Time to Czech out Prague

FORGET strict schedules. Prague is a city for unscheduled diversions, kitsch and trash, free-range stickybeaking and spontaneous beer and sausage breaks.

Sign of things to come ... outside a cafe in central Prague. Picture: Reuters

`YOU should have been here last week; the weather was beautiful," the guide lamented. But we weren't, and it wasn't.

Prague showed us its winter face, with an early dusting of snow and early-evening temperatures of -3C, with a wind-chill factor making it positively Arctic.

Tasmanian holiday wardrobe leftovers were only just adequate, and a Russian-style ear-muff cap bought during a previous visit no longer seemed as ludicrous as when paraded around at packing time.

But, while our small party looked like Lifeline on vacation, the locals either ignored the weather or managed to appear fur-wrapped chic in painted-on jeans, high boots and elfin hoods.

Life goes on.

And, if the plummeting temperatures were expected to freeze the ambitions of the touring hordes, there was little sign of it on the Charles Bridge when the sun peeped through.

There may not have been quite as many gawkers on this ancient catwalk of stone-carved saints, but they took up a lot more room in their winter woollies.

The upside was that the bridge and approaches were virtually empty in the early morning and any time from about four o'clock onwards as the sun disappeared indecently early.

And, in the steely gloom, Prague Castle was more bleak and menacing, a reminder of its role as a real and ruthless seat of power before it became a benign tourist fairyland.

How long do you need to see the Scharzenberg, Sternberg, Old Kings and Archbishops castles, St Vitus Cathedral and St George's Basilica? How long is a holiday?

Add to your itinerary (at a minimum) the Municipal House, the Old Town Square, the Town Hall and Astronomical Clock (a sort of medieval amusement arcade for yokels), Wenceslas Square, the Jewish heritage and enough museums to satisfy the most obsessive of interests, and Prague takes some planning.

Yet, Prague is a death sentence for planning. It's a city for wandering, for unscheduled diversions, window shopping, kitsch and trash, arts and crafts, free-range stickybeaking and spontaneous beer and sausage breaks.

In November, as it begins to wind down for Christmas and a hard winter, it's probably at its most accessible. The crowds thin, the queues are shorter, the sidewalk cafes and coffee houses are invitingly uncluttered and the wind is a wonderful inducement to master a quietly efficient public transport system.

Still, at night, the bar and restaurant trade thrives, the hefty Czech cuisine hitting the spot as the mercury falls.

Even the calorie-conscious among us surrendered to artery-threatening delights of pork, veal and duck with noodles, spuds and dumplings. And, if you want to see how many potatoes fit on a plate, order a vegetarian dish, Prague-style.

The Czechs remain faithful to the sadly outmoded idea that quantity means value when it comes to food.

Because the rapacious euro is yet to replace the crown, $20 will buy you as much food and beer as a civilised man with reasonable ambitions of life expectancy needs in a sitting.

And, if that still stretches the budget, find me better value than a hot dog filled with spicy sausage, mustard, horseradish and onions for about $2, or the budget fodder at the multi-lingual Czech Kitchen, close to the old Town Square.

To wash it down, try gluhwein in the square or visit the Beer Gallery, offering more than 200 Czech brews (downstairs at Celetna 25, Prague 1).

A full tummy and a comfortable wallet were comforting denials of the horror stories that Prague had degenerated into a money-grubbing tourist trap fixated on Americans in the almost 10 years since I last visited it.

This old charmer remains one of the best-for-your-buck European tourist cities as value for your money retreats eastwards before the inflationary scourge of the euro.

Get there before the euro does, and try it when it's buttoned down for winter.

Your credit card will thank you for it.

The writer was a guest of Avalon Waterways and Emirates.

The Sunday Telegraph