Of all the places we visited in Prague, perhaps none was more eagerly anticipated by Stephanie than Zoo Praha. We visited the zoo in 2009 and immediately decided it was one of the best. If anything, the zoo has only gotten better over the years.
It took us about 40 minutes to reach the zoo as we had to take a combination of trams followed by a bus to get there. After an early lunch we headed to the zoo around noon on a Tuesday. At that time of day it is an easy journey.
Zoo tickets cost 330 Kč each (about $13.50; or 300 Kč for an online e-ticket). Dogs are welcome for an extra 150 Kč. The zoo must make a small fortune solely on dogs as we saw a lot. If you want a paper brochure and map, that will be an extra 5 Kč. Not wanting to carry a map, we took a photograph of the large map posted on a wall just inside the zoo for reference.
Half of the zoo is on flat land next to the Vltava River; the other half is high on a hill above. We first explored the lower half of the zoo. It is mostly home to smaller animals and birds, the children’s area, and lions.
A couple of steep walking trails connect the lower half of the zoo to the upper half. Or, for 40 Kč you can take a chair lift. In 2009 we rode the chair lift. Why we bothered to walk uphill 14 years later is beyond me, but that is what we did.
Up on top of the hill is where most of the large land animals are found. Many are in new, and very large, exhibit spaces constructed after the lower portion of the zoo suffered devastating flooding in 2002 and 2013.
We spent about four and a half hours at the zoo and saw about 90% of it. Unfortunately the layout makes it near impossible to see everything without a significant amount of backtracking, which we opted against. You could easily spend an entire, leisurely day at the zoo. In hindsight we should have packed a lunch and made a day out of it rather than only giving ourselves the afternoon.
Once again, Stephanie decided that Zoo Praha is her favorite zoo. It’s hard to disagree as it is excellent.
One caveat about visiting the zoo. Don’t leave after 4:30 PM. The traffic is near unbearable. It took us almost two hours to get back to our Airbnb, fighting crowds on the bus and metro the entire way.
Back in town, a day or two later our next visit was to Obecní Dům, the Municipal House. An art deco concert hall constructed in the early 1900s, this is the location where the first Czechoslovak Republic was founded in 1918. Decades later the Municipal House was spared demolition by the Soviets when enterprising locals convinced them that the building would be too expensive to tear down.
Hour long tours are given several times a day in both Czech and English. The pricing, however, leaves something to be desired to the point that I almost refused to go on the tour.
An adult ticket is 290 Kč. Two adult tickets cost 580 Kč. So far, okay. The issue that I have is the cost of a family ticket, 500 Kč, for one to two adults with one to three children. How can a family of two, three, four, or five people get in much cheaper than two adults?
When we walked up to the ticket window, I asked for a family ticket:
Me: We’d like a family ticket for the 4:00 PM tour.
Ticket Lady: Just two adults? That does not qualify for a family ticket.
Me: Why not? Two people is a family.
Ticket Lady: The family ticket is for adults with children.
Me: Wait a second, I’ll go grab a kid off the street.
Ticket Lady: You can do that, and buy a family ticket. But then you get arrested. That will be 580 Kč.
Me: (Sigh.) We’re paying by card. [I know, I know. I sound like a grumpy old man.]
Classical music concerts are held several times a week in Smetana Hall, the main concert hall, with ticket prices being as low as 700 Kč. We probably should have just gone to a concert instead.
Anyway, the tour was pretty good. We started in Smetana Hall, sitting in the seats for about 15 minutes while our guide gave a history of the building. This part of the tour would have been much better except for the old lady sitting two rows behind us. She had a large camera, with a large lens, and took about three to four photographs a minute. Click, click, click, click, and so on, repeatedly, for the entire 15 minutes. I could have strangled her.
Granted the room was beautiful, but not deserving of 50 to 60 photographs. I took exactly six photographs in Smetana Hall, and I definitely take more than average.
After the fifteen-minute talk in Smetana Hall, most of the folks with cameras held back taking photos. Our guide had an ingenious way to move everyone along. She turned off the lights when it was time to go to the next room. That worked!
Our tour went on the following route: Smetana’s Hall – Patisserie – Slovakian Lounge – Božena Němcová Lounge – Oriental Lounge – Grégr’s Hall – Palackého Hall – Mayor’s Hall – Riegr’s Hall – Sladkovského Hall. Admittedly I only know the names of the rooms because it’s listed on the website.
Most of the rooms include paintings or sculptures that tell some story of Czech history, which our guide duly discussed. As an art deco style building, it also has its fair share of beautiful stained glass.
By the time we finished the tour I had forgotten how miffed I was at the ticket pricing.
Later that night we ventured to another small, family-owned Czech restaurant, Měšťanský Hostinec U Váhy. It was Friday so we went out early hoping to get a seat without a reservation. We walked in and were greeted by a waitress who apologetically told us that only seats at the bar were available as all tables were taken.
As Stephanie and I debated whether to stay, another waitress joined the conversation. I have no idea what she said, but it became pretty apparent a minute or two later when the manager (or owner) walked over and kicked a local (we’ll call him “Karl”) off his reserved table so that we could be seated.
Here is how I imagine the conversation went, or at least how it appeared to go:
Waitress: Move Karl off his table. All he does is sit there, nurse a beer, and play on his phone.
Manager (to waitress): You’re right. Good idea.
Manager (to Karl): We need your table for these two tourists. They’re actually going to buy a lot of food and beer. You’re not.
Karl (to manager): But I’m a regular and have a reserved table. I shouldn’t have to move for two people that you will never see again.
Manager (to Karl): Move your ass before the tourists leave.
So Karl grudgingly moved, obviously not happy, and Stephanie and I took his table. I should add that we did as expected, ordering an appetizer of fried jalapeno poppers, before dinners of pork knuckle and pork ribs, and several beers each over the course of about an hour. During that time Karl sat at a different table, alone, nursing a beer, playing on his phone.
We had a great time at U Váhy. It definitely felt like a small family restaurant as it seemed that everyone, except us, knew everyone else in the place. We might have been the only non-locals there that night. And the menu is in Czech only.
Garrett and Stephanie
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Love the humor‼️