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Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.

Edinburgh, United...
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Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.
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Beer Festival, Micro Breweries and a bit of Culture.

A trip report by Unclegus.

Thursday 23rd May.

Heading to Prague by Jet2 from Edinburgh , no problems apart from a drunken stag party on the plane ,why do they allow these idiots on and then proceed to sell them even more alcohol ?............ yeah MONEY!

I arrive in Prague about 5.30 pm and get a few 24hr tickets at the transport stand, had to go to the one in T2 as the one in T1 was shut (2 or 3 minute walk away). Jumped on the 119 bus to Dejvicka and walked the 100 or so yards to the Hotel Dap (http://www.daphotel.cz/index.php?/english) where I would be staying for the week. It’s a good hotel with decent facilities and nice staff ,I have stayed here twice before so I knew what I was getting .The Metro is about 60 yards away and the tram stop 40 yards away, the buses for all parts of the suburbs just across the roundabout ,so ideal for me.

A quick check-in and I dump my bag in my room and get myself organized.

Once unpacked I head out to my first few beers of the Czech Beer festival (http://www.ceskypivnifestival.cz/en/czech/prague-2013/) in Holesovice .I need to use a couple of trams to get there, but I know the route and have no problems.

The beer festival has changed quite a bit this year ,the location is the same but the set up very different ,just one large tent with a music stage and about 10 beers available in liter glasses, there is waitress service here,3 smaller variety tents which sell about 70 beers between then in 500ml/330ml glasses depending on the strength but no waitress service, there are also catering facilities in both areas .The 2 areas are joined by a “garden” area, the only thing garden about it was the moss growing on the damp benches.

The other major change is entrance fee and a new electronic charging system .As you enter you buy a credit card thing and charge it up with token (tolars) and pay for your beer and food using this .before you could just get metal tolars and change these for beer and food ,now you have to queue up and tell them what beer you want ,you get a printed ticket with that on it and then you take it to the taps and exchange it for your beer, the Tolar is electronically taken from your card .The card can be topped up with cash or credit card at these points as well .Is the system any better than before? For the organizers maybe for the average punter, no.

The beers in the variety area are organized by colour coded labels and it is quite easy to work out the various styles of beer .I won’t go into details but it was a useful change to previous festivals.

Right enough about the organization onto the beers .Please excuse some of the spelling; I hope I have written them down correctly. All the beer I had were 500mls and cost 1 tolar (45kc)

I started off with a Zam Pivovar Zabreh,Pvkard Svecta 12 .

I liked it but nothing special, I went onto JihlavaGrand 18. I did like this and the strength of it is quite deceptive.

I soak up the beer with a grilled sausage with mustard, horseradish, pickled veg. and bread.

I took one of my beers into the main tent to listen to the bands and I meet up with some Australian guys ,well one said he wasn’t Australian he was Tasmanian, I had a chat with him about gaining independence and we both agree we are for it .I helped them with some of their beer as they had glasses of it everywhere ,don’t know what it was but tasted fine .There was a couple of bands on during this time ,one all female band that looked good but sounded terrible and another all male band that were quite decent .had a great time with they guys but forgot to note their names ,I think they were all called Bruce.

My last beer of the evening is Permon IPA which I really did like but it did leave a fairly bitter aftertaste.

I have had a long day and head back to the hotel for bed.

Friday 24th May.

Great breakfast in the hotel, this is a former army hotel and a lot of the staff appear to be ex military (You can just tell can’t you), the food is very good and beautifully presented .Nice choice of hot and cold stuff , my only complaint would be that they need a new toaster, they are using a panini press that really does not do the job.

Fed and watered I head out into the streets of Prague, I have a wander round the old town ,Namesti Republiky and Wenseslas Square .I manage to buy a new map with the tram routes on it. I have plans for lunch and head to Zlicin by metro and take the bus to Chyne to visit the Pivovarsky Dvur ,(http://www.pivovarskydvur.cz/?lang=en) bus stops right outside ,it takes just over 10 minutes. I head to Krema the little bar attached to the brewery and a great place it is ,right old traditional place with great beer .I tried a dark one and a light one and both were superb (23kc each).I have the Goulash special for lunch ,nice plate of spicy beef goulash with bread dumplings (95kc) and it was lovely. I get the bus back about http://2.00pm.Its one of the things you have to plan if heading here by public transport, the buses don’t run that often but they do run to timetable. I think the bus cost 18 or 20kc each way. Back in Prague I head to the hotel to wash and change as I have a date with 7 ladies tonight.

Yes a date with 7 ladies, my friend Hana who is a guide and translator in Prague has invited me to the Night of the Churches (http://www.praha.eu/jnp/en/past_future/monuments/night_of_churches_is_approaching.html) with a group of her friends. We meet up in the restaurant Jan Paukert (http://www.janpaukert.cz/), this is the place where the Prague open sandwich was invented ,it’s a lovely place and I meet with Hana , her friend Dana (whom I have met before) and 5 other ladies, all very charming and all with a command of English that quite stuns me. We have a few open sandwiches and I drink some fruit juice, yes non alcoholic fruit juice .I treat the ladies to a little sample of Scotland ,some tablet and fudge (http://www.mrstillys.co.uk/) ,it goes down very well.

The night of the Churches allows folk to visit places not normally open to the public and many have concerts or talks on in them that evening. We visited five places in total, in one there was a Bach organ recital and a female singer, in another a international choir were singing away including a song in English, another had a soprano singing in the balcony, other places had talks on a religious theme and another the history of the church .It was all lovely and having my very own translators with me made it even more so.

I would like to thank Hana for inviting me to this unique event and to her friends for allowing me to join their company. We finished the evening in a Budvar bar, can’t remember the name .We had tried to get in to Pivovrasky Dum (http://www.gastroinfo.cz/pivodum/) but alas there was no room for us. I had a snack of cheese and olives as well as a few beers, I did not note the prices but nothing much. I bid the lovely ladies goodnight and head back to my hotel via the metro, a truly lovely and special evening that few tourists would get to enjoy the way I did, once again thank you Hana.

Saturday25th May.

Another good breakfast and I am off out .its a bit wet this morning but nothing to bad, just light rain, that’s just really Scottish sunshine. I am going to the Army Museum(http://www.prague-guide.co.uk/articles/military-museum-in-prague.html) this morning but as it does not open till 10.00 I head out to see if the farmers market is on in Jilrho Z Podebrad,and I am in luck it is in full swing as I arrive ,its wonderful ,not a big market but some fantastic stall with great food and lovely smells ,there is even a stand selling beer ,and its Uneticky ,well that’s where I am going for lunch and it’s now 9.30am so I have a small glass to set me up for the day ,the beer is wonderful.

I walk down to the Army Museum and am there just after opening time, it’s a lovely place and the staff is very friendly, entrance is free but you have to leave your bags in the cloak room. I spend most of the morning there ,some great exhibits and a special ,exhibition on the Sokol organization’s a lot of folk know I have a fascination with the Reinhard Hydrich assassination and there is a great deal of info here about it including the members of Sokol involvement ,it gives me a lot more to research now. There is a small shop in the foyer of the museum and I buy loads of postcards of Czech tanks and military transport most of which are for my BIL who has an interest in such things.

I wander through Wenseslas square there are lots of food stalls at the bottom of the square, obviously geared to the tourist, lots of good stuff and I treat myself to some tredilnik.

I have an appointment with a micro brewery so head to Dejvicka and get the bus to Untetice and head to the Micro brewery there (http://www.unetickypivovar.cz/) , bus took about 20 minutes or so. , it is just a few yards from the bus stop. I am treated to a wonderful restaurant bar and young Filip looks after me. I open up with the Uneticke 10(27kc) and it is superb possibly the best beer I have tasted, I have a lunch of pork schnitzel with potato salad (139kc). I then wash it all down with Uneticke 12 (33kc) which is also wonderful .I had a while to wait for a bus so had intended to walk around the village a bit ,but the heavens had opened and it was pouring with rain, so back into the bar and another of the wonderful Uneticke 10.

This is a great place very popular with families (I was there on a Saturday lunchtime) also lots of cyclists head there too .Food was good, staff were brilliant but the beer is just amazing. It is easy to get to from Prague but again buses are limited and you have to organize your self to catch them, but if I can do that anyone can.

Btw I bought a 1.5 liter bottle of each to take home with me.

I get back to my hotel and have a bit of a rest before heading out for the evening.

I head to the beer festival ,the main tent is really smoky tonight ,I think the damp weather was keeping it all in there .I meet with Big Dave a Trip Advisor member from the North of England and we sup a few beer together and chew the fat a bit ,great having some beer drinking company.

Beers drank were

Garage Ostrava 13

Rohov Rohan PTM 13

Nomad IPA 16

Holba Serak PTM 11

I didn’t put any notes about the taste of them in my note book ,none could have been too bad or outstandingly good but after sampling the beer from the Uneticky Pivovar earlier anything else was going to taste second rate.

Dave and I get the tram up the road and arrange to meet the following night to visit one of my favourite bars.

Sunday 26th May

Early start today I am walking from Karlstejn to Beroun via St Johns, I have breakfast at 7.00am and am in the train station by 8.00.I get the 8.20 train to Karlstejn train cost about 60kc and took 40 minutes to get there. I walk up to the castle and have a quick look around, not got time for a tour as I have a long walk today. I follow the marked path near the castle entrance and head into the countryside, the path is pretty clear but you have to watch for the correct markers as a couple of times I went a bit off the route but quickly got back to the right one. The paths are good until you get right into the forest where they become muddy, it is raining now but the cover of the trees is giving such good protection I don’t need to wear my waterproofs .Its a lovely walk, up and down with a few flat areas and I make it to St John’s at noon, exactly when I predicted I would. There is a small hotel there with a restaurant open for food and drink, I have a Svijany beer (24kc) and a spicy pork goulash with dumplings (65kc) my cheapest meal for many a year. Both beer and food are excellent .Rested and refreshed I head on the path to Beroun I have done this walk before so I knew where I was going and got to Beroun with no problems. I have a wander round the town but it is very quiet almost a ghost town .I go to Berounsky Medved (http://www.berounskymedved.com/) for a couple of well deserved beers.

I was last in here last October ,it’s a great place ,terrific beer made on the premise but its setting is most unusual ,it in the courtyard of an old sugar mill that is now a scrap yard and in front of the brewery are old trucks and even an old tank, fascinating stuff. 2 Beers cost me 54kc and are worth every penny.

I go to the train station and enjoy the stunning communist era stained glass window and then get the train back to Prague.

I have arrange to meet Big Dave at Hradcanska metro/tram interchange at http://8.00pm.It is now pouring with rain and very cold .Dave like me has been to Prague a few times but he has never been to one of my favourite pubs ,Dejvicka Sokolovna (http://www.dejvickasokolovna.cz/) .

This is a real old fashioned traditional Prague pub, a drinking area in the front which is a bit rough looking and through the back a wood paneled restaurant area, our waitress quickly gets our drinks orders and we indulge if a few tankova Gambrinus which is excellent ,Dave has never been a fan of Gambrinus but likes the tankova version Don’t know what tankova beer is well this link will explain all.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bctTkRVRRQI)

We order food, I have duck leg with red cabbage potato dumplings and bread dumplings, Dave goes for a huge skewer of various meats& veg. with big fat chips, and both meals are huge in portion and delicious in taste.

We have several more beers before the place closes (about 10.30). Bill for 10 beers and 2 meals about 650Kc.

We then head to Budvarka (http://budvarkadejvice.cz/) near to my hotel for a couple of late beers, I have the dark Budvar, no idea of the price but under 30kc a glass .it’s midnight and the place is closing, I say goodbye to Dave as he is going home tomorrow I hope to see him on another trip, he’s been good company.

RI
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1. Re: Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.
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Thanks for the report Uncle Gus. There is no single person more helpful in my enjoyment of Prague than you. An interesting article in current issue of Forbes (USA) Magazine, they list 5 places that locals love about Prague, Jan Paukert was listed as one of the 5 (the others are Cafe Savoy, Hajek, Lokal, and U Sadu).

I'm not the best about finding my way around, but your bus trips to some of the breweries have inspired me to give one a shot on my next visit in December.

San Diego
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2. Re: Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.
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THANKS sooo much for writing! You have certainly put in tons of details!

Jan Paukert sounds great!! I have made notes about the beer too. I love tasting!!

Adelaide
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3. Re: Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.
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A wonderful report Unclegus! I usually can't be bothered with JBR or trip reports, but you're the exception.

Charlotte, NC
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4. Re: Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.
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I am always pleased to read one of your reports, unclegus. I can't wait to read the next segment. ... Thanks for sharing. :)

Edinburgh, United...
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5. Re: Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.
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Alan666 I used this article for getting to the breweries.

http://www.praguepost.com/blogs/beer/2012/09/14/bus-few-beers-bus-great-day/

It is written by Max Benson the Beer Philosopher, http://www.pivni-filosof.com/

he also post on here as Pivero.

I used that list in combination with the DPP website where you can download all the timetables for the buses mentioned.

http://www.dpp.cz/en/

max also has an excellent book called "Prague a Pissheads Pub Guide",it is well worth buying.

Edited: 10 years ago
Rotherham, United...
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6. Re: Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.
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Ace report. And makes me even keener to go to the event at Beroun Brewery this Saturday. :)

Edinburgh, United...
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7. Re: Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.
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Go its a great place. only a 2 or 3 minute walk from the train station, turn left as you go out the station and folloe the road round,signs are there and there is a big arrow on an old truck pointing you to the brewery.

8. Re: Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.

This post was determined to be inappropriate by the Tripadvisor community and has been removed.

Edited: 10 years ago
RI
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9. Re: Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.
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Thanks again Uncle Gus. I think you've previously referenced that article, but now I've taken down all the details. The bus time table is also a big help.

I'm sure that book is good, someday I'll get it. For the next trip, between these bus brewery tours, the other post re 41 pubs in 4 days, an article on another site regarding the 10 best places to have a beer in Prague (where I noticed you also commented), and the urge to return to a few of my favorites (Old Gott, U Veverky, Rotundy, Beer Museum, Kralovstrvi), heck I'm already overbooked!

Edinburgh, United...
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10. Re: Trip Report Part One by UNCLEGUS.
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I missed out on the Oldgott brewery in U Medvidku on this trip ,first time I have not been in there on a trip in years.need to get back to U Veverky again, quite superb beer and their food is also top notch,had to stop myself from licking the plate last time i was in there.

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