Hi and welcome to my Prague guide (which is just in English this time, please forgive me). It´s a lack of photos from several of the places I talk about because I don´t take much photos in lamp light, don´t bring my camera all the time, and mostly I´m so hungry at the restaurants, so when the food arrives at the table I´m all over it in a second! And this is not a typical tourist-guide, but it´s a small personal guide for those of you who like to live in a nice and calm place, enjoy good food, coffee and cakes, lovely chocolate, a nice walk, antique and second hand shops.

And if you like the thought of going to a city which take their beautiful aesthetics seriously, you like a very sweet calmness, close to none big commercial posters (I don´t know how the main tourist streets are in that matter) and have the best food I´ve tasted my whole life and at the same time cost one third (!) of what it does in Norway: this is your city!

My husband and I can´t get enough of it, and we have been here four times the last one and a half year (honeymoon, birthday, celebrating christmas and you name it. And every time we do some work down there too which is a pleasure!)

During our four trips we have lived three different places. Now in September we lived in the same apartment as we did during christmas actually! Here you can see a post from the apartment in christmas, and here you can book it. Sorry for being just in Norwegian, and the photos was my first time using the camera, so thanks for your understanding 😉

This historical apartment is located in Prague 1, Novy Svet. It is very special with its 25 meters in length and 3 meters width! I love that it´s not inside a big building, it´s just like we get our own little house. On the photo below you can see our door and quiet surroundings (no cars!). Perfect place to stay, because you can walk to so many places and see beautiful scenery just outside your door. And if your feet are tired or you are very hungry for the best restaurants, you just take tram number 22 from Brusnice or Pohorelec (buy tickets at the mini market close to Pohorelec). 24 hours just cost 110 czech koruna (100 koruna is 35 NOK – 3,2 BP – 4,2 Am. Dollars). Here you can see the tram map. It´s super easy, very nice and you get to see a lot of the city. We have used the metro just a couple of times.

Want to see more of the vintage porcelain dog I bought? click here. And before I forget it: from the airport we have used a taxi the last couple of times (ask for the prize), but the two first times we used a private driver that the hotel had ordered (don´t cost much more than the taxi!). The first time we went to Prague I was really looking forward to the private driver, because my husband didn´t know about it. And when we arrived at the airport there was someone holding a “Gråblomst” sign. Felt like a star for a minute there!

The two other places we have lived is both in Prague 5 and with the river as closest neighbor. With a view over the river and the city, pretty amazing. We lived in Prague Holiday Apartments with our own tower (!) and herringbone floors, really recommend that one.  And and we also lived on Mamaison Hotel Riverside Prague once, nice placed too! We were both places before I had touched a camera, so no photos!

What is so good about Prague is that you can live as a king and queen compared to other cities. When you pay almost the double for a room somewhere in Britain fx, you get a room that is just one tenth as nice and clean. Sorry Brits. The rooms (very often apartments actually) is very big, very clean and very cheap most of the time. And Prague 5 close to the river is a very nice place to stay. 

As you can see there´s lots of cakes in this city. They look stunning, and tastes twice as good as they look! And the coffee is really good too, they know what they´re doing. My favorite places to eat cakes or chocolate is at Choco Loves Coffee (where all my chocolate pictures is taken), Národní Kavárna (where my cake photos above is taken) and Bella Vida Café, which got its own lovely post some days ago! And my favorite of all times is Café Savoy by the river in Prague 5 (short walking distance from the two hotels mentioned).

Café Savoy is a lovely place which I have not photographed because I simply can´t wait to eat when we get there! You have to go here, and you have to stay long enough to take at least one lunch (the fantastic soup Carrot Restaurant), three dinners (crazy good!) and a cake and coffee after every meal (you will have trouble to choose, but you can´t leave without trying the Dort Savoy). It´s the best place. And they have started to recognize us when we get there, and also remember that we want to sit next to each other, not on opposite sides. They are so nice. But if you are smarter than us you make a reservation. And tram number 22 drives by, how perfect if you live in the apartment we did. 

Speaking of driving by: the other place we always eat at least a couple of times is Cantina, close to Café Savoy. The best mexican place ever. And forever. You eat til you drop and still can´t stop (therefore no pictures from here). You have to take the tram to where ever you live after eating here, walking will be very difficult when you are so stuffed. Smart to make a reservation here as well. 

And now very short about shopping. My kind of shopping though. That involves second hand and antique. And Instruments (won’t write about that here, but leave a comment if you want to find music stores in Prague). There´s quite many second hand shops for textiles (fx Textile House which you can find several places), but the super tips is: take the tram and jump of when you see something of interest. We have found some places in Prague 4, 5 and 9 where you can go treasure hunting. Just keep your eyes open for “second hand”, “bazar” and “antique”. I bought a porcelain dog this time… And lovely leather boots. Both to be seen here. And if you want to see lots of lovely fabrics meter by meter, go to this fascinating shop. 

If you are in to music and concerts: visit Jazz Docks (also in Prague 5, in the river, close to all other places from Pragu 5 mentioned) or the big place called Lucerna. Have not been to Lucerna myself, but check the program and you might be lucky. 

One place we went this time was the botanical garden. It´s really tired and dark in its own beautiful way, and I took huge amounts of pictures. Here is the post about it, and there you also get the info about the tram and everything. 

We also stumbled upon an abandoned restaurant our first day when we walked the green hills. I will make an other post on that later, but under you´ll get a little sneak peak of it.

Writing this post makes me wanna go back right now. I have so much warm feelings for this city, I can´t describe it. It will give you the time and calmness and inner peace if you just let it happen. Bring a magazine, turn of the phone, walk the green hills. Have one coffee after another and don´t count your cakes. But sometimes it´s much more difficult than that, I know way too much about it. So when you feel like crying in Prague – cry in Prague – and then it might get easier. I wish you a lovely trip, and I would be happy to get comments about what you usually do in Prague, if you have been to any of this places or if you need more information and tips. I answer all of you the best I can.

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