May holidays in Prague
The CSA flight is, of course, good - the service is incomparable to ours, when you often can’t ask the stewards and water to drink a pill. Everything is on top here: the whole flight, food, drink, and even in the economy they pour wine without stint. Lunch, however, it was also boring, unlike our "blue birds".
In general, we arrived in Ruzyn, where we were met by two representatives of Amigo, originally from an independent (they are also part-time drivers), seated us in two Viano minibuses, and we drove through the evening non-fussy Prague. On the way, the driver, as he is supposed to, offered various excursions, and assured us that you must always carry your passport with you, because local cops, supposedly, can tie up a tourist at any moment without sniffing tobacco. To my remark that it seemed like it was always enough to have a photocopy of your passport and visa with you, our escort was offended, muttered something like: “I warned you, and there it’s your business, ” and kept silent on the further way, which was for the best.
After 35 minutes he brought us to the hotel, unloaded the luggage, and left, we did not see him again.
The first thing I saw when I entered the hotel was the night porter Josef - elegant, gray-haired, as it turned out in subsequent conversations, the smartest interlocutor, a connoisseur of history and a favorite of women. The second pleasant discovery was a refrigerator with several beers and other drinks at prices that made you want to cry and immediately ask for refuge in his pleasantly cool belly. Taking the key to No. 21 and 4 cans of Budweiser, we went into a tiny vintage elevator without internal doors, upholstered on the inside with a brown-crimson carpet fabric, which I later called “krtek skin”, climbed our 2nd (actually it is 3- th, because 1st basement) floor, drank a can of cold beer and fell asleep.
The room is small, in the bathroom, of course, it’s damp and smells like sewage, but it’s tolerable if the door is closed. We had windows into the courtyard-well, and there is a smoking area on the floor above, and there the drunken guests constantly hung out until late, yelled, booze-the hotel management to them , apparently, they didn’t make any comments, so they had to explain at breakfast in the morning in a form that they could understand, “what is good and what is bad. ”
Cleaned normally for treshki-linen was changed almost every other day and towels too (left $ 1-2 each). There is one Russian channel on TV: "news 24", maybe there are others, but because the remote control was dead (the buttons were worn out from time to time, you see), clicking, approaching the box every time was broken, and it was not necessary.
It’s bad that there wasn’t at least a small refrigerator, because. Subsequently, while communicating with tourists from other 3 * hotels, we learned that many had this necessary device in the rooms. By the way, wi-fi is included in the price and is quite frisky. The pillows are very flat, but I asked and they gave me a second one. They also provide an iron, hairdryer and kettle for the entire stay. payment.
Cool so-called. "safe" (I saw this for the first time): the receptionist takes out a striped fabric purse with a zipper from the safe, pins a piece of paper with your number to it with a stapler, you put everything you think is necessary in it, return it to him, and he puts it in the safe again ! : )
In the morning at the reception we were given a map of the city + our tourists helped us, who had been living here for more than a day and found out what and how. bus, and in 10 minutes you are either in the center (Republic Square), or the next one will be a large interchange station Florenc - go from there to any part of Prague. The schedule hangs and is respected. The only thing you need to always either have coins for ticket machines with you (and they delay the wallet enough, because they are heavy and large compared to ours), or you need to take the 207 bus 1 stop, get off and go to the subway , so before reaching the entrance to the metro there will be a small inconspicuous ticket office where you can buy a ticket for a day for 110, for 3 days for 310, or immediately for a month for 670 kroons, so that your head does not hurt. Although, to be honest, in 10 days we never ran into a counter, although a couple of times we were forced to ride with hares.
Also on the 207th bus you can get to the Namesti of the Republic (3rd stop), and from there you can go to Vaclavak, Staro Miasta, Malostranska and other places of worship in the city. There is also an excellent BILLA store on the Namesti of the Republic, where we usually stocked up with everything necessary for a comfortable stay in the room, returning from a hike in the center. Again we sat on the 207th and after 12 minutes we were at home!
In the once proletarian, and now Bohemian-Lumpen district of Zizkov, where the hotel is located, there are quite iconic eateries and authentic pubs, where in the evenings people are not overcrowded, everyone drinks, rumbles, and tobacco (and not only! ) Smoke is a rocker. You will not see this in the center - smoking is prohibited there even at bus stops!
Some establishments nearby: U vystreleneho oka (only chicken wings are served there in honey, keep this in mind, very amateurish! ). By the way, as I understand it, you should always clarify how the dish is prepared: they can bake in honey, in spicy sauce, or just fry on the grill. The same applies to the degree of meat roasting! Dobra trefa with good (as well as almost everywhere in Zizkov) cuisine and not terrible prices (the average bill for two, including 3-4 beers, about 0.5 Becherovka in draft, fried cheese for a snack and 2 main courses, we had 500-700 crowns). U Houdku with unsurpassed pork ribs baked in a whole bread basket (for this it was worth climbing a mountain with your tongue out, by God! ). Well, very close (200 m to the right upstairs, leaving the hotel) is very friendly and authentic, with live music in the evenings U Yaru, opposite the faceless Spirit Bar on our now familiar and familiar Orebitska street. Again, when leaving the hotel, pay close attention to the institution located on the right hand down about thirty meters - they serve excellent Svijany beer, service and attitude are also on top. If you give the bartender a magnet, you may be treated to something delicious : )
Also 2 stops up Konevova street is a Rock’n’ pizza place with excellent Krusovice of two types, delicious fried cheese, great prices on everything and delicious fresh pizzas of 10 types! Who will be there hello to Peter - a great guy!
But for all the goodies and alcohols, we did not forget the intangible food, so to speak, we visited the zoo (huge, cool, but you probably don’t get all of it in a month), the planetarium and the Kafka Museum.
In general, it is clear that you can go to Prague a lot of times and you won’t cover everything anyway.
In general, everything was sincere, until the day of departure home came. We had a late flight and immediately after breakfast we were warned to leave; On the offer to pay extra, they answered that the room had already been sold. : ((( In the end, they offered a room on the 5th floor in the attic for 50 €, and since the old elevator only goes to the 4th, I had to climb a steep spiral staircase with my suitcases. As a result, I wound up on the day of departure in souvenir shops in order to purchase memorabilia for numerous relatives and friends, having eaten, as usual, dinner with beer and becherovka on duty, performing the song “Victory Day” accompanied by the accompaniment of kind musicians from the U Yaru restaurant, before a long journey, I lay down in the attic for a couple of hours. the WV sedan arrived for us, and after talking with the taxi driver we got to the airport. And only then I realized that I had left my shoulder bag with tickets, money and passports in the room, because during the rest I got into the habit of getting out into the city in the evenings for dinner, do not carry her stuffed with a tablet, camera, etc. with you, because she pretty much rubbed her neck with a belt and for a whole day of traveling around the city. taxirov did not agree). But the good thing is that it ends well: the bag silently waited for me in the room, there are practically no traffic jams in Prague, so there was quite enough time before departure to relieve light stress with three bottles of the excellent 16% Primator, all the more, that they still didn’t let him through in the control zone.
Then everything is normal: landing, flight (albeit without wine : )) and here we are at home!
If you are interested, ask, I will answer!
