Paddy's Day in Prague

This year along with some of my siblings and our other halves I decided to spend St. Patrick’s Day out of the country. We have a cousin working in an Irish pub in Prague so we took this as a sign that we should spend our Patrick’s Day there. We travelled there on the 15th for a 3-night break flying from Dublin. Arriving in Prague in the late afternoon we checked into the Hotel Yasmin just off Wenceslas Square, a lovely hotel that was great value and served the best breakfast pastries.

We spent our first evening catching up with our cousin over dinner in Caffrey’s Irish Pub. This pub (once a crematorium) is a must visit for its great food and drink and its location, right on the Old Town Square. Our cousin was our guide for the night and he quickly led us to the beer museum. Here you can buy taster trays with samples of 10 different beers. The Czechs take their beer very seriously so we felt obliged to do the same.

The next morning (not too early) we made our way back to the Old Town Square, this beautiful square is surrounded by amazing architecture and at its centre stands the famous Astronomical Clock (try to catch it chiming). We weren’t sure where to head from here but the short answer was ‘anywhere’.

Wherever you go in this beautiful city there are amazing sights to be seen. The castle overlooks the city so we decided to head there. It is an uphill trek but we managed to do it by taking plenty of refreshment breaks. In fact, we even managed to climb the 280 steps to the top of the south tower of the cathedral, the exhausting climb rewarded us with a breath-taking view but it is not for the claustrophobic.

We strolled around Old Town and crossed Charles Bridge admiring the art for sale and stopping to rub the brass depiction of St John of Nepomuk being thrown from the bridge, it’s supposed to bring you luck and ensure you return to Prague. We finished the day’s sightseeing with food and drinks in a restaurant overlooking the Vltava River.

We started Paddy’s Day early with drinks in O’Che’s, an Irish Cuban pub (seriously) and throughout the day moved from Irish bar to Irish bar. We did stop at a couple of Czech bars and while the beer is great and the prices are significantly lower than the Irish pubs they couldn’t match the level of craic. It turned into one of our best St Patrick’s days ever, finishing up with dancing at The Dubliner.

The next day we flew back and were already talking about a plan for Paddy’s Day 2018.