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| The Czech Republic is located in central Europe with Germany to the north and west, Poland to the north, and Slovakia and Austria to the south. It has a long and checkered history, surviving lots of invasions and various rulers. It was was part of the Soviet Bloc until 1989, with the fall of the "Iron Curtain".In November 1989, Czechoslovakia returned to a liberal democracy through the peaceful "Velvet Revolution". In January 1, 1993, the country peacefully split into 2 countries - the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia. |  CLICK ABOVE TO VISIT THE "MOTHER SHIP" |
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| Both
countries went through economic reforms and privatizations,
with the intention of creating market economies.
For the Czech Republic, this process was largely successful and in
2006, the country was recognized by the World bank as a "developed
country" and in 2009 the
"Human Development Index" ranked it as a nation of "Very High Human
development". It is a member of the European Union, but does not use
the Euro, but rather its own currency called the Czech Crown. It has
become one of the most stable and prosperous of the post-communist
states. |
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| When
most people talk about visiting the Czech republic, they mean "Prague"
its capital and most popular tourist attraction. However it is a
country with great diversity and many places to visit. It is comprised
of 3 main regions - Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the east, and
Silesia, the smallest along the northeastern border with Poland. We
spent all of our time in Bohemia, with 3 days in Cesky Krumlov in the
south, 3 days in Karlovy Vary in the northwest, and 3 days in Prague.
We also spent one night in a little town called Tabor on the way to
Cesky Krumlov. |
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 INSIDE CHORVATSKY MLYN |
We flew into Prague at 10:30 in the morning, and rented a car. We had flown in on a "discount" airline so we hadn't had a decent meal, and we were hungry, so we drove directly to a very good restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was the "Chorvatsky Mlyn" (in English, the Croatian mill). It is located on the western outskirts of Prague, and is only about a 10 minute drive from the airport. |  the "boat bar" at Chorvatsky mlyn |
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 my marinated trilogy |
This restaurant is reputed to
be the best fish and seafood restaurant in the Czech Republic. It’s
probably true, but on the other hand, we didn’t find any other
restaurants which specialized in fish and seafood. The restaurant was
elegant, the service was excellent, and the food was terrific. I had a
trilogy of marinated anchovy, octopus, and a white fish salad. Alisa
had Istrian fish soup and tagliatelli with seafood. By Czech standards,
the restaurant is expensive, but the total experience was well worth
the price.
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 alisa's istrian FISH soup at mlyn |
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 glass blowing at ruckl |
After
lunch, we drove to the Ruckl
Crystal Factory in Nizbor. Bohemia is famous for its crystal, and the
Ruckl factory is one of the best known glass-works in the Czech
Republic with 300 years of history. For the modest sum of 100 crowns
($4), you can take a tour of the factory. It's a very informal tour and
I was very surprised at how close they allowed us to get to the hot
glass furnace. See the picture to the right. After the tour, a visit to
the store is obligatory where you can load up on beautiful crystal
glassware. |
 the glass shop at ruckl |
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| After Ruckl, we drove to Svaty Jan Pod Skalou, a tiny picturesque village in the mountains. It started drizzling and there wasn't a lot to see in this tiny village, so we headed for our first overnight stop, Tabor, which is about halfway between Prague and Cesky Krumlov. Tabor is both a mountain and a small town in Israel with lots of Biblical history in the area. I thought it would be very appropriate for us to stay in a town called Tabor in the Czech Republic. | ||||||||||
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In
Tabor we stayed at the Nautilus Hotel.
The hotel is located right on the main square of this cute little town,
with locked parking about a 2 minute drive away. Walking to the parking
was even shorter, as there was a convenient short cut. The staff was
very polite and the room was fine.
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 tabor center |
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 goldie's at the nautilus hotel |
Perhaps the
most notable thing about this hotel is the attached
restaurant, called “Goldie’s”. From what I have read, it is the best
restaurant in town. We only had breakfast there, but could see that the
restaurant is very good and beautifully designed, with a talented chef
who cares, even about breakfast. Everything was presented very
esthetically, and the breakfast was very nice. |
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| The town
itself is very
picturesque, and we strolled about the next morning. Alisa found
exactly what she was looking for - a store selling Desigual
apparel. We did some shopping and then got on our way to Cesky Krumlov. |
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 city hall of ceske bodoveske |
On the way
to Cesky Krumlov, we stopped off to visit Ceske Budoveske,
the largest city in southern Bohemia. It has a population of over
90,000. We parked in the huge central square, and strolled about for a
couple of hours. We had
lunch here at a tiny vegetarian restaurant. It was our cheapest meal of
the trip. We had 2 set menus for a grand total of $8. |
 unusual building in ceske bodoveske |
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| Cesky
Krumlov is a lovely medieval town in the south of the country. It is
the second most visited town or city in the republic, after only
Prague. It is famous for its many festivals - a chamber music festival,
an international music festival, the festival of baroque arts, European
heritage days, the "revolving auditorium", and they even have a wine
festival. Here's a full
list and description of each. |
 vltave river in cesky krumlov |
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 festival activities in the main square of cesky krumlov |
Probably the the best known and most popular of the Cesky festivals is the "Five Petalled Rose Festival", and that's the weekend we decided to be there. This festival is a "renaissance festival" and it is full of round the clock activity and full of period costumed participants. Anybody who attends in the correct period costume is exempt from the entry fee. |  children's choir in cesky krumlov festival |
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 cesky krumlov rooftops |
We stayed
in the "Old Inn" hotel which is situated right on the main
town square, known as Namesti Svornosti,
and we had a ring-side seat for the main events. There was
entertainment on the main stage almost non-stop, there was a costumed
parade through town, and there was a firelight procession at 10 at
night. The main square was fillled with food stalls, and there
was a huge crafts market at the castle, a 5 minute walk from the
main square. There were other venues with activities (like the
castle grounds), but the main events took place at Svornosti square. |
 alisa hamming it up with festival revelers |
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 more cesky krumlov revelers |
As for our
hotel, overall it was just fine. It is very “medieval” in its décor.
The staff seemed a little stiff, although part of that was, I believe,
due to the pressure of the festival. Whenever we had a request or a
problem, it was taken care of quickly. As for parking, it’s on the edge
of town due to driving limitations inside town. The hotel driver
escorted us to the parking, and took us with our luggage to the hotel.
They took us back at the end as well. I normally wouldn’t accept a
situation where our car would be a good 10 minute drive away from the
hotel, but I knew that during the 3 day festival we had no reason or
plans to leave town. It all worked out OK, as our car was there when we
checked out and we went on our way with little delay. |
 lots of food in the main square! |
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 "ladies in waiting" |
The hotel
has 2
attached restaurants, one a standard Czech restaurant,
and the other an intriguing grill restaurant set in a catacomb below
the hotel. We tried to eat there, but there was a fire in the chimney
on the day we had intended to eat there, and it stayed closed.
Breakfast was fine and our room was spacious. As for the hotel
restaurant, It’s a typical Czech restaurant with mostly Czech
specialties and a few fish dishes. I had a tasty goulash, and Alisa had
the trout. They were both good and the prices are quite reasonable. As
we were staying in the hotel, we were able to charge our room which was
convenient. |
 festival procession in the driving rain |
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 colorful POTTERY cups in the medieval market |
We ate at
an interesting selection of restaurants. One of them was "Papa's Living
Restaurant". Papa’s
is a very nice Italian restaurant with a varied menu and very good
fresh pasta. It was mostly full each time we visited (we were there
twice). Besides the pasta and pizza, they also have some other dishes
like ribs and BBQ chicken wings which will please tourists. They even
had good grappa, which isn’t easy to find in Czech restaurants (even
Italian ones)! This was one of the best Italian restaurants we ate at
during our visit to the Czech Republic, and for sure one of the best in
Cesky Krumlov. |
 bbq wings at papa's |
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 inside jakub's restaurant |
Another good restaurant we ate at (twice in fact) was Jakub's, which is attached to a Leonardo Hotel, and was quite close to our hotel. Jakub's is clearly a bastion of refinement among the usual sausage and cabbage restaurants here. It is a lovely restaurant, with very professional service and nicely plated dishes. I had the duck with red cabbage and dumplings (a standard in Czechia, but done very nicely here), and Alisa had a fish dish which was done beautifully. It’s a very nice restaurant with outside seating. The prices are more than the standard restaurant, but still quite reasonable. |  roasted duck and red cabbage at jakub's |
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| We had a
great time in Cesky Krumlov. We enjoyed the Five Petalled Rose
Festival, which was great fun, and it should definitely be in your
program if you come to visit the Czech Republic. |
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| We left Cesky Krumlov on a Monday morning and drove to Karlovy Vary, the number 1 spa town in the Czech Republic. It is in an area surrounded by several other spa towns, but it is the best known. It is also known by its German name "Carlsbad". It is a long ride (3 hours) so we scheduled a stop in Pilsen to visit its famous brewery and have lunch. | ||||||||||
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The Pilsner Urquell Brewery is one of the largest beer brewers in Europe and is located in the city of Pilsen. It's like a small city. It has a visitor's center, a museum, a restaurant, and offers a tour which is almost 2 hours long. We were in the middle of the long ride from Cesky Krumlov to Karlovy Vary, so we weren't interested in a 2 hour tour. We stopped and decided to just have lunch at the huge brewery restaurant, which is called "Na Spilce". | |||||||||
| The restaurant is a typical “beer hall”, huge, noisy and full of diners. Unfortunately, the food and service were indifferent at best. The service was truly slow and “chilly”, and we had to chase after the waiter for everything, including the bill. The food was edible but not much more than that. I would call it "heavy duty industrial fare". We were in the “no smoking” area, but tables just a few feet away were smoking tables. The best thing we can say about the restaurant is that the beer was really fresh and tasty. |  pilsner restaurant |
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| spa towns of the czech republic bohemia's spa triangle famous european spa towns |
After lunch, we continued on our way to Karlovy Vary. We checked into our hotel, the Olympia, and began getting to know this famous spa town. Karlovy Vary is a really lovely town, built in the style of the spa towns of the 19th century. It has a river running right through it, and it is famous for its 15 hot springs. Each one has a name, and each one, supposedly, has its particular therapeutic effect. They also come out of the ground at various temperatures, ranging from 30°C to 72°C. My favorite was at 60°C - almost hot enough to make tea, but not too hot to drink comfortably while strolling. |  beautiful karlovy vary |
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There
are two main venues for "taking the waters" here. There is the
colonnade, where about 8 or 9 springs
come out of the ground with easy access 24 hours a day, (pictures to
the
left), and there is the "spring pavilion", which is a giant hall open
from 7 AM to
9 PM (most days), and houses 5 or 6 springs as well as many souvenir
vendors and crystal glass sellers. It also has one huge
spring (the "Vřídlo" hot spring) spouting out above ground like a
geyser. The most popular item at the souvenir stands was the special
Karlovy Vary "sipping cup"
which people use to sip the waters while strolling about. (pictures of
the pavilion to
the right). |
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 To the left is a typical
Karlovy Vary sipping cup. They come in various sizes. The hot water is
sipped through a hole at the top end of the handle. You can see people
walking about town with their little pitchers all day. Our hotel loaned
out cups to its guests.
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 karlovy vary horse and carriage |
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| The spa, including the pool is on the 5th floor of the hotel, which includes a nice view from the outdoor terrace. Our room was fine, breakfast was fine, and the hotel has a few parking spaces for a fee right out in front of the hotel. | ||||||||||
| We ate at several different restaurants in Karlovy Vary. The best was the restaurant at the Embassy Hotel. We walked in off the street after chatting with the waiter on the sidewalk who was trying to drum up business. When asked why, he explained to us that June is a quiet month in Karlovy and the place will get busy in July. The restaurant is very good, with excellent food and wonderful service. |  inside the embassy restaurant |
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 one big half a duck! |
They start with a platter of cold starters, and Alisa took one (smoked eel) which she didn’t enjoy and returned. The wait staff seemed offended but didn’t argue. After that, everything was perfect. I had 2 dishes and both were excellent. My appetizer was “lobster cappuccino”, which is a French cold soup dish and which was the tastiest dish I had on the entire trip. It was absolutely delicious and I wanted to eat here again just to have this dish again. My main was half a duck with red cabbage and dumplings. It was quite large but prepared perfectly and I finished it to the last morsel. |  lobster cappuccino |
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 cerny orel home made kohlbasa |
The next
day we ate at a tiny little restaurant called Cerny Orel. It was empty,
but it was a "find". Here
is a Czech site with the restaurant details. It doesn't have a web site
of its own, but it does have great home made food. I had a kohlbasa
(made on the premises), Alisa had trout, which was just fine, but the
"jewel" of the meal was the perfect strudel (also made on the
premises), which was the
best we had on the trip. Kohlbasa to the left and strudel to the right. |
 the best strudel of the trip! |
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| |
Another cute restaurant was Chebsky Dvur. This place is also part of a hotel, and it is the quintessential Bohemian dark wood-filled Czech restaurant. It looks like it was made for a movie. The entire interior is covered with dark wood paneling, "hunting" knick-knacks on the walls and ceilings, and the food is Czech with 3 check-marks. It is quite big, and accommodates groups. There was a group in the main hall while we were there, but we were led to one of the other rooms where "non-group" diners ate. |  the entrance to chebsky dvur |
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 chebsky dvur |
The food
was simple, but delicious. We really enjoyed it. Alisa
had stuffed trout with spaetzle, and I had goulash with french fries.
The waitress was cute and tried valiantly to speak English with us, the
food was tasty and the price was quite reasonable. The entire complex
(hotel and restaurant) is owned by the Kraus Family, who express their
philosophy on the menu along with their family story. We thoroughly
enjoyed our lunch in this cute romantic restaurant. |
 chebsky dvur |
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| The last
restaurant we ate at in Karlovy Vary was an Italian restaurant called Tosca. It's also part of a hotel
of
the same name, although due to the unusual layout of the buildings,
it was hard to tell. It was the closest restaurant to our own hotel,
which
wasn't actually part of our hotel. From the outside this place looks
quite simple, and it, like Cerny Orel, (see above) was empty when we
entered. However, like Cerny Orel, once we got inside, we were
impressed and surprised. |
 tosca decoration |
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 tosca |
The
restaurant interior was obviously designed by a professional, and was
quite colorful and beautiful. The
food was also very nice. Alisa had a nicely prepared sea bream with a
rucola and tomato salad, and I had a prosciutto pizza, which was just
great. |
 tosca |
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| We had a
pleasant and restful stay in Karlovy Vary.
When we left, we drove straight to Prague. It was about 2 hour drive
and most of the roads were 2 lanes and slow. About 30 KM from prague,
the road became modern and 4 lanes. |
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 the iconic astronomical clock in prague |
We've been
to Prague
before, but more than 10 years ago. The city has changed a lot since
then. Today it is absolutely bubbling, with great restaurants, and
hordes of tourists.
It is known as the city of 100 spires, and is famous for its Jewish
quarter, its old town square with its famous astronomical clock, the
famous Prague Castle, and
being home to Franz Kafka. Today it's one of the smaller European
capitals, but is still the number one tourist attraction in the Czech
republic. |
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|
We stayed at a hotel called
"Residence Agnes". We've stayed at lots of hotels in our travels, but
this one was one of the best! I would put it in our top 3. The
hotel is
not the most luxurious or the most beautiful we have stayed in, but the
service and the hotel philosophy put it in a class by itself. The staff
couldn't do enough for us. Every new guest receives an "orientation" by
a member of the staff who explains in detail about the hotel, about
the city, where to go and how to get there. The hotel driver is on call
all day and will take a guest anywhere in the city, or bring him back.
In addition, there is always free coffee, tea, wine, beer or cold
drinks available in the lobby around
the clock.
The breakfast was the best we had in the Czech Republic. Did I mention
the excellent location? It's about a 10 minute walk from the old town
square, and nearby are lots of restaurants.
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 a new guest getting orientation in the lobby of residence agnes |
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 breakfast at residence agnes |
Here are 2
examples of the incredible service. 1. We arrived in a rented car which I had to return to the rental office at the central train station. I asked for a city map and explained what I needed to do. They wouldn't let me go by myself. They sent the driver in his car and I followed him. I returned the car and he brought me back to the hotel. 2. We arrived just before 12 noon. As noted above, I went to return the car. Alisa stayed at the hotel. The breakfast buffet still had food on it. The staff sat Alisa down, made her coffee, brought her food and made her feel right at home. Alisa complimented the strudel, which was made on the premises. When we left 3 days later, we were sent off with a container containing 4 pieces of the strudel. |
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 part of the prague castle complex |
We
did a few things while in Prague. We visited the castle, which was
mobbed by visitors. The hotel driver took us to the castle and we
walked back. Very convenient. The castle is one of the prime
attractions in Prague, and it was a lovely Saturday, so it was no
surprise that it was so crowded. We walked the length of the castle
grounds inside the walls, and walked back outside the castle walls, and
then negotiated lots and lots of stairs (both up and down) to get
back down to the town. There's lots to visit inside the castle complex,
but we had done it years ago, and considering the crowds, we just
strolled. |
 lots of stairs at the prague castle |
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 statue on the charles bridge |
Once we got
down all the stairs and back in the city, we visited the Charles Bridge are, one of Prague's most famous
landmarks. Here are some interesting facts about the bridge.
There are 30 statues on the bridge and here is a page with details about them all. To the left is
the statue
of St. John, St. Felix of Valois and St. Ivan which is one of the most
photographed statues on the bridge. Click on it and see a closeup of
the most interesting feature of the statue. |
 view of prague from the castle complex |
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| By the time we got to the old town side of the bridge, it was time for lunch. We ate at a restaurant which was literally set in the shadow of the bridge. It was actually a bar/restaurant which was probably a very busy place after dark. It was called Klub Lavka. It's quite a large and rambling place, although the food and service were very pedestrian. I only mention it because of the price of catsup there. I ordered french fries which were quite good. I asked for catsup. The waitress was kind enough to inform me that the catsup would cost extra: "..about a Euro..." she said. The french fries cost 2 Euros, my sandwich cost 2 Euros, and the catsup would cost 1 Euro. Go figure. I refused the catsup, but enjoyed the fries. It is actually a night club with live music from Thursday to Saturday. |  dining under the charles bridge |
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 the spanish synagogue in prague |
We
went to a concert while in Prague. There are lots of concerts for
tourists in Prague and other central and eastern European capitals. I
call them concerts for tourists because they generally run once a week
and are in churches, palaces, and other touristy venues. They are also
often not of the highest musical caliber. I guess the musicians
get bored playing the same thing every week, week after week, after
week....... However, we were to be surprised. |
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The concert we attended was at the "Spanish Synagogue", and that's the main reason we went. The Spanish Synagogue is no longer used as a synagogue, but is/was one of the most beautiful synagogues in Europe. It is located in the Jewish quarter and is part of the Jewish Museum of Prague, which includes several different buildings. |
 inside the spanish synagogue |
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| The
Spanish Synagogue is really beautiful, and attending a concert there is
very impressive. The concert ticket (obviously) includes entry into the
synagogue, which otherwise has an entry fee. What
surprised us was that the concert was
excellent. It was called "Hallelujah" and included some interesting
pieces, such as unusual and interesting interpretations of well
known classics, including excerpts from Bernstein's "West Side
Story", Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", and probably the most
interesting, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. Several of the pieces
featured a wonderful soprano called Naděžda Chrobáková. Here is a link
to her home page which is in English. And here is
a link to the concert we attended, although it is a
dynamic page so the program will not necessarily be the same as the one we
heard. |
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 wenceslaus square |
Another
place we visited was Wenceslaus Square , which is the heart of the "new
city" of Prague. It marks the beginning of Wenceslas Boulevard,
which is a long wide shopping street filled with stores, restaurants,
museums and a few monuments. Actually the entire square includes the
750 meter long boulevard and the entire area has been used for all
kinds of events from political demonstrations to national celebrations.
If you walk north far enough, and make a few small turns, you will
reach the old town square. |
 the memorial commemorating the soviet invasion in 1968 |
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 building in prague |
Mostly,
we strolled about the old town, which was full of visitors and
activities, from street entertainers, to open air markets,
and lots of great stores. To the right is the store Alisa enjoyed most
-
a Desigual store which was the biggest we have found outside of
Barcelona. To the left is a lovely building between our hotel and the
old town square. |
 desigual in prague |
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 alisa entertaining a street entertainer |
The
most ubiquitous products on sale in Prague (actually, in all of
the Czech Republic) and which can be found in all sorts of stores is
the beautiful locally produced Bohemian glass. There are many stores
where that is all they sell. They make really beautiful stuff. To
the left is a picture of Alisa hamming it up with a street
entertainer, and to the right is a view of a street market near the old
town square. We ate at several good restaurants in Prague. Below is a
summary. |
 open air market in prague old town |
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A TOUR OF DAVID CERNY'S PRAGUE A WALK IN PRAGUE TO SEE CERNY'S SCULPTURES |
To the
right is a picture of Alisa posing in front of a sculpture by the well
known and unconventional Czech sculptor, David Cerny.
Click on the thumbnail, and take a look at the full sized picture, and
you will understand its name, which is "In Utero". Cerny is
internationally known for his controversial and unusual works. There
are even organized tours in Prague to see his works which are scattered
about the city. Here's a site dedicated to his most bizzare works, and here
is an article from the "Guardian" describing a walk in
Prague which visits some of his works. |
 ALISA IN THE EMBRACE OF A DAVID CERNY SCULPTURE |
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| Below are descriptions of the
notable restaurants we ate at in Prague. |
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| PASTA
FRESCA |
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 pasta fresca |
This is a
"spiffy", very modern Italian restaurant a few steps from the old town
square. It has an “upstairs” and a “downstairs”. I found the
place a bit pretentious, as well as a bit confused. Those with
reservations ate
downstairs (the menu and prices are identical to upstairs), and those
without reservations,
ate upstairs at little uncomfortable tables with high chairs. When we
were there, service was slow
and a bit confused. |
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| However,
the food was very good and the restaurant passed Alisa’s 2 tests for a
good Italian restaurant – the fresh pasta was excellent (considering
the restaurant’s
name,
they had to have good fresh pasta), and they had a great selection of
grappa. It was quite full on the evening we were there, so we were
among those "punished" by having to sit upstairs. The place
has a good reputation, so a reservation might be a good idea. All in
all, this
is a good place to have a nice Italian meal for lunch or dinner. |
 grappa in pasta fresca |
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| U BAKALLARE | |
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 a bagel maker |
This restaurant is located right next door to Pasta Fresca. Most of the tables are outside with just a few inside. There’s nothing pretty about this place – it’s pretty much a bar with good Italian food. We had personal service from the only waiter inside, who even spoke a few words of Italian. We both had fresh pasta and it was great. Actually, they have a fairly wide menu, with lots of pasta and pizza, but meat, chicken and salads as well. It’s a nice place to have a quick and tasty Italian lunch after strolling around the old town of Prague, although there's nothing particularly outstanding here. | |||||||||
| CASSEROL |
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 entering casserol |
Casserol was a restaurant recommended by the hotel (Residence Agnes). It wasn't easy to find because the main part of the restaurant is underground, including the kitchen. It is located very close to the old town square, and is a very interesting place. The restaurant is in one of the oldest buildings in the old town, and to get to the dining area, one goes down the stairs into the basement and right by the open kitchen. See the picture to the left. The dining area itself is in a Romanesque hall with exposed stone walls. Very impressive! | |||||||||
| The restaurant is very upscale with efficient service and high prices. 3 of the 4 dishes we had were very good, but one missed the mark completely. We had 2 starters and 2 mains. Alisa's starter was the best dish of the meal – “kulajda”, a traditional Czech soup with cream, mushrooms, herbs and poached egg. Dill is a major ingredient in this soup. Neither of us care much for dill, but this soup was perfect, including the dill. It was even advertised on a separate large sign outside the restaurant. |  kulajda |
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 the open kitchen at casserol |
The other
dishes were good, but not nearly as good as the
soup. My duck breast was excellent, but Alisa’s dish of guinea fowl on
a
puree of humus just wasn’t done right. The humus was not seasoned
properly
(actually not at all) and was dry and chewy. In the Middle east, where
we live, humus is very popular and is used in many dishes. We
know how it should be prepared and how it should taste, and we had a
nice chat with the chef about this dish. |
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| POT AU FEU |
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 lobster cappuccino at pot au feu |
Our hotel, Residence Alice gave us many good restaurant recommendations, but this is one we discovered by ourselves, and told the hotel staff about. It wasn't far from the hotel, and was a very understated, but very good French restaurant. We started with an "amuse bouche", which made me very happy, as it was lobster cappuccino, which I had enjoyed very much in Karlovy Vary at the Embassy Hotel Restaurant. I was very disappointed we didn't go back to the Embassy to have it again, but I wasn't disappointed here at Pot Au Feu, as the dish was just as good as I remembered from Karlovy Vary. |  sweet breads at pot au feu |
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 wonderful fish soup atpot au feu |
Alisa
had fish soup and then sea bass. I had sweet breads and the beef
cheeks. Everything was excellent. I should add that the restaurant is
very elegant with very unusual
design elements. To the right is the lighting arrangement in the main
dining room. It looks like a cloud, and floats around a bit on the
ceiling like a cloud as
well. Service was a bit slow (very French), as there was only one
waiter at the beginning of our meal. However, later, things picked up
as the sou chef provided some assistance. There is no tasting menu and everything is a la carte. They did have a very nice wine list. We had a Chablis from Domaigne Vrignaud, which was very nice. |
 the cloud like lightING fixture at pot au feu |
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| LA DEGUSTATION | ||||||||||
 the open kitchen at degustation |
This
restaurant is a Michelin starred restaurant, and is located about 50
meters from Residence Agnes. It was easy to pick for a gourmet meal.
The
restaurant opens at 6 in the evening and has 2 tasting menus and no a
la carte menu. One of the tasting menus has 6 courses and the other 11.
We picked the smaller one, and had a couple of (meat) items
replaced for Alisa, which brought us up to almost 9 different dishes.
Wine pairing is available for about half the price of the meal.
The price of the 6 course tasting menu is about $100, which is very
expensive for Prague, but very reasonable for a Michelin starred
restaurant in Europe. |
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| We had a
bottle of Czech white wine to wash it all down. Picture to the right. As in most Michelin starred restaurants today, we were given printed descriptions of the tasting menu - one in a white envelope and one in a black envelope. If you would like to see the menu, click here. All the dishes were excellent and creative, and of course there were several openers which were not listed on the menu. Below are pictures of four of the dishes. |
 our czech white wine at degustation |
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| THE OFFICIAL
TRAVEL SITE OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC |
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| THE PRAGUE EXPERIENCE | ||||||||||
| OUTSIDE PRAGUE | ||||||||||
| CZECH SOUVENIRS TO TAKE HOME | ||||||||||
| CK SHUTTLE FOR GETTING AROUND IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC |
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| STUDENT AGENCY
BUS FOR GETTING AROUND |
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| TRAVELLER'S GUIDE TO THE CZECH REPUBLIC |
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| MY CZECH
REPUBLIC |
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| THE 10 BEST PLACES TO VISIT IN THE CZECH
REPUBLIC |
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This is a page from our site "Travels with Steve & Alisa". It describes one of the many trips we have made together. We've built these pages not just to describe our trips, but to help other travelers if we can. Please use the information we've provided freely, and let us know if you have any questions we might be able to answer about your own planned trip, or just let us know if we have helped you. Or perhaps you have some information we could add to the site. Visit our home page using the link to the right.
Enjoy
your next
trip!!
~Steve & Alisa~
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