent way, like in this sample:

A beautiful historical city in the heart of Europe offers a wide range of activities that can be enjoyed after the sunset. You can enjoy your dinner in one of Prague’s fabulous restaurants, have a drink in a bar near the Old Town Square and spend the night dancing in a fancy club. You can also enjoy the spectacular view of Prague’s castle, National Theatre or Charles bridge while strolling in a historical district in Prague 1. An evening boat ride on Vltava river will become an unforgettable memory.

And we just add – if there is more of a clubber inside of you, check this out: Prague Clubs.

According to this year’s contest, organized by Prague 1 City Hall, the best commercial premises situated at Prague 1 are:

The best Restaurant in Prague: Kolkovna, V kolkovne street.

The idea of the Kolkovna restaurant was to create a unique environment with an inspiring and original atmosphere that would link the best of the Czech brewing tradition and Czech cuisine adapted to the requirements of a modern day life style. This has been achieved thanks to the liaison of the Kolkovna Group and Pilsner Urquell Original Restaurants. The idea of the project is to offer a unique, uniform and harmonised interior style and food, not to mention the excellent quality of Pilsner Urquell beer.

Apart from the traditional Czech food and beer specialities, international cuisine and culinary specialities are available. For example, a roast duck served in a roasting pan is worth a mention. The Restaurant can seat 150 guests inside, 90 guests in the cellar premises and 50 in the front beer garden that is open in summer till 22:00. One can enjoy the atmosphere of this historical place and Pilsner Urquell lager every day between 11:00 and 24:00.

The best Shop in Prague: Maso, uzeniny (meat shop & smokehouse), Jindrisska 32.

The best Services in Prague: Pradelna Na Starem Meste (Old Town Laundry), Rybna street.

If you are a tourist coming here to Prague, or an expatriate, it doesn’t matter. What is important is, whether you are able to interpret “Colors of my City” by a photography, or not.

The contest is organized by Metro newspaper, and to participate is easy – all you have to do is to make a shot, send it to the web www.metphoto.org/ceskarepublika, and to hope to win a NIKON D80 in the ‘Local Winner’ contest.

The 5 most popular photos, as voted by the public and a panel of judges, will win a prize. If this is your case, you can win even more in the contest ‘Global Winner’ where you compete against photos from all over the world.

Even in the very center of Prague, it is possible to see darkness behind windows. The Office of Historic Preservation (Pamatkovy urad) counted the buildings in decay, located in the historic center, and found out the worst owners are municipal corporation and private companies.

In Prague site area, that is on the UNESCO list, you can find total of 32 buildings/palaces, that that are deserted and decayed, some of them even for quite a period. Those are buildings build in baroque and classicist style, and some contain remains of the old city walls.

The Office of Historic Preservation informed it is a great shame and sadness, but compared to the situation ten years ago it is quite better; there were hundreds of deserted buildings. If you are wealthy and you are interested in buying a house that is situated fourth in line left from Astronomical Clock on Old town Square, you can. Beautiful baroque and renaissance house U minuty (At the Minute) has been empty for over a year.

Source: Lidove Noviny

Even though you may think that you know Prague Castle very well, you might be surprised to find places that are not mentioned in Prague guidebooks but still they don’t lack their magic.

Instead of walking up the Old Prague Castle Steps, stroll along the streets Na Opysi or Chotkova to the Deer Moat. This green calm place created by the stream Brusnice is not crowded by many tourists and still offers a great view of famous monuments, such as Daliborka and Mihulka towers, St Vitus Cathedral or Queen Anne’s Palace.

The Dear Moat will take you to Prague Castle or U Brusnice street which leads to lovely street New World and narrow streets around the Loreto.

From U Brusnice street you can also easily get to Lumbe’s garden opened since the last year. There are many concerts held in that garden. Lumbe’s garden used to belong to the Lumbe’s villa, the residential villa of the Czech president.

More and more police officers are able to communicate with tourist in foreign languages. At least these are the words of the spokeswoman of the Prague police Iva Knolova. According to her, younger generation in police forces have normally basic knowledge of foreign languages, especially English.

Still, if you can’t make yourself understood, visit the police station situated in Na Mustku street in the centre of Prague. There you can find interpreters of the main world languages. For languages that are not so common, the police will call court interpreters.

The police also invited students to help them with translations of more difficult questions. The students assist the police officers in the centre of Prague every weekend in June and September and every day in July and August.

To travel to the Prague international airport or to Karlstejn by metro? Even though it’s not possible now (and in the near future), some travellers might have thought so yesterday.

An unknown person covered the schema of metro lines in several trains of Prague metro with a sellotape. Travellers could therefore read that green line A terminated in Karlstejn instead of Dejvicka station and goes via Prague airport.

Even thought the original stops were visible through the tape, it looked quite reliable. The conclusion is obvious – don’t trust everything you see.

Many Prague monuments are not accessible for people in wheelchairs. Let’s name the most popular ones – White Tower, Daliborka Tower, Old Town Bridge Tower or Powder Tower. Even though the situation is getting better, there are still many limitations for disabled people in Prague.

Among those monuments that can be visited by people in wheelchair are Old Royal Palace, Queen Anne’s Summer Palace, St George’s Basilica, Ball Game Hall, Imperial Stables, Rudolf’s Gallery, Spanish Hall, Prague Castle Picture Gallery and the gardens at Prague Castle.

Disabled people can also enjoy the view from the Petrin View Tower, Old Town Hall Tower and Vysehrad.

Czech weekly magazine Euro published a chart of the best restaurants in Prague. The testing was made anonymously by several experts who were evaluating the restaurants from five different angles.

The maximum points, that could be given to one restaurant, was 60. Maximum of 20 points could be given for the quality of meals and drinks, 10 points for the atmosphere and aesthetics, 10 points for the personnel’s behaviour, 10 points for place setting and 10 points for the quality of the menu.

The best restaurants are Flambée, La Dégustation, Le terroir and Zlata Praha, gaining all 60 points. The complete list can be found in the current issue of magazine Euro. Another evaluation of Prague’s restaurant can be found in the Maurer’s Grand Restaurant.

Almost everybody who has once travelled to/from Prague Zoo, either by bus or by car, can talk about an unpleasant experience. Buses (no. 112) are full of people and can’t even hold all the people waiting at the stops. Cars are trapped in traffic jams. The Prague Zoo and the city council are trying to solve this problem, but so far in vain.

The Public Transport Co. advices that there are other ways how to get to Prague Zoo in Troja besides the bus no. 112 from Nadrazi Holesovice (metro red line C). Another possibility is to go by metro to Kobylisy (metro red line C), change for buses no. 102, 144 or 186 and go to stop Na Pazderce. Then it’s about a 600-meter-long walk through a small wood to the greenhouse Fata Morgana in the Botanical Garden or to Prague Zoo.

In the future the city plans to intensify the water transport or create ecological trains, so that the trip to Troja won’t be spoiled by a stressful journey there.

Prague is crowded by thousands of tourist every year during Easter holidays. This year more than 70,000 tourists are expected. Unfortunately, Prague will be also full of pickpockets whose methods are improving.

To fight with organized groups of pickpockets who can be seen on popular tourist destinations, such as in front of the Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square, Charles Bridge or The Royal Route, 250 police officers (50 more than usual) will stroll daily the streets of Prague from Easter until the end of September.

To recognize pickpockets is really difficult. They are mostly dressed like tourists. They are often in shopping centres, near the stands with refreshment or in public transport. Their popular tram lines are no. 22 and 23 that go via stop Prazsky Hrad (Prague Castle).

If you are interested in more than one museum in Prague, we recommend to buy a ticket which enables you to go into 12 museums within 3 days. The full price of the card is 160 CZK. Students, seniors and disabled people pay 80 CZK, families 200 CZK.

With this card you can enter 12 buildings of the National Museum: the main building of the National Museum in Prague, Czech Museum of Music, Historical Pharmacy in Nerudova street, Lapidary in Prague Exhibition Ground, Lobkowicz Palace by Prague Castle, Musaion – Kinsky Folly, Antonin Dvorak Museum, Bedrich Smetana Museum, Naprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures, National Memorial at the Vitkov Hill, Frantisek Palacky and Frantisek Ladislav Rieger Memorial and Jaroslav Jezek Memorial (Blue Room).

You can visit, for example, a very popular exhbition The Hunters of Mammoths in the main building, Orbis Pictus in Czech Museum of Music, Antonin Dvorak Society – 75 years of activity in Antonin Dvorak Museum, or Bedrich Smetana Museum 1906-2006 – Uniques, News, Curiosities.

According to the latest information, there were about 7834 pieces of forged Czech banknotes in money circulation. The most common forged notes in the Czech Republic are banknotes of the denomination of 5000 CZK as well as foreign currencies.

The material of Czech banknotes is more resilient from ordinary paper, resists tear and contains many security features. Check here the protective elements on the sites of Czech National Bank. Never try to pay in a shop with forged banknotes as you can be sentenced up to two years imprisonment according to the Czech law.

There are Czech banknotes of the denomination of 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 and 5000 CZK, and Czech coins of the denomination of 50h, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 CZK. The Czech banknotes represent great Czech people. The Czech Republic will probably adopt euro in 2012.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs issued a booklet called ‘Information Booklet For Foreign Nationals: Czech Republic’ that gives tourists or foreigners living in the Czech Republic information and advice for easier orientation in the Czech environment.

The booklet contains information about Czech political system, school system and healthcare, employment, social security, transportation, Czech customs and traditions, where to look for help, contacts to many institutions, and much more information about living in the Czech Republic.

This booklet was isued in Czech, English, Russian, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese languages. Printed versions are handed out at the Alien Police, Employment Bureau and non-profitable organizations.

We already wrote about the bad experience of foreign tourists with Prague taxi drivers who damage the reputation of the city. Many taxi drivers, especially in the centre, charge much more than they should or they give you a receipt that does not have all the essentials. Czech newspaper MF Dnes brings advice what to do when taking a taxi in Prague.

• Instead of taking a taxi on the street, use the marked taxi station or order a taxi by phone and ask the name and number of the driver.
• When getting in the car, you can write down the registration number and the number on the door. If the drivers reacts negatively, leave the car.
• The maximum rate in Prague in 28 CZK/km. Be also careful at the chancing rate of some taxi drivers – you pay more in Euros then in Czech currency. Current exchange rate is about 28 CZK per EUR. After getting in the car, ask the driver about the approximate cost.
• Check the taximeter whether it is working. If you think that you have to pay too much, check the receipt, whether the driver charged you the standard tariff.
• Make sure that the receipt contains personal details of the driver. If the driver refuses to give you the receipt, make sure you know the registration number and the number on the door.