A beer pilgrimage through Bavaria and Prague - Trip Report
Sep 3rd, 2011 | 06:41 AM
#41
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We never did go to the Pilsner Urquell brewery. There was just so much in Prague itself that we didn't even get to that we decided to put it off for another trip.
We saw that italian restaurant with the great views - we definitely thought it would be a nice place to get some coffee and cake.
We saw that italian restaurant with the great views - we definitely thought it would be a nice place to get some coffee and cake.
Sep 3rd, 2011 | 09:01 AM
#42
Joined: Jan 2003
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Have been to the Strahov monastery brewery and loved the beer (and food!) there, too.
LOL, recently I was on business in Prague. My hosts probably wanted to impress me and took me to that overpriced Italian restaurant with the view next to Strahov monastery - seriously, the food was as overpriced as the food was lousy. Thank God it was a beautiful day and I enjoyed the views
Oh, and the service was slooooow. Better calculate an hour for simple but overpriced coffee and cake.
LOL, recently I was on business in Prague. My hosts probably wanted to impress me and took me to that overpriced Italian restaurant with the view next to Strahov monastery - seriously, the food was as overpriced as the food was lousy. Thank God it was a beautiful day and I enjoyed the views
Oh, and the service was slooooow. Better calculate an hour for simple but overpriced coffee and cake.
Sep 3rd, 2011 | 10:24 AM
#43
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 57,091
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ingo - we had a great time at the Strahov monastery too.
we fell into conversation with an elderly couple from Moscow who had spent 30 hours on the train to get to Prague [in December!] because the wife wouldn't fly.
he was showing her all the places he'd known when he'd been posted there, before the Wall came down etc. We got a distinct whiff of KGB but that might have been us!
we fell into conversation with an elderly couple from Moscow who had spent 30 hours on the train to get to Prague [in December!] because the wife wouldn't fly.
he was showing her all the places he'd known when he'd been posted there, before the Wall came down etc. We got a distinct whiff of KGB but that might have been us!
Sep 17th, 2011 | 04:53 PM
#44
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Ok - so here is the report for the last couple days of the trip. Sorry for the delay. I blame it on my husband. Actually, really - it is his fault. He left for a business trip, taking his phone with him, which of course had all the pictures that I took to remind myself where we had been, and of course - which beers we drank!
August 25–Thursday - Day 14:
Our last day in Prague. By this point we have decided that we are DEFINITELY coming back to Prague for another visit. We have really enjoyed our time here and didn’t get to everything we wanted to. Prague is infinitely interesting.
We hadn’t climbed the Astronomical clock tower yet, so we decided to do that this morning. I really wanted to go to the top, but with 2 weeks of walking, riding, and climbing, plus the heat wave, I was pretty beat by this time. But, I am a trooper, so we decided to climb the tower. We bought tickets and went in – and wouldn’t you know it? There is an elevator! Yes, an elevator to the top. Well damn, if I had known there was an elevator, I would have gone up 3 or 4 times already. The view from the top of the tower is great – over the whole of the old town, the castle area, Letna park, etc. It was kind of crowded at the top sometimes, but the people seemed to come in spurts, so by hanging out, we could let the crowds dissipate and have the tower almost to ourselves for a while.
After the tower, we went down to the river to take some more pictures of the boats and bridges and just stroll around. Everybody talks about Charles Bridge, of course since it was the first stone bridge, has so much history, the statues, etc. but I really liked the bridges just north of the Charles Bridge – Cechuv and Manseuv Most. These are neat art nouveau bridges. I think people overlook them, but when you take the time to notice them, they really are beautiful.
As mentioned above, I was pretty tired by this time and wanted a shady place to hang out, drink a little beer, have some food and basically just kick it for awhile. We ended up finding the James Joyce Irish Pub down a little side street – U Obecniho Dvora in the neighborhood just east of the Jewish Quarter. The Irish are always good for comfortable places to hang out. There are some comfortable tables outside under some big shady chestnut trees. Being mid-afternoon, there were only a few customers, so we decided to have a little lunch and relax there for a while. We had toasted sandwiches and we each had a Gambrinus. My husband had more Gambrinus and I switched to hot tea – the heat wave started to break that afternoon and it was almost the first time in 2 weeks that it was cool enough to drink hot tea.
After a couple hours of just hanging out, we were ready to see some more things. This pub advertised live music in the evenings, so if we had been in town longer, we probably would have gone back to check it out one evening.
We walked through the Jewish Quarter – by this time it was later in the day, so we didn’t buy tickets to go inside any of the Synagogues or anything since things were starting to close up. I would like to explore that neighborhood more though. The Old New Synagogue is really neat from the outside though – early Gothic building, about 1000 years old. Quite impressive. There were some street musicians playing along the side of the Old New Synagogue, so we stopped to listen for a while. They were quite good and one of the musicians was making giant soap bubbles, which was fun.
We had dinner someplace I assume (I don’t skip meals often) but I don’t remember where – that is what happens when I wait so long to write my trip journal. After dinner we went back to the Beer Museum for dessert – I had to get more of that Opat Chocolate. OMG that stuff is good. Then on the way back to the hotel stopped for a final Czech beer – Budweiser. We couldn’t come to Czech Republic and not have it at least once. And it was quite good. We hung out awhile and then called it a night.
Beers for Day 14:
Gambrinus +
Opat Chocolate ++
Budvar Budweiser +
August 26–Friday - Day 15:
We had to be in Frankfurt on Saturday mid-day for our flight home, so we effectively started our journey home today. We had the Express Bus from Prague to Nuremburg and then ICE train onto Frankfurt. Instead of going all the way to Frankfurt this day though, we had decided to spend the night in Nuremburg and continue onto Frankfurt the next morning – stretch the vacation out a little more.
Metro to the main train station in Prague was easy and fast, and the Express Bus to Nuremburg was as convenient and comfortable as before.
In Nuremburg we stayed at the Hotel Victoria (www.hotelvictoria.de), which is just inside the old city wall, literally steps from the under-street pedestrian tunnel between the train station and the Altstadt. Very convinient. The hotel is in a more modern building, but fits in well with the surrounding buildings. Our room was small, but well-laid out and very comfortable. The staff was top-notch, and breakfast the next morning was the best breakfast we’ve had in Germany at a hotel of this level. I would definitely stay here again.
We’d been to Nuremburg before, and since we didn’t arrive until about 3 in the afternoon, we just sort of wandered around in the Altstadt a while and soaked it in. We didn’t actually “do” anything although there is a lot to do and see in Nuremburg. It is actually one of my favorite cities. It isn’t as cute as say Rothenburg or Bamburg, but I just like it. The Altstadt isn’t totally preserved, but I like the blending of the old and new, and the fact that the Altstadt seems to actually be used by Nuremburg people and not just preserved for tourists.
We had an early dinner at Augustiner zur Schrante, I think it is called, just below the castle. We went here specifically because on a previous trip to Nuremburg it was here that we first tasted the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier which is basically responsible for this whole itinerary. I broke with tradition and drank some Franconian white wine though, which was wonderful. My husband drank Schlenkerla, of course.
A little more wandering, and a stop for ice cream, then another stop to watch a group of people doing the tango in front of the cathedral in the main square – and we were ready to call it a night. We had an 8 am train the next morning, so we needed to be up and going early. But then on the way back to the hotel, we saw umbrellas in front of a little café advertising Andech’s beer, so we stopped for ONE LAST BEER before we put a DONE stamp on the trip.
Beers for Day 15:
Aecht Schlenkerla ++
Andechs Dunkel ++
Andechs Hefeweisen ++
August 27–Saturday - Day 16:
Train to Frankfurt airport, flight to SFO, and then HOME. Of course the heat wave officially broke the night before, just because we are leaving. We walked to the train station in a chilly rain and shivered on the platform while waiting for the train.
We were sad that the trip is over, but the trip home was uneventful, and it is always nice to be home. The cats were alternately incredibly happy to see us and absolutely pissed that we abandoned them for 2 weeks. As I write this journal (3 weeks later), I think they have finally forgiven us. But we better toe the line for a while.
The end. I hope you all enjoyed my report. We certainly enjoyed the trip.
August 25–Thursday - Day 14:
Our last day in Prague. By this point we have decided that we are DEFINITELY coming back to Prague for another visit. We have really enjoyed our time here and didn’t get to everything we wanted to. Prague is infinitely interesting.
We hadn’t climbed the Astronomical clock tower yet, so we decided to do that this morning. I really wanted to go to the top, but with 2 weeks of walking, riding, and climbing, plus the heat wave, I was pretty beat by this time. But, I am a trooper, so we decided to climb the tower. We bought tickets and went in – and wouldn’t you know it? There is an elevator! Yes, an elevator to the top. Well damn, if I had known there was an elevator, I would have gone up 3 or 4 times already. The view from the top of the tower is great – over the whole of the old town, the castle area, Letna park, etc. It was kind of crowded at the top sometimes, but the people seemed to come in spurts, so by hanging out, we could let the crowds dissipate and have the tower almost to ourselves for a while.
After the tower, we went down to the river to take some more pictures of the boats and bridges and just stroll around. Everybody talks about Charles Bridge, of course since it was the first stone bridge, has so much history, the statues, etc. but I really liked the bridges just north of the Charles Bridge – Cechuv and Manseuv Most. These are neat art nouveau bridges. I think people overlook them, but when you take the time to notice them, they really are beautiful.
As mentioned above, I was pretty tired by this time and wanted a shady place to hang out, drink a little beer, have some food and basically just kick it for awhile. We ended up finding the James Joyce Irish Pub down a little side street – U Obecniho Dvora in the neighborhood just east of the Jewish Quarter. The Irish are always good for comfortable places to hang out. There are some comfortable tables outside under some big shady chestnut trees. Being mid-afternoon, there were only a few customers, so we decided to have a little lunch and relax there for a while. We had toasted sandwiches and we each had a Gambrinus. My husband had more Gambrinus and I switched to hot tea – the heat wave started to break that afternoon and it was almost the first time in 2 weeks that it was cool enough to drink hot tea.
After a couple hours of just hanging out, we were ready to see some more things. This pub advertised live music in the evenings, so if we had been in town longer, we probably would have gone back to check it out one evening.
We walked through the Jewish Quarter – by this time it was later in the day, so we didn’t buy tickets to go inside any of the Synagogues or anything since things were starting to close up. I would like to explore that neighborhood more though. The Old New Synagogue is really neat from the outside though – early Gothic building, about 1000 years old. Quite impressive. There were some street musicians playing along the side of the Old New Synagogue, so we stopped to listen for a while. They were quite good and one of the musicians was making giant soap bubbles, which was fun.
We had dinner someplace I assume (I don’t skip meals often) but I don’t remember where – that is what happens when I wait so long to write my trip journal. After dinner we went back to the Beer Museum for dessert – I had to get more of that Opat Chocolate. OMG that stuff is good. Then on the way back to the hotel stopped for a final Czech beer – Budweiser. We couldn’t come to Czech Republic and not have it at least once. And it was quite good. We hung out awhile and then called it a night.
Beers for Day 14:
Gambrinus +
Opat Chocolate ++
Budvar Budweiser +
August 26–Friday - Day 15:
We had to be in Frankfurt on Saturday mid-day for our flight home, so we effectively started our journey home today. We had the Express Bus from Prague to Nuremburg and then ICE train onto Frankfurt. Instead of going all the way to Frankfurt this day though, we had decided to spend the night in Nuremburg and continue onto Frankfurt the next morning – stretch the vacation out a little more.
Metro to the main train station in Prague was easy and fast, and the Express Bus to Nuremburg was as convenient and comfortable as before.
In Nuremburg we stayed at the Hotel Victoria (www.hotelvictoria.de), which is just inside the old city wall, literally steps from the under-street pedestrian tunnel between the train station and the Altstadt. Very convinient. The hotel is in a more modern building, but fits in well with the surrounding buildings. Our room was small, but well-laid out and very comfortable. The staff was top-notch, and breakfast the next morning was the best breakfast we’ve had in Germany at a hotel of this level. I would definitely stay here again.
We’d been to Nuremburg before, and since we didn’t arrive until about 3 in the afternoon, we just sort of wandered around in the Altstadt a while and soaked it in. We didn’t actually “do” anything although there is a lot to do and see in Nuremburg. It is actually one of my favorite cities. It isn’t as cute as say Rothenburg or Bamburg, but I just like it. The Altstadt isn’t totally preserved, but I like the blending of the old and new, and the fact that the Altstadt seems to actually be used by Nuremburg people and not just preserved for tourists.
We had an early dinner at Augustiner zur Schrante, I think it is called, just below the castle. We went here specifically because on a previous trip to Nuremburg it was here that we first tasted the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier which is basically responsible for this whole itinerary. I broke with tradition and drank some Franconian white wine though, which was wonderful. My husband drank Schlenkerla, of course.
A little more wandering, and a stop for ice cream, then another stop to watch a group of people doing the tango in front of the cathedral in the main square – and we were ready to call it a night. We had an 8 am train the next morning, so we needed to be up and going early. But then on the way back to the hotel, we saw umbrellas in front of a little café advertising Andech’s beer, so we stopped for ONE LAST BEER before we put a DONE stamp on the trip.
Beers for Day 15:
Aecht Schlenkerla ++
Andechs Dunkel ++
Andechs Hefeweisen ++
August 27–Saturday - Day 16:
Train to Frankfurt airport, flight to SFO, and then HOME. Of course the heat wave officially broke the night before, just because we are leaving. We walked to the train station in a chilly rain and shivered on the platform while waiting for the train.
We were sad that the trip is over, but the trip home was uneventful, and it is always nice to be home. The cats were alternately incredibly happy to see us and absolutely pissed that we abandoned them for 2 weeks. As I write this journal (3 weeks later), I think they have finally forgiven us. But we better toe the line for a while.
The end. I hope you all enjoyed my report. We certainly enjoyed the trip.
Sep 17th, 2011 | 06:43 PM
#46
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 17,106
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Thanks for the explanation and for finishing up - I was wondering what had happened - if whether you hadn't decided the beer was just too good and went back to live in Europe and sample more beer!
Thanks again! Thoroughly enjoyable TR!
Thanks again! Thoroughly enjoyable TR!
Sep 17th, 2011 | 10:41 PM
#48
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,190
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great report, really please you had a great time and want to come back to Prague (my next trip in in just over 5 weeks).
I like the fact that you mention all the beer you had ,very useful for a nerd like me but i think i will give the chocolate beer a miss (thanks but no thanks).
once again thank you for writing such a comprehensive report of yopur travels.
I like the fact that you mention all the beer you had ,very useful for a nerd like me but i think i will give the chocolate beer a miss (thanks but no thanks).
once again thank you for writing such a comprehensive report of yopur travels.
Sep 18th, 2011 | 07:41 AM
#49
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Joined: Feb 2008
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Glad everybody enjoyed it.
easytraveler - If I could get away with it, I would hop a plane back in a heartbeat, but I think my boss would have an issue with that
Treesa - you can't miss the pub. It is definitely a small street. The toasted sandwiches we had were very good, we didn't try any of the other food though.
unclegus - Everybody has their own taste in beer. Some people are mad for IPA, but they all smell like cat pee to me - LOL. This chocolate one is for anybody who enjoys dark chocolate and dark beer, but of course not everybody does. It is nice that the Beer Museum offers all of their beers in small taster size - that way people can try something they aren't sure about without the commitment.
easytraveler - If I could get away with it, I would hop a plane back in a heartbeat, but I think my boss would have an issue with that
Treesa - you can't miss the pub. It is definitely a small street. The toasted sandwiches we had were very good, we didn't try any of the other food though.
unclegus - Everybody has their own taste in beer. Some people are mad for IPA, but they all smell like cat pee to me - LOL. This chocolate one is for anybody who enjoys dark chocolate and dark beer, but of course not everybody does. It is nice that the Beer Museum offers all of their beers in small taster size - that way people can try something they aren't sure about without the commitment.
Sep 18th, 2011 | 11:23 PM
#52
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,190
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http://www.praguebeermuseum.com/en/index.htm
you will find it here.
you will find it here.
Sep 19th, 2011 | 07:22 AM
#53
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,306
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Thanks Unclegus. According to the blog post below they don't have aspirations to be a gastropub but certainly worth a stop to try the chocolate beer.
http://czechoutchannel.blogspot.com/...useum-pub.html
http://czechoutchannel.blogspot.com/...useum-pub.html
Sep 19th, 2011 | 07:47 AM
#54
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,190
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that Blog is an excellent tool to use if looking for resturants in Prague.
i did a Trip Advisor review of the Prague Beer museum pub where i do make a mention of the food.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUse...e_Bohemia.html
but as they say it is All About the Beer................. and ohhhhhh what beer.
I will be in Prague next month for a few days 24th-28th and will pop in there again.
i did a Trip Advisor review of the Prague Beer museum pub where i do make a mention of the food.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUse...e_Bohemia.html
but as they say it is All About the Beer................. and ohhhhhh what beer.
I will be in Prague next month for a few days 24th-28th and will pop in there again.
Sep 19th, 2011 | 11:28 AM
#57
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 58
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I enjoyed reading your report. I was curious how you made out in the Aufsess Brauerienweg. I was there about one month before your trip and had mixed results. I stayed at Rothenbach in Aufsess and I really liked it even though it poured that evening. I was supposed to stay at Reichold. I even had a reservation for Reichold but when I showed up they were closed for a 1 day vacation!! What a disspointment but that can happen during the week in the Frankische Schweiz. Brauerei Stadter was also closed that day. I really liked Kati Brau though and in addition to that I took a different hiking route to Breitenslau for Brauerei Krug and then Schroll in Nankendorf. Both were outstanding. It was a longer walk than originally planned but worth it.
I enjoyed reading about your impressions of Bamberg. Schlenkerla is indeed great beer and the tavern is fantastic. However, as is always the case more time is needed in Bamberg. There are 5 breweries within walking distance of your hotel that you missed and numerous other beer pubs and kellers. Not to mentione the nearby sorrounding countryside. But hey it's an excuse to go back.
I enjoyed reading about your impressions of Bamberg. Schlenkerla is indeed great beer and the tavern is fantastic. However, as is always the case more time is needed in Bamberg. There are 5 breweries within walking distance of your hotel that you missed and numerous other beer pubs and kellers. Not to mentione the nearby sorrounding countryside. But hey it's an excuse to go back.
Sep 20th, 2011 | 09:36 AM
#59
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Joined: Feb 2008
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markan - That is weird that Reichold made a reservation for you, but then went on vacation. That must have been extremely frustrating. At least Rothenbach was available. We liked their beer best of the 3 breweries we had on the walk. And yes, we absolutely have to go back to Bamberg. I know we missed a bunch. Part of it was that we were there on a holiday and a bunch of stuff was closed. The other part is that we just don't move fast on vacation. I read other people's itineraries and think "Really, you guys do ALL that in ONE day? Wow."
Sep 21st, 2011 | 12:28 PM
#60
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 58
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Yeah I'm the same. I'd rather go slow and enjoy. It has taken me 6 visits to Bamberg so far and I've finally visited all the breweries and pubs that I know of. Still there are about 100 within a 50 mile radius that I still have not been to yet. It's a lifetime pursuit I guess.
