Golden Times in Prague - Where spires, strong coffee, and a long memory shape one of Europe’s most seductive capitals.
Set like a painting on both banks of the Vltava, Prague stretches across the Bohemian Basin with an ease that feels almost deliberate. Home to more than 1.2 million people, the Czech capital is the country’s cultural, economic, and political nerve center. And even if the gold leaf that once adorned rooftops and spires has long since faded, Praha still earns its nickname as the Golden City—with interest.
Prague is a pilgrimage site for anyone with a weakness for history and architecture. Nearly 500 towers rise across the city, in every conceivable shape, style, and century. It’s no wonder the nickname “the City of a Hundred Spires” refuses to die. The Old Town, in particular, is a near-perfect preservation of Europe’s past, a fact recognized in 1992 when it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Naturally, I needed to see the city for a weekend getaway.
Walking, With Style
A day in Prague rewards the early riser. This is a city best experienced on foot, when the streets are still stretching awake, and the crowds haven’t yet claimed the sidewalks. Wandering through narrow side streets away from the tourist flow is half the pleasure.
A good place to start is Republic Square. From there, the Gothic Powder Tower—68 meters of medieval swagger—marks the gateway to the Old Town. The route continues along Celetná Street, part of the historic Royal Way once walked by Bohemian kings on their coronation march. Along the way: a parade of historic buildings, including Charles University, the oldest university in Central Europe.
A short walk later, you arrive at the Old Town Square, the city’s beating heart. Spanning roughly 9,000 square meters, it’s a stage set of architectural icons: the Town Hall with its famous astronomical clock, the twin-spired Týn Church, the Rococo Goltz-Kinsky Palace, and the House at the Stone Bell. Literary types can detour to the birthplace of Franz Kafka, just steps away. One of the cafés lining the square makes the ideal excuse to pause, sip, and watch the city perform.
Bookish places for bookish people
Prague isalso a city that reads - and no other writer embodies its psychological landscape more completely than Franz Kafka, whose unease, irony, and bureaucratic dread still feel uncannily contemporary. Born in the Old Town, Kafka turned Prague’s narrow streets and inward-looking courtyards into metaphors for modern alienation, a legacy explored today at the Franz Kafka Museum, where manuscripts and memories blur into atmosphere. But Prague’s literary life isn’t trapped in the past. At Shakespeare and Sons, an English-language bookshop tucked near the Old Town Square, locals and expatriates browse titles, debate translations, and linger over coffee—proof that in this city, literature isn’t something you visit, but something you live with. Prague doesn’t shout about books; it lets them haunt you.
A Royal View
Fashion and luxury lovers should head for Pařížská Street. The wide boulevard, lined with international fashion houses and high-end jewelers, carries a distinct Parisian confidence. It runs straight from the Old Town Square through Josefov, Prague’s historic Jewish Quarter. The Jewish Museum, six synagogues, and the ceremonial hall offer a powerful glimpse into centuries of Jewish life.
To really understand Prague, though, you have to cross the river. The Charles Bridge—520 meters long, ten meters wide, and built in 1357—once carried kings on their way to be crowned. Today it delivers something just as valuable: one of the city’s most arresting views. Come back at sunset if you can; the light does things to the skyline that feel almost unfair.
On the far side of the Vltava rises Prague Castle, perched high above the city on Hradčany Hill. The climb takes some stamina, but the payoff is spectacular: a sweeping panorama of red roofs, spires, and river bends. Nearby green spaces, especially Letná Park, offer a quieter counterpoint to the crowds. The Letná beer garden—attached to the small chateau—serves cold beer with a wide-angle view of the Czech capital below.
Coffee Culture in a City Built on Beer
Prague’s international energy shows most clearly at the table. Traditional Czech cuisine is unapologetically hearty: potato soup, dumplings, cabbage, roasted sirloin, and roulades dominate menus. It’s food designed for long winters—and long conversations.
Beer enthusiasts can enjoy local brews flowing freely in pubs and old-school beer halls. At Zlý časy, for example, no fewer than 48 taps pour regional specialties. Even though beer is an integral part of the city’s cultural heritage, it really is not for me. I am a coffee person - unapologetically so. Lucky for me, Prague’s relationship with coffee runs deeper than its recent flirtation with third-wave trends. Long before espresso machines became objects of obsession, the city’s cafés functioned as intellectual infrastructure—places where writers, dissidents, and philosophers lingered for hours, not Wi-Fi. Historic institutions like Café Slavia and Café Louvre cultivated a culture of patience and conversation that survived even the gray years of communism, when coffee quality declined, but the habit of lingering did not. Today’s specialty scene, led by minimalist newcomers such as EMA Espresso Bar, feels less like a rebellion and more like a continuation—precision replacing nostalgia, but time remaining the city’s most valued ingredient.
And if your evening leans more toward dancing than drinking, Prague delivers there too, with clubs and music bars that skew modern and energetic. Before disappearing into the nightlife, though, taking a walk along the river after dark is well worth the time. The crowds don't necessarily thin, but the lights come up and the city leans into its shadows. One of the best ways to experience this transformation is on a guided night walk through the Old Town and Jewish Quarter, where stories matter as much as scenery. Tours led by outfits like Prague Ghost Tours avoid cheap jump scares in favor of folklore, medieval crime, alchemy, and the city’s long relationship with death and power. Moving past floodlit façades, silent courtyards, and alleys that haven’t changed much since Kafka’s time, Prague reveals its darker intelligence— historical noir and something quite theatrical. Romantics can go one step further and board a nighttime river cruise—watching the Golden City come back to life from the water.
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