Straight up—Prague is not a progressive metropolis bustling with new life. You won’t fi nd streets packed with row after row of trendy bars. When you consider which club to head out to it isn’t going to take you all night to decide. Instead of hordes of hipsters bedecked in the latest alternative threads, youre more likely to fi nd dudes in cargo trousers and washed-out t-shirts, or even someone’s dad wearing socks and sandals. Modern architecture here isn’t much cop, Czech cuisine doesn’t have too many fans, and if you ask an experienced expat about the nightlife theyll tell you that Czechs go to the pub early and then go home. Why, then, do so many people keep coming back? Why do so many stay? A couple of hundred years ago a man by the name of Gustav Meyrink lived in Prague. He was a Yogi, alchemist and occultist. During one of his drug-induced excursions, he wrote a little story about how Prague is one of the cities where a sort of secret brotherhood was founded at the edge of reality and unreality. Sure, if anyone smokes a lot of dope, chances are theyll think up just about anything... but what if there is actually something to it? Theres defi nitely a certain vibe to Prague, one that makes you think, “Ah, no hurry. Im going to chill out for a bit.” You can’t feel Prague in a couple of nights barhopping around the centre, but give it a a few days and that something will catch you. Life elsewhere starts to look a little too hectic, too intense. Then you realise Prague has everything you need to be happy. You might not have ten favourite restaurants, but in the few you fall in love with they know your name after a couple of visits. At your favourite club, the barmaid just pushes a shot across the bar to you, out of nowhere, on the house. The record shop calls you up to let you know some new vinyl goodness just came in. Prague isn’t going to get up in your face. That special something which has been drawing people in from every corner of the globe for a good several hundred years is something youll have to fi nd all by yourself. Looking pays off. --- VICE guide to prague.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 16:41:58 +0000
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