Prague. Photo \/ Prague City Tourism<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not necessarily a library I\u2019d want to explore in the dark; the central hallway is home to various weird and wonderful curiosities collected by Baron Karel Jan Eben and purchased by the Strahov Monastery\u2019s monks in 1798. The creepiest items on display include wrinkled, taxidermied sea creatures (I\u2019m no expert, but the stingray and the hammerhead shark look like botched jobs to me), displayed alongside collections of shells, fossils and gemstones.<\/p>\n
Strahov Monastery Library. Photo \/ Prague City Tourism<\/p>\n
The Strahov Monastery is one of many. Several have been turned into hotels. My base is the Augustine, a thirteenth-century monastery and now a Marriott Luxury Collection property, although it\u2019s unlike any Marriott I\u2019ve come across. Highlights include the frescoed Refectory Bar, where monks once dined, and the vaulted cellar bar, where I can sip beer made using the same recipe penned by the monastery\u2019s monks in the 1200s.<\/p>\n
Coocoo\u2019s Nest \u2013 Fairmont Golden Prague. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Even Prague\u2019s most popular landmarks have an air of mystery. Many visitors to Prague Castle \u2013 which is actually a vast complex \u2013 head to its cathedral and the palace, but I recommend veering to the right just after the main entrance. This is where you\u2019ll find Golden Lane, a narrow, cobbled passageway. This was once where various castle employees lived and worked, and their former homes have been incredibly well preserved. One of the first dwellings I enter was once the home of the castle\u2019s executioner, who apparently slept with the gruesome tools of his trade close to hand, while another belonged to the resident goldsmith; his small, cramped cottage was both a workplace and his home, and the birdcage hanging near his bed is a reminder of the hazards of his job \u2013 it once housed a bird which would chirp if fumes became dangerously high. The house next door was in use until the 1940s, when it was the home of castle psychic Matylda Pr\u016f\u0161ov\u00e1. Famous for her cloak made from ostrich feathers, her downfall came when she predicted that the Third Reich would collapse, prompting the Gestapo to arrest and kill her.<\/p>\n
Beer garden. Photo \/ Paul Murphy<\/p>\n
Walk around Prague and it\u2019s impossible not to be blown away by how well this city has been preserved. Take the old town square\u2019s astronomical clock, constructed in 1410. Comprising various dials representing the position of the sun and the moon, the clock is still in good working order \u2013 although perhaps it\u2019s hardly surprising, given that local legend suggests that the entire city will suffer a dreadful fate if it\u2019s neglected. Some of the remnants of the city\u2019s past \u2013 and their rich symbolism, more specifically – are easier to miss. During a walking tour of the city, my guide points to a small, metal owl sculpture near the Plat\u00fdz Palace. The owl is perched on a metal rail affixed to the exterior of a building which once housed the palace\u2019s stables, and it\u2019s the world\u2019s oldest traffic light \u2013 200 years ago, if the owl was rotated so that it faced downwards, it meant that the stables were full.<\/p>\n
Walking tour beneath Prague\u2019s city streets. Photo \/ Prague City Tourism<\/p>\n
In recent years, various artists and architects have left their mark in more modern ways. Czech artist David \u010cern\u00fd\u2019s works can be found throughout the city centre, including outside the city hall, where you\u2019ll find Head of Franz Kafka, a kinetic sculpture featuring 42 rotating panels. And beneath the glorious stained glass dome in the Lucerna Passage arcade, you\u2019ll find \u010cern\u00fd\u2019s statue of King Wenceslas riding an upside-down, decidedly dead horse \u2013 thought to be a symbolic repost to controversial former Czech president Vaclav Klaus.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll also find endless examples of brutalism, some of which are incorporated into Dan Brown\u2019s newest book. In The Secret of Secrets, protagonist Robert Langdon\u2019s preferred crash pad is the Fairmont Golden Prague. The building, designed by Karel Filsak in the 1970s, was controversial; its unapologetically geometric silhouette and vast expanses of concrete cladding were at odds with the historic architecture surrounding it. But in 2020, the hotel closed, and architect Marek Tich\u00fd embarked on a top-to-toe renovation \u2013 one which relied heavily on 1970s-inspired d\u00e9cor, including beautiful brown glass chandeliers and gilded light fixtures \u2013 to honour the hotel\u2019s heyday, while making the most of this brutalist beauty\u2019s best bits. It reopened in 2025, and I head to the rooftop restaurant, Zlat\u00e1 Praha, where I can soak up gorgeous views from the floor-to-ceiling windows which run the entire length of the restaurant. I recommend the cured Arctic char with horseradish and cucumber, washed down with something local \u2013 the restaurant serves a range of fantastic Czech sparkling wines.<\/p>\n
Restaurant Zlat\u00e1 Praha, Fairmont Golden Prague. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
That night, I raise a toast to the city at the U Pinkas\u016f brewery, where curiosity leads to me to venture beyond the main beer hall to discover what might just be one of my favourite secret spots in Prague \u2013 a narrow beer garden wedged between the rear of the brewery and the towering walls of Our Lady of the Snows church, built in the 1300s. I opt for a beer produced by the nearby historic Pilsner Urquell Brewery, famous for its reliance on local water and \u017dateck\u00fd hops. Sadly, that\u2019s all I can tell you about its golden lagers, because only 10 brewmasters are said to know the exact recipe, which is apparently kept under lock and key. And that, I think you\u2019ll agree, makes it the perfect beer for this marvellous, mysterious city of secrets.<\/p>\n
The writer was a guest of the Augustine, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Prague.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prague. Photo \/ Prague City Tourism It\u2019s not necessarily a library I\u2019d want to explore in the dark;…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[4536,2581,2584,359,13391,38317,21997,4726,38559,38569,38563,18,117,32871,24244,38566,19,2761,7988,17,3849,38557,7609,2034,38564,2639,38562,38560,38561,25701,38558,38567,38565,20205,1214,3845,38568,1210,2058],"class_list":{"0":"post-52585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-author","10":"tag-book","11":"tag-books","12":"tag-brown","13":"tag-browns","14":"tag-citys","15":"tag-code","16":"tag-dan","17":"tag-demons","18":"tag-eight","19":"tag-eire","20":"tag-entertainment","21":"tag-explores","22":"tag-first","23":"tag-hinson","24":"tag-ie","25":"tag-in","26":"tag-inspired","27":"tag-ireland","28":"tag-its","29":"tag-like","30":"tag-novel","31":"tag-of","32":"tag-partly","33":"tag-prague","34":"tag-publishes","35":"tag-secret","36":"tag-secrets","37":"tag-september","38":"tag-setting","39":"tag-superstitions","40":"tag-tamara","41":"tag-that","42":"tag-the","43":"tag-this","44":"tag-vinci","45":"tag-what","46":"tag-years"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}