Prague - Hotel U Zeleneho hroznu
Prague - Hotel U Zeleneho hroznu
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Prague June 19 - 24
One of the good things about making your own traveling arrangements instead of being part of a tour package is that you get to stay (and eat) at small, quirky, and often old places. These places can’t accommodate a tour of 30, 60, or 100 people. But they generally have character (but not always a TV or air conditioning).
Our first hotel in Prague was the Hotel U Zeleneho Hroznu (which translates as Hotel at the Green Grape). It had just eight rooms. The hotel was built 1600’s. It had “an original Renaissance log room, and Renaissance vaulting and Baroque painted ceilings…” and a Gothic wine cellar for private tastings. It also had an inner, enclosed courtyard with tables and chairs for general use. Not sure what a “log room” is…
The cozy Museum of Alchemists and Magicians was almost across from our hotel in a building known as The House at the Donkey in the Cradle. It is where the alchemist Edward Kelley (1555 – 1597) once lived. It offers an offbeat, touristy "haunted house" look at the history of alchemy. It's one of two alchemy museums in Prague.
The hotel was located in the Lesser Town, Malá Strana. The name Malá Strana translated into English literally means "Little Side," though it is frequently referred to as "Lesser Town," "Lesser Quarter" or "Little Quarter." This area was developed as early as the 1200’s and has since been the home to wealthy merchants and noblemen due to its proximity to Prague Castle.
Loosely defined, it is the area on the west side of the Vltava River, between the river and the Castle Quarter. It is a labyrinth of narrow cobblestone streets, embassies, small cafes and pensions and seemingly less-touristy (or at least less busy) than Prague’s Old Town on the other side of the river.
We returned to our hotel one evening to find this band performing on the street.
The hotel was in a peaceful, visually engaging neighborhood. The building above was on the same street as our hotel in Lesser Town. It's known as the Kremlin House. The facade is adorned with elaborate "sgraffito," a decorative technique common in Prague. Sgraffito involves scratching through a top layer of plaster to reveal a contrasting color underneath, creating intricate designs like those seen on this building.
Our room in the hotel was called the Ema Destinnova suite. This spacious suite (where we stayed for five nights) is named after an internationally famous turn-of-the-century Czech opera soprano. The suite had wooden parquet floors and high ceilings and was decorated with a dozen or so pieces of Destinnova’s ornate, dark furniture with elaborate inlay. How the hotel came by this furniture is unknown to us. The suite consists of two interconnected rooms, a bedroom and a sitting room, configured in an L shape.
The opera singer Ema Destinnová is featured on the Czech 2,000 koruna banknote (roughly $100). She also dabbled in the occult. By some accounts, she was a proto-goth diva, always bedizened in black. She decorated her chateau in Stráž with bones and skeletons. Known as "the Black Lady of Stráž," she purportedly bought her chateau because of its pre-existing library, containing thousands of volumes on occult topics. She regularly hosted seances. I think her bed was haunted.
The windows in the outer room faced toward (and roughly a floor above) the outdoor garden seating of the adjacent restaurant Delice, which was somehow affiliated with the hotel (the restaurant is now located elsewhere). We saw/heard very few patrons at this restaurant in June, except one night when the restaurant hosted a private function with a band.
From website: “The suite is furnished with Ema Destinnova’s own salon and bedroom furniture made to order in the 1920s for her South Bohemian chateaux Straz nad Nezarkou. The truly special experience is complemented by breathtaking views of the Prague Castle panorama. The windows in this room open to the both the inner courtyard as well as the back of the hotel allowing for very good airflow.”
The outer sitting room had furniture for storing your clothes, an austere (by modern standards) loveseat and a desk with the only TV - no watching TV in bed in this suite. It also had an old Victrola (and records!) in case you wanted to enjoy some opera. Three of the seven, six-foot tall casement windows in the suite are in this outer room. All the windows open providing great cross-ventilation in the then un-air-conditioned room.
The bedroom had a small table with two chairs, a large glass cabinet and two twin beds that had been seamlessly molded into a king. It also had four more windows facing the hotel’s lovely inner courtyard.
Our room was not street-side, but the street is so quiet (an “alleyway” with almost no vehicular traffic) that street-side rooms may be very quiet too.
The hotel continues to be updated. Since we stayed there the proprietors opened another hotel across the street called the Hotel U Bílé Lilie, where you will find the reception desk for both hotels and have access to a continental breakfast.
And now, all the rooms in the Hotel U Zeleneho Hroznu are air conditioned!
Right: The inner, enclosed courtyard where breakfast used to be served.
Český Krumlov - Pension Athanor
Český Krumlov - Pension Athanor
The Pension Athanor in Plešivecké Square.
Becky sits on a centuries-old water trough in Plešivecké Square across from the Pension Athanor.
Český Krumlov's St. Vitus Church in the distance. Not to be confused with Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral.
The view of Plešivecké Square outside our window. The road leads to the stairs and the stairs lead to the river.
Český Krumlov June 24 - 26
We stayed at the Pension Athanor in Český Krumlov for just two nights. Pension Athanor is located on the southeastern edge of Český Krumlov in Plešivecké Square, a stone’s throw from the historic center of town. This part of town is a bit quieter and less touristy. To get to the bustling heart of Český Krumlov one walks down the Plešivecké Staircase and crosses the Edvard Beneš Bridge over the Vltava River.
Pension Athanor is supposedly one of the oldest houses in Plešivec. The building was in existence “most likely before 1569” according to the Pension Athanor website. Over the centuries the building was enlarged and the interior significantly altered. But many historic details remain, including impressive hand-hewn beams and a "cellar" with arched stone walls and a fireplace (this is where breakfast was served).
Pension Athanor has only three rooms and two apartments. The apartments have kitchenettes. Each accommodation is different. Our apartment had a sauna (the others did not). One room had a whirlpool tub, but no shower. Our room had a very clean design, almost Scandinavian (the sauna added to that effect). Egon Schiele reproductions adorned the walls. The painter lived in Český Krumlov in 1911. The kitchenette was ample, though we didn't use it. There were seven windows, lots of air and light and the view was fabulous.
Pension Athanor is one of four historic Czech houses that are now pensions renovated and operated by Athanor CZ, a husband and wife team. The Pension Athanor is the only pension Athanor CZ operates in Český Krumlov.
The bedroom.
The kitchen.
The bathroom with a sauna.
Alchymist Nosticova Palace - Our Last Night in Prague
Alchymist Nosticova Palace - Our Last Night in Prague
Our room in the Alchymist Nosticova Palace.
Prague June 26 - 27 (one night)
We stayed at the Alchymist Nosticova Palace in the Lesser Town our last night in Prague – before the flight home. the hotel is a 6-minute stroll from the John Lennon Wall.
Alchymist Nosticova Palace was bigger and grander than our other accommodations. According to the website: “The earliest records of the Alchymist Nosticova Palace (also known as Residence Nosticova Prague) date back to 1658, although its foundation reaches back to 1522.”
All 15 guest rooms were named after historical figures and were furnished with antiques and objets d’art.
The painted, vaulted ceiling in our room.
The Alchymist Nosticova Palace had a restaurant on site, a pool and air conditioning. But somehow the hotel felt "less real" and more Disneyesque than our other accommodations.
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