Travel Czech Republic
The Gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn overlooks Old Town Square in Prague.
A Storybook City Finding the best of Prague By Tim Johnson
58 I N S I G H T January 7 – 13, 2022
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Beer Heritage One thing that didn’t suffer through the years: beer. Czechs drink more of the stuff per capita than any other country on earth, and it remains their passion. In the nearby town of Pilsen, the famous Pilsner was born, created when a group of frustrated homebrewers decided to unite and brew a product that was consistently great. The town is now home to Pilsner Urquell, the national beer, where you can take a Willy Wonka-style tour beyond the gates and explore deep into the heart of the operation.
ALIAKSANDR ANTANOVICH/SHUTTERSTOCK, RADOSLAW MACIEJEWSKI/SHUTTERSTOCK, FOTOKON/SHUTTERSTOCK
n yone w ho h a s been t her e will tell you: Prague feels like a fairy tale. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first visit or your 20th, when you walk into Old Town Square just after dark, you will draw a breath. Your head will tip up, admiring the monuments and spires: the soaring gothic towers of Our Lady before Tyn, the solid bricks of Old Town Hall, the astronomical clock dating back to 1410, the oldest one still in operation in the world. Some have called this Czech capital the “largest open-air museum on earth,” and that’s fair. Spared most of the bombs that turned many other European cities into post-World War II reconstructions, Prague’s oldest buildings and bridges actually date back centuries. But it’s more than that. Czechs have always been believers—including the late Vaclav Havel, the country’s poet-turned-president. Artists are rarely well-suited for government work, but Havel made the initial transition well, elected to lead
the country into a new future. At the Prague Castle, a national institution that overlooks the entire city, from the soaring buttresses of St. Vitus Cathedral to the windows (and defenestration) that instigated the Thirty Years’ War, this is an important place. Havel outfitted the guards with what he estimated to be storybook uniforms. He invited Frank Zappa for an official state visit. Havel ended the gray of communism and gave the country a flourish of color—and it hasn’t looked back.
