MALA STRANA part 1

Mala Strana dates back to the mid 13th century when the king at the time Premysl Otakar invited German craftsmen to vie their trade in what is Malostranska namesti. The town although not fully under the control of the king was granted Royal Status and it was during the reign of Charles IV that it was divided from the rest of Prague by the construction of the hunger wall remenants of which can still be seen today up on Petrin hill though by 1541 most of the original buildings had been destroyed by fire and wars.

The lesser side does have a lot of beautiful buildings and is connected to the rest of Prague by the Charles Bridge which apart from the castle is one of the most recognisable structures in the city and I am sure that if you have seen a lot of movies in the past 15 years you will recognise a lot of the streets and landmarks usually mistaken for other cities like Vienna and Paris.

Mala Strana is jam packed with historical buildings such as the Prague castle and the Walstein Palace, the Charles Bridge and countless churches and not forgetting the views from Kampa park of the old town.

Mala Strana was my local back in 2000 and I used to visit my local Irish bar Scarlet O'Hara's, hidden down the side of where McDonald's is on Mostecka, though it has sadly long since gone and much later on, when I was finally kicked out, head over the bridge to my favourite night club Lavka. During those days all the streets were dug up and no trams went through for a good 6 months so it was difficult to get there without a bit of a stroll but I was younger back then and I was not put off by a walk if it meant getting a pint of Guinness and having a drink with a mainly expat crowd. As you can imagine this area is full of bars and restaurants so choosing a 10 places to visit is by no means an easy task but there are still a lot of places which have survived the early construction around 2000 and the floods of 2002 so out of respect to their resilience, I have included a lot of them.

Review

Anna, my SVG's parents were in town and they always want to have a typical Czech fried cheese or smazak to the locals, so with that in mind and my love of small breweries we went to Ferdinanda which is a small cellar hospoda close to Malostranske namesti. The cellar is very cosy and the staff are very friendly and helpful. I had a sedm kuli which translated means 7 bullets and it is a 13 degree dark beer and very nice and smooth. The future in-laws had a small dark beer and Anna had a small light ferdinand. The food was homemade and the portions were good and good quality Czech pub grub. Anna's parents had the fried cheese, Anna had the Nakladany Hermelin (pickled cheese) and I was adventurous and went for the Tlacenka (pork brawn). I would definitely go here again especially as they also have a non smoking section, a big plus when you have small children, though if you have a pram or a stroller you have to bear in mind that it won't be easy getting up and down, unless one of the friendly staff helps you up the stairs on your way out and don't forget to keep your bill with your email written on the back of it because there is a chance of winning a food voucher if you stick it in the small cracks in the wall on the way out, and they pick yours in the monthly draw that they have.

Restaurants

Sushi Bar
web: www.sushi.cz
review: review: www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurant_Review-g274707-d1099679-Reviews-Sushi_Bar-Prague_Bohemia.html