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Useful information about Prague

Useful information about Prague

In this post, I want to go to gather some useful information for those about to leave, collected during my trips to Prague. At the end of the post, I will also tell you about some personal considerations that I wrote in my travel diary during the week of travel.
Da Ponte Carlo, al tramonto Let’s start with useful information:
– The Czech Republic is part of the European Union, so about the documents required to enter the country you need only a valid identity card or passport (if you are a citizen of a country not in the EU, you may need a Visa).
– Even if it is part of the EU, the official currency is the crown (in this period 1 euro is equivalent to about 25 – 26 crowns). For us it is a very cheap city for almost everything, from meals to shopping, passing through the museums’ tickets.
If you have booked an apartment instead of a hotel room, you should point out some supermarket, to buy some food:
Tesco Express: a small supermarket chain. I met her during my travels in London and also in Prague she seemed well-stocked.
Albert supermarket: This chain differs from Tesco because the stores are many more, scattered throughout the city. There are signs along the street to find the nearest to where you are. I have always bought from Tesco, so I can not say anything about the quality of the products, but the sales points I saw (and where I peeked) seemed all quite well supplied.
Zabka: this is the third and last chain of supermarkets that I report you. The opening hours are from 6 to 23, but always check because it could vary from area to area of ​​Prague. The outlets are small, so a little ‘less provided than those of the other two chains.
For shopping lovers, I mention two shopping centres:
Quadrio, about 10 minutes walk from Wenceslas Square (Spálená 2121/22), is very similar to Coin and La Rinascente. Not great, but interesting.
Palladium, in Náměstí Republiky. This shopping centre is a little bit bigger than the previous one and with more stores (about 200). More “central”, it is located in what appears to be the shopping area and the strain of Prague. From November it could be already decorated for Christmas.
Prague has an excellent network of public transport, including trams, buses and the underground. Tickets are also available for trams and buses, in underground stations where there are both automatic machines, which only accept coins and ticket offices with dedicated staff. There are various types of tickets useful for tourists:
30 minutes, 24 crowns
90 minutes, 32 crowns
24 hours, 110 crowns
72 hours (3 days), 310 crowns
Taking the vehicles in the right direction is not difficult, and you do not even get off at the stop: although the ads are only in Czech, some displays indicate the stop. The trams seem to stop at all the stops even if you do not book and the ads repeat the halt twice: about a minute before and then a few seconds before stopping.
The central train station is not difficult to understand, but not very easy, so study the directions thoroughly. The staff, however, speak English without problems and I found accommodating people. Inside the building, there are a lot of shops, and from this point of view it resembles the stations of “Milano Centrale” and “Roma Termini”. The ads are all in Czech except for the directions to the airport bus.
There are many public baths in the city. Always clean enough, to use them you pay ten crowns, about 40 euro cents (at the change of these days), and are usually open until 17.
On the streets, there are many signs for tourist informations. Although only in Czech, they help a lot to orient themselves if you do not have the map at your fingertips.
In Havelska, a two-minute walk from the Old Town Square, there are stalls selling things, food and various trinkets. Also in Náměstí Republiky, there are some stalls, mainly focused on food and crafts.
There is fairly widespread knowledge of English among the citizens, especially among those who work in contact with the public and, therefore, tourists. Taxi drivers don’t know English very well, but you should not have difficulty to understand to each other (for any eventuality, however, bring a card with the address of the hotel or apartment in which you are staying: you can let him read it).
To conclude the “useful information section” I would point out just one restaurant, Mlsnej Kokur in Náměstí Míru (“Praha 2” area): crowded by Pragueers, it has the atmosphere of a pub with good restaurant food and the prices are more than good (we ate two seconds of meat with side dish and to drink we took a liter of beer and a coke spending about 23 euros for two people).

Let’s move on to some “personal consideration“, some ideas I have made about the city and people.
I must admit I noticed a very sporty driving. It may be because of the broad avenues, but in the car (or even on vans and trucks) the Czechs have a certain tendency to run. But they respect almost all the road rules (speed apart, of course).
La moldava al tramonto I found out a wonderful city, with so many things that leave the tourists enchanted (and I was sorry not to see some that some friend defined as beautifully). There is never a very high sun and the light, therefore, is always very beautiful. Always keep the camera handy, especially if like me you are passionate about photography, because the combination “Prague – beautiful light” will make you want to take lots of pictures! The only thing I “hated” from this point of view is that there was always a bit of mist).
I found people very willing to help people in need, even tourists who try to find their way and understand where they have to go. This attitude, this openness and the desire to help others I always like very much to see in a country that I visit (especially if I’m visiting for the first time).
After having seen it sold everywhere and eaten by so many people, I decided to taste the typical dessert of the Czech cuisine: the TRDLO (or trdelník, in Italian, “sleeve of Bohemia”). It is a kind of sweet bread shaped like a long loaf before cooking. It is sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and baked in a special wood oven rolled around a metal stick (and a mechanism rotates the rod in such a way that cooking is uniform).
One thing that made me smile was to hear the Prague use “ciao” to say hello: from what they explained to me, they use it because it “has a friendly sound”.
I want to close this post with consideration about the money-change black market: I had read advice on paying attention because I could have met people on the street who, half-heartedly, proposed to change money from them. Initially I thought this was just a story from the past, but instead, I found that the black currency market still exists. On the last evening, while walking in the centre, we approached a man who, in a low voice, asked us (in Italian) if we wanted to change money. Naturally, it is always discouraged to change from them any currency, regardless of what they would tell you these people: the change can be very beneficial, but you can not be sure that they do not pull us a tremendous rip-off (for example, false crowns)

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