My neighbourhood - Liben


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The journey begins in my newly moved into neighbourhood of Liben in Prague 9, which for any ice hockey fans or people who like going to concerts with a larger population than the Vatican city, is the home of the O2 arena or when I first came to Prague was called the Sazka arena. Sazka is the company that organises the Czech national lottery.

In the past Liben was home to CKD, which was one of the largest engineering companies in Czechoslovakia and was the world's biggest producer of trams, but since the revolution in 1989 and during the privatization process CKD was broken up into smaller companies and sold off.

So what could this area have to offer, not quite as attractive as some of the more populated areas of Prague, but with a little persistence and 4 hours of walking around I with my vigilant girlfriend set off to see what we could find.

Review no. 1

Our Giant Adventure begins and I say our, because as I mentioned before my ever vigilant and sexy girlfriend is with me to hold my hand and to make sure that I don't get lost or stuck in a sports bar, The first place that tweaked our interest was the fire safety/potraviny enterprise which featured on the previous blog, so there is no need to add a photo, I am sure that you have a good idea of why we were so intrigued by this ingenious business enterprise and then we walked and walked and walked until we reached our first pit stop Esprito Restaurant/sports Bar. It is attached firmly to the hotel Esprit actually. We made it our first port of call because, looking for a place to watch British Premier league and international games and the hunger pains that I was experiencing it seemed like a good decision..

I am not so fussy when it comes to eating out. I look for friendly and attentive service, good  value for money, interesting menu ideas and good beer. The restaurant seats 40/50 people max and they have those outdoor metal tables and chairs covered with white table slip cloths. The menu had a wide variety, even my veggie girlfriend was happy with the vegetarian dishes, which is usually a big problem in Prague, finding interesting choices, though this is changing and maybe due to the present crisis or the increased competition a lot of places are now recognising the advantages of being flexible with their menus, which was in complete contrast to when I first came to Prague and I find it very refreshing though I would never dream of eating a plate full of veggies. I like me meat. The service was very nice and the beer was pilsner, but not the best that I have tasted, though I am definitely a small brewery kind of guy. So all in all we were quite impressed, but the only problem that I could see from the sports side of the attractions was that the flat screen tv was in the middle of the restaurant, so I can only assume that they play games without sound which is something that I personally don't like and could be distracting if you are having a nice lunch with a table full of Everton fans crying over their team's terrible performance.


Moving on, the next little nugget was a non smoking cocktail bar on Kurta Konrada. it is hidden away in a small passage and is in a basement, which adds to the atmosphere don't you think? This is a Favourite of my girlfriends, one reason is the non smoking, which stops the chances of stale smelling clothes when you get home and the other reason is that they have a music theme for each night of the week and for me my favourite day is Saturday night is 80&90's night.


Review no. 2

The second place that we went to was U Kapitana. It was a nice little pub hidden in the back streets near to the metro station Vysocany. The general theme was nautical and there were lots of models hanging of the walls and on window ledges of old sail ships. My kids especially my son was excited about the models that were on view and he counted 6 in total and his favourite one was of a ship which looked very similar to the HMS Victory which presently sits in dry dock in Portsmouth and we have visited, so it was a great topic of discussion between him and the staff of the pub/restaurant who I have to say on the 2 times that I have visited the place have been very friendly and attentive, so a big plus for me and the 2nd big plus was the Bernard beer on draft, it was perfect. They had a 10 and 12 degree light beer, the 12 was non filtered and a 11 degree pale beer or polotmavy in Czech. Of course I had to try them all and they did not disappoint me. They were very clean and the taste was very pleasant, much more superior to the usual Gambrinus or Pilsner which are the usual suspects. The menu was very interesting and offered a wide selection of food. My hungry vigilant sexy girlfriend had an appetite on her so thankfully we were able to sample the menu, though she only tried the potato soup in a bread bowl, a typical Czech speciality and sweet dumplings filled with strawberries, which look amazing and satisfied her sweet tooth. We did go there in the afternoon and it was quiet, but our impression was very positive due to the décor and the friendly staff, a big plus in Prague or probably any capital city. We would definitely go there again and would be confident in recommending it to our friends.


Other places of interest                                  
    24 hour carwash                                 Adventure park
    www.neptun-harfa.cz                          www.lanovecentrum.cz          
    
     Basketball shop                                  Electronic shop and service
     www.basket-shop.cz                          jvservispraha@centrum.cz

    ene bene                                   Fish shop 
    ul. Na Brehu 3                          ul. Sokolovska 312

     Hairdressing wholesaler           Health food shop
     www.kadernicky-servis.cz       ul. Staromlynska 2
                                                    www.zdrava-rokytka.cz

    Indian Hamock shop                           Ironmongers
    www.catalpa.cz                                   ul. Parikova

    Moldavian wines and carpets              Music shop for musicians
    ul. Sokolovska 310                             www.music-city.cz

    Pizzeria Tiamo                         Ski bazar and rental
    www.pizzeria-tiamo.cz            ul. Kurta Konrada 20

BMC Spanish goods

Hany Bany fitness centre

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