Charles Bridge – Prague's most famous landmark. Only the early birds among you will ever get
to see it this empty. It's 7 a.m. and I've managed to beat the crowds.
The bridge, the Vltava river, the spires: now seems to be the perfect time to take it all in.
The vibe is very special.
Prague is one of the most visited cities in all of Europe.
And that's not really surprising if you consider that it's been a political
and cultural center in Europe since the Middle Ages.
Prague is home to about 1.3 million people.
Since it's my first time in town, I'm getting some help from one of them – actor and tour guide Kristian Mejstřík.
First I want to learn some basic Czech skills.
I mean I would like to be able to be polite a bit.
So let's start with "hello". - Yes.
If you say "hello" it's like "Ahoi", but it's a little bit more familiar. So when you come
to a shop and say "Ahoi", it's not the best thing you can do, so we say "Dobry den", like "Guten Tag".
So "Guten Tag" is "Dobry den". - "Dobry den".
Dobry den, almost perfect. Then you should know probably how to say "goodbye".
Yes. - Na shledanou.
I will never say goodbye, I will have to stay here forever!
This is a good idea. We love people like you. - Alright. Na shledanou?
- Na shledanou, yeah.
Before the pandemic the old town was often very overcrowded. A relaxing stroll through
here was basically impossible. Although tourists have returned this year, it hasn't gotten
out of control. There are about half as many as before the crisis, Kristian tells me.
Our first stop is the Old town square, in front of the old town hall.
A ticket for the tower costs 250 Czech crowns. Yep, Prague is part of the EU, but not the Eurozone.
That's about 10 euros. At 41 meters, you have the city at your feet.
Why is Prague called the Golden City? - I think it started when Prague was one of
the Capitals, the seat place of the Holy Roman Empire, for the emperor. But we don't use it anymore.
We locals don't use it as much. We use the expression 'Mother of a Hundred Spires'
because if you look from the window, the bars, you can see spires everywhere. I would say
there are definitely more than hundreds of them.
At the top of every hour, tourists gather
in front of the astronomical clock on the town hall facade to witness a little play.
But the true highlight is the clock itself, built in 1410. The figures were added later.
And then there's the skeleton, the skeleton rings the bell: time goes by, time goes by.
So it's quite remarkable that death would be depicted in such a way in that time, isn't it?
Whatever you do the message is remember, in the end is the death. So just like try
to fulfill the life as much as you can do that. - It's really beautiful!
The square is a must for every Prague visitor. And as you can see we're not alone.
Where are you from? - We're from Scotland.
From Mexico.
Hongkong.
From Austin, Texas.
From Cyprus.
What brings you to Prague, why Prague? - Beautiful city and food.
I think wandering about, just get the atmosphere that s the kind of thing we like to do.
And just soak it all in. It's a museum in itself.
Ah it's wonderful. I've heard Prague was such
a beautiful city, and it is!
It's true what you hear about Prague's arts and culture.
There was a piano player in the metro station and music on the bridge.
We are interested in the buildings, the structure of the town
And the food! - And the food, of course.
By the afternoon, the Charles Bridge is indeed pretty crowded. Despite the unfavorable weather.
But apparently still no comparison to the time before the pandemic. Back then, Prague
was overflowing with tourists.
Prague was having a bit of a problem before the pandemic with overtourism.
Definitely, definitely.
So how big of a problem is it then right now?
We slightly getting to the high numbers. But as I said before, in 2019 we had like 8 million people
coming to Prague and now they say we are getting to like 50, 40 percent of that.
As a tour guide you, of course, want people coming to your city, right? So what's problematic
about too many people coming or that amount of people?
It's through the atmosphere. You know, you see all these posters like the Prague Castle
or Charles bridge with no people and a really romantic atmosphere. So the overtourism really
kills the atmosphere and actually even destroys that thing because imagine there's like a
million tons of people coming. So it really destroys the aesthetic as well.
How can it be managed, though? Because this is a beautiful city and you've done a
great work showing it to me. - Thank you.
But how can you keep people out? - Honestly, I think: we have the inner city,
but we have as well so many beautiful districts all around the main city, I mean, the main
centre. So we have like districts which are really industrial, like Holešovice, Karlín, Zizkov.
Then we have really posh areas like Bubenec or Vinohrady. So there's so many things to explore
just in the wider city centre. So what I think is the solution is just to a little bit
direct the people out of the city centre and to explore with them these beautiful areas.
Thank you so much for sharing your city with me.
It was a lovely pleasure meeting you. - Thank you also!
I'm going to take his advice and head out of the centre. Soňa, who's also a tour guide,
will show me this other side to Prague. We're off to Holešovice – the hip part of town.
Fancy Wilhelminian buildings in a district that grew during the industrialization.
This is where Soňa lives. She takes me to her favorite café: Cukrárna Alchymista.
I hope you like it! - You're kidding me!
It's one of my favorite cafés here. - This is so unexpected!
It's something like a small paradise garden. - Like a paradise, exactly!
So there are a lot of different plants and you can always be sitting here.
And the coffee is very good. Everything is homemade, really good.
Coffee? You don't have to tell me twice!
Soňa tells me that only 20 years ago,
Holešovice was a grey and dull part of town that has seen a lot of change in the past years.
So you chose to live here, what is it that you appreciate about Holešovice?
The life, the freedom, relaxing, no rush. Everything I need for my living is here.
I don't need to go to the city center. And the prices are lower than the touristic center.
Therefore we don't like to dine in the city center, because the prices are better for us here.
You see there is a pub there, bakery there, another restaurant, there is
a tearoom, you can choose, what you like. - Everything you need.
Exactly, so if you like to meet Czech people, come here, enjoy living with us, because we
are very heart opening people and we like to speak with the foreigners.
Of course, I also want to try some Czech beer, so Soňa takes me back into the old town.
Here, you too can find corners that are not overrun. At the pub U Kunštátů, you can choose between 100
different kinds of beer.
So what makes czech beer so special?
Hops and water. We have very special hops and they give the beer a bitterness, and they're
very special hops. The water is also very special, it means, when if you have the hops,
and the procedure and you do it somewhere else, the water is different and it will not
taste the same way.
All right. And I have heard the in the Czech republic there is more per capita consumption
of beer than anywhere in the world?
We beat you, we beat Britain and Australia, too.
But I think it's thanks to you guys, because you are coming here to drink beer.
So it's not the Czechs, it's the Germans that come here and drink all your beer!
Cheers to that, who can blame them.
Night has fallen and time has come to bid Prague farewell.
Back where it all started: On Charles Bridge.
And even if this time I'm not entirely by myself, the mass tourism that plagued the
city before the pandemic, has not returned the way many feared.
And hey, who can blame people for being attracted to this beauty? It's a perfect blend of history
and modernity, with so much to offer – especially off the beaten path.
That's it, my day in Prague is already over. There is of course a lot more to see and discover
but I still hope you enjoyed getting a little taste of the Czech capital.
Time now for me to say goodbye, or better yet: na shledanou!