Cara McErlean, Author at Prague Morning

Celebrations for Fat Thursday, a holiday at the peak of Shrovetide, engage many businesses throughout the Czech Republic.

Ambiente Restaurant Group called for a joint celebration this year, with over 40 restaurants from Prague, Brno, Pilsen, and Tábor. Each restaurant will offer guests something in the spirit of the Fat Thursday tradition – in addition to fatty meat dishes, there will also be appetizers, bottomless soups, large portions, and even specials like farm-fresh pork belly.

On Fat Thursday, which this year falls on February 20, it is tradition to indulge in all the food and drink we can bear. Similar to Mardi Gras, Fat Thursday is a feast celebration before Ash Wednesday and forty days of pre- Easter fasting.

You can fill your stomach at restaurants such as Ambiente, La Collezione, Together, The Eatery, Momoichi, Big Smokers, Mr. HotDog, Dish, Tabor Thir and Pub or Ramen Brno. Chefs from Lokál, Café Savoy will prepare typical carnival delicacies for lunch and dinner.

Order a kremrole, a delicious rolled pastry, at Cukrarna Skála – if you eat it on the spot, you can get a second one for free.

Myšák will bake large větrníky pinwheel pastries, and more classic sweets will be sold at The Eatery.

Momoichi will offer pork belly as an appetizer, Prague bistro La Bottega will prepare selected pasta and bottomless soups, and Big Smokers will give you a slice of pork belly.

The complete list of restaurants and meals can be found here or at the Facebook event “Našup: Fat Thursday,” where photos of specific meals are added daily.

Prague, Brno and Pilsen businesses celebrated their Fat Thursday in this way for the first time last year.

They were brought together by Našup brand, which aims to promote cooperation between domestic and foreign chefs.

More info here

?Amano – pizza gourmet with chopped pork side and pickled mustard seeds (1 + 1 free); legume soup
?Brasileiro Slovanský dům – greaves with lime and homemade sausage as an appetizer
?Brasileiro U Zelené žáby – greaves with lime as an appetizer and grilled pork belly with horseradish in churrasco
?BIG SMOKERS – slice of smoked pork belly
?Bruxx – mussels with bacon and salsiccia
?Café Savoy – slow-roasted pork flank; fried pork neck with white cabbage salad and mashed potatoes; big pinwheels
?Cukrář Skála – kremrole (1 + 1 for free)
?DISH fine burger bistro – whipped smoked lard with chipotle as appetizer
?Eska – chocolate with bread and greaves
?Kantýna – slices of bread with greaves spread and lard
?Kuchyň – pork spread as appetizer
?La Bottega Bistroteka – bottomless bean cream with Tyrolean bacon, salami, and pork salsiccia
?La Bottega Gastronomica – bottomless polenta cream with sage and lard greaves, roasted pumpkin seeds
?La Bottega Linka – Lasagne alla Bolognese (1 + 1 free)
?La Bottega Tusarova – Tagliolini aglio, olio e peperoncino (1 + 1 free)
?Lasagneria – Lasagna di Carnevale
?Lokal – double portions of meat or pork for selected meals:
?Dlouhááá – roasted pork side with cabbage and potato bread
?Hamburg – soup, roast pork shoulder (lunch); plate with fresh horseradish, mustard, and egg (dinner); muffins with plum jam and cottage cheese
?Korunní – Přeštice sausage; pork neck steak with mustard sauce; Dutch chopped schnitzel; baked sausage
?Nad Stromovkou – stuffed pork belly, red cabbage, bacon dumplings (lunch); knuckle with egg and mustard (dinner); muffins with plum jam and cottage cheese
?Pod Divadlem – roast pork with mashed potatoes with horseradish
?U Bílé kuželky – pork belly; neck steak
?U Caipla – sausage, knuckle; boiled neck of beef, roasted pork belly with spinach (lunch); beer ribs, neck steak with mustard sauce (dinner); bun with apples and cottage cheese
?U Zavadilů – Moravian sparrow
?Momoichi Bistro – Asian roasted pork belly as an appetizer
?Mr. HotDog – Pork Belly Slider + small beer on the house
?Cukrárna Myšák- Large Pinwheels
?Naše maso – sandwiches with lard, lard
?Pasta Fresca – bruschetta with bacon and tomatoes; Spaghetti alla carbonara
?Pastacaffé – chopped beef ribs with sauerkraut and potato gnocchi
?Pizza Nuova – beef salsiccia with pepperoni; pork salsiccia with roasted cabbage and chili; stewed pork cheeks with Tuscan sauce and potato purée
?Potrefená Husa Hybernská – knuckle with mustard, horseradish, cucumbers, and bread + Staropramen beer
?Ramen BRNO – chicharon with smoked pepper and ginger, greaves with togarashi
?Sia Restaurant – bottomless basket with Shaomai dumplings
?Sisters – roast beef sandwich (1 + 1 for free)
?The Eatery – “pribináček” dessert
?Thir and Výčep – sausage with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes
?Vinohradský Parlament – potato dumplings stuffed with pork jelly, creamy bacon sauce, leaf of fermented cabbage and roasted barley (1 + 1 free)

Located in Prague 2, just steps away from I.P. Pavlova, Etnosvět gives customers a global experience through their colorful menu of internationally inspired vegetarian meals. Vegetarians, vegans, and meat-eaters alike are drawn to Etnosvět’s eclectic and flavorful menu.

Lead by Czech chef Ondřej Panoš, the kitchen holds a diverse range of chefs from all over the world, allowing them to explore authentic global cuisine. The daily menus feature a vegetarian version of dishes from a variety of cultures, with flavors, spices, and ingredients from African, Indian, Thai and other Asian cuisines providing a colorful and interesting spread of voices.

The name Etnosvět means literally “ethnic world,” and according to the restaurant’s website, they want their customers to be able to “taste the world,” during their meal.

The kitchen also focuses on making plant-based cuisine accessible and enjoyable to vegetarians and carnivores alike. The restaurant was created out of a desire to provide a higher-end, sit down vegetarian option to Prague. However, many of the chefs are meat-eaters themselves, which may be the restaurant has gained the reputation of satisfying even the most demanding carnivores.

The spacious restaurant spans three stories, with the main level and basement for lunch and dinner seating and several rooms on the upper level for workshops and events. The spaces are available to rent for parties, weddings, conferences, workshops, and corporate events. The large, sunny interior features globally-inspired decor and cozy seating. In the summer, guests may enjoy their meals in the courtyard garden.

Since its opening, Etnosvět has rose to popularity with both locals and tourists. In 2016, Etnosvět won Restu.cz’s award for Best Vegetarian Restaurant of 2016. They have also been awarded TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and received 2 Gold Lions.

The restaurant is open Monday through Friday from 11:30-17:00, 18:00- 23:00, and Saturday and Sunday from 12:00- 17:00, 18:00-23:00. The daily menu changes to showcase a variety of global options, and there is also a consistent menu of a la carte options, main dishes, desserts, and unique drinks and cocktails.

Gingerbread hearts were given to passengers on a bus line in Brno last Friday. Bus driver Tomáš Giertli baked, decorated and packed 177 gingerbread for Valentine’s Day.

He loves his work and the people he drives, and he is always trying to make their journey more pleasant. “This is the smell of the fireplace so that passengers have a pleasant smell to make them feel good here,” says thirty-six-year-old driver Tomáš Giertli.

Originally from Slovakia, this bus driver took care to make the bus smell like gingerbread, and hang red paper hearts he made himself on the upper handles and bars. “My attitude and view of the world as a bus driver is different. And my colleagues took me from the beginning like I’m crazy. They were joking because I drive around the Psychiatric Hospital. But then they realized I was just such a positive person who likes to please people,” says the smiling driver as he sits in his cabin.

Gingerbread with wishes

A red pocket hangs off of the ticket kiosk. It is decorated with gingerbread hearts, each wrapped in a cellophane bag.

“There are 177 of them, but I have already given a few of them, so around 160, but I still have candy,” Giertli points to the backpack and heads from the Olympia shopping center to Modřice, where the first people enter. “Hello, have a heart and a beautiful Valentine’s Day,” Giertli joyfully greets the passengers.

When you care about passengers

“I wasn’t surprised at all. The driver is so nice and kind. He once gave my two grandsons two candies. In the beginning, when he started riding here, I was surprised because I had never experienced anything like this. Now I always sit in the front. It is obvious that he cares about the passengers,” said passenger Iva Stejskalová.

Most of the passengers on line 49 from Modřice were not surprised with the gift; they know their driver well and enjoy talking to him. However, the closer the bus to the city center and the central station, the fewer people respond. “People are usually focused on their responsibilities, the urban bustle, so they do not even see who is sitting at the wheel,” said Giertli. But he is kind to all passengers, and when he can, he offers them gingerbread.

He always wanted to be a driver Giertli has been a driver in Brno for the three years. Previously, he worked in finance and operated a café in the Orlické Mountains.

Now, he is a part-time graphic designer and occasionally works at a café. “I probably always wanted to be a bus driver in the corner of my soul. I have a great love for the work, but also for the passengers we’re here for,” he confides.

Bus driver Tomáš does not just give away sweets for Valentine’s Day, but also for other holidays such as Christmas. Every day he is at work, he offers people a good deal of optimism and smiles that every passenger can carry to work or school.

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. Áno, viem, je to len práca… Áno, viem, mám len jazdiť.. Áno, viem, mám byť len “šofér”. Ale vždy viem, že ostanem sám sebou a taký aký SOM? … Milovať, znamená rozdávať radosť ako to len ide! Tak prečo neprežiť príchod Vianoc každý deň spoločne a so sladkým úsmevom☺️?? . #brno #mhd #mhdbrno #dpmb #autobus #vianocnyautobus #vianoce #christmas #weihnachten #christmasbus #myworkday #mywork #ridicautobusu #soferautobusu #buslenker #busfahrer #busdriver #delatradost #potesit #tesitsezmalickosti #milujemvianoce #milujemvanoce #ilovechristmas # sweet #sladkost #bonbony #bytsamsebou #tomaskosatesi

Un post condiviso da Tomas.g (@giertli.tomas) in data: 7 Dic 2019 alle ore 11:16 PST

Every team would love to have such loyal fans.

Seventy-one-year-old fan of football club Bohemians Prague 1905 showed great love to the team, even after his passing. Jan Houdek struggled with an insidious illness he eventually succumbed to, but he did not forget his beloved club in his will and left them with cash worth seven million crowns.

“I am sorry, even though we had enough in common, that my life did not intertwine with the life of this loyal fan,” said Bohemians director Darek Jakubowicz for bohemians.cz club web site.

On Sunday, August 7, 2005, the club resumed its operation, and Houdek, of course, was in attendance at the sold-out game at Ďolíček Stadium.

“I would like to meet him, thank him, but unfortunately fate did not want it and did not allow us. The least we can do for him now is to take care of his last trip and a dignified farewell. It is an incredible story of loyalty, love, and devotion to the club, to the Bohemian,” Jakubowicz said.

The organization Million Moments will hold a protest in defense of democratic institutions on Sunday, March 1st, in Prague.

The event will start at 4 p.m. with a march from Hradčanska to the Old Town Square, which will be followed by a demonstration. The protest is a reaction to Wednesday’s election of Stanislav Křeček as the Ombudsman.

A Million Moments had previously announced that they would convene the demonstration if Křeček was elected.

“The Prague event will not be about protesting against Stanislav Křeček. His election as the Ombudsman is ‘only’ one particularly blatant example of how government and major institutions are systematically and intentionally politically decomposed and privatized step-by-step. The special-purpose coalition of ANO, SPD, KSCM, with the assistance of a part of the CSSD, gradually and systematically decomposes important democratic institutions that are supposed to control the rules and serve all citizens, not selected politicians,” said Million Moments in their press release.

“If it goes on like this, what happened in Hungary or Poland will eventually happen here. Justice, the media, government, and public procurement will be subordinate to politicians. In such a situation, we can no longer speak of completely free elections, because government politicians have completely different options than the opposition. Government politicians concretize in power by distorting the whole system,” said the chairman of the association, Mikuláš Minář.

On Sunday, the association will announce what events will take place in regional cities.

Křeček was elected for the position of Ombudsman, or Public Defender of Rights, on Wednesday. Critics of the former chairman of the Association of Tenants of the Czech Republic call him ‘the enemy of nonprofits.”

In the past, Million Moments has called for 19 demonstrations. Two of them were at Letná last year, both of which gathered over 200,000 people. Two hundred eighty thousand people met in June and 250,000 in November.

Prague has begun a new campaign to “tame” short-term leases offered via digital platforms. With this in mind, Councilor Hana Marvanová (United Forces for Prague/STAN) prepared a legislative initiative regulating legal standards for business in the e-commerce segment.

“Unfortunately, the current legislation does not provide Prague, as well as other cities in the Czech Republic, with effective tools to address the issue. That is why I have prepared a legislative plan for legislative changes in four areas,” said Marvanová.

The first proposal requires Airbnb-type platforms to provide municipalities with detailed information regarding flats involved in the business. Specifically, it should share the basic host data and number of guests.

Mandatory transmission of information

With a similar demand for platforms to give this information to Prague voluntarily, the capital led unsuccessful negotiations with Airbnb last year. However, Marvan is now optimistic about the possibility of enforcing more control by “force”.

Last week, she presented proposals for a meeting with the Minister for Regional Development, Kateřina Dostálová (ANO), as well as representatives of parliamentary clubs and professional organizations. All those present said they supported the requirement of mandatory disclosure of information, which should lead to the enforcement of existing obligations, such as the payment of accommodation fees or the reporting of the establishment.

MEPs realized that this is not a purely Prague problem

“The deputies finally realized that this is not a purely Prague problem,” stressed the councilor. Her proposals could ideally go to the Chamber this year. The other three requirements aim at a stronger position of municipalities and owners of neighboring flats in relation to short-term rental providers.

According to the municipality, almost half of the flats in the town center are used for rental providers such as Airbnb. T

here are around seven thousand flats active on Airbnb throughout Prague. “Unregulated accommodation services generate a number of problems. In addition to the pressure on housing prices, it is also a phenomenon of overturism, which includes, among other things, an abundance of tourist attractions,” said Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates).

The emerging art center will open in the spring of 2021. However, it already attracts visitors with its Facade Project

Exhibitions of lesser-known and emerging artists, educational events for children and adults, a library and book lounge. All this will be offered to visitors of the new art center Kunsthalle Prague, which is being created in Klarov. And although the opening is planned for May 2021, the building is already attracting passers-by art projects on its facade. At present, there is an installation of Lightness by Ukrainian artist Aliona Solomadina.

The new artistic and cultural space is created by the transformation of Zenger’s former transformation station. “This June, the rough construction will be completed and at the end of 2020, the reconstruction should be completely finished. Afterward, some restored elements that were previously removed from the building will gradually return,” says Martina Zátorská, spokeswoman for Kunsthalle Praha.

New and Forgotten

There are many public and private institutions in Prague that are like Kunsthalle. So how will this arts center be unique? “We want to bring more opportunities to the local cultural scene, among other things to support emerging artists, discover forgotten names and open up unexplored topics in an international context. We will present thematic and author exhibitions together with Central European and international art. We will create an interdisciplinary program combining 20th and 21st-century art with literature, music, film, science, and architecture,” says Zátorská.

The exhibition halls will offer space of 1,300 square meters. There will also be a quality restaurant, a café overlooking Prague Castle and the book lounge, where visitors will be able to relax and absorb their exhibit experience.

The program will also include educational events for children and adults. According to Zátorská, the specific topic of the first exhibition project remains secret. “We can only mention that inspiration is partly based on the history of a building where electricity was once pulsating.”

Art on the Facade

The building attracts visitors through original works of art, presented on the facade of the building. The Facade Project is a continuation of the earlier plan to place four light kinetic sculptures by sculptor Zdeněk Pešánek on the façade of the building, which was eventually not realized So far, the building has featured the TransFormation project by Federico Díaz, a reflective inscription by the Greek artist Antonis Pittas and the monumental canvas Exit the Loop by Adéla Součková.

Currently, passers-by can enjoy Lightness by Ukrainian artist Alion Solomadina. “Solomadina’s work appealed to us, so we asked her to collaborate. Lightness is part of her creative project City of Forms, which aims to find new typographic forms inspired by architecture and life in different cities of the world. We are glad that this artist has connected Prague with ease,” added Zátorská.

This Friday and Saturday, newly formed D’Prompt Theatre will present Inevitably I Drink, a play adaptation of Venedikt Yerofeyev’s Russian prose poem Moscow Circles.

Inevitably I Drink will be the inaugural production of D’Prompt Theatre, which was founded this December by theatre artists Christopher Adamson and Levan Mania. Levan Mania, the theatre’s Creative Director, wrote the adaption and English translation and serves as director of the show. This will be the world premiere of the English adaption and translation.

According to Adamson, D’Prompt’s Artistic Director, the young theatre company rallied together to make their first production a reality. Adamson and Mania were inspired to create an English-language theatre troupe in Prague that focuses on producing both contemporary plays and classics with a diverse ensemble of actors, directors, and teachers from all around the world.

“We perform in English as an international language, but we also have our scripts translated into Czech for subtitles for every performance.” said Adamson. “We want to educate people through the use of theatre, give them some food for thought, and to engage the Czech population as we are living here in this country as mostly expats.”

“We have a really diverse cast of nationalities in our team: Georgian, Indian, Greek, Korean, Russian, Tatar, Swedish and even a Haitian American,” he added.

Since December, the troupe has built their own set, made their own costumes, and has been rehearsing out of rented space in an artistic space with a bar in order to prepare for their first production.

Inevitably I Drink, which is based on Venedikt Yerofeyev’s pseudo-autobiographical postmodernist Russian prose poem Moscow Circles, tells the story of destitute people and the reason behind their drinking problems, and the escapism they express through storytelling, history, philosophy, and politics.

“If I had to describe the play in one word, it would be “Compassion,” said Adamson.

Inevitably I Drink will be performed February 14 and 15 at 19:30 at Divadlo 21. This production will be performed in English with Czech subtitles. Tickets are available for sale here.

In addition to the famous Old Town Astronomical Clock, Prague also had a… second astrological clock in the New Town on Karlovo náměstí.

The clock was far from spectacular: it had no comparable architectural decoration and there was no figural decoration. However, it was noteworthy that it had a completely different style than the clock in Old Town. It was an astronomical clock of the Italian type, whose most famous representative is in Padua, Italy at Pallazzo del Capitano.

The clock in Padua, Italy features a large dial with a protruding globe. The concentric circles gradually show the moon with its phases and ecliptic signs. The outer circle is a 24-hour clock face. The Astronomical Clock of Padua is complemented by a raffia that carries a cube depicting the Sun.

The astronomical clock on the New Town Hall tower was smaller than the Padua tower. The surviving depictions show images of the phases of the moon and the signs of the zodiac. The astronomical clock also showed the orbit of the Sun. The New Town Hall lacked an external 24-hour circle.

Interestingly, both the Padua and New Town clocks had only eleven zodiac signs depicted. One of Padua’s signs was missing, apparently, because the local councilors did not pay for it properly, and he instead deleting one sign. The New Town Astronomical Clock was probably just a simple omission, or more likely, that the artists wrongly planned the drawing and the twelfth sign simply did not fit on the design.

The New Town Astronomical Clock was likely destroyed due to the ancient ravages between the Old and New Town of Prague, which were independent towns until 1784. Moreover, the machine was removed at the end of the 18th century. The Old Town Astronomical Clock escaped a similar fate, and still remains preserved.

You can find more information about the second Prague astronomical clock in David Černý’s book 25 Secrets of Prague.

Vietnamese airline Bamboo Airways started selling tickets from Prague to Hanoi. The carrier will deploy the Boeing 787-9 twice a week from 29 March.

The airline will fly on Sunday and Wednesday. From Prague, the plane will fly at 18:05 and land in Hanoi at 9:35 local time after 10 hours and 30 minutes of flight.

The flight back from Hanoi leaves at 9:20, and will land in Prague at 4 pm after 11 hours and 40 minutes. The lowest fares are around 16,000 CZK, but Bamboo does not yet offer the Bamboo Eco class in the reservation system.

This is usually the cheapest fare and applies to passengers without cabin baggage. The flights to Prague were confirmed this January on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Czech Republic.

“According to our estimates, over 50,000 passengers in both directions could use the new route between Prague and Hanoi twice per year,” said Václav Řehoř, chairman of the Prague Airport Board.

Bamboo Airways will be Vietnam’s first private airline to operate wide-body aircraft at the end of this year. “We ranked the European market as key, and so in 2020 it is one of the priorities for the development of Bamboo Airways, as well as for the development of tourism and other FLC Group investments,” said Truong Phuong Thanh, Deputy CEO of Bamboo Airways.

Four years ago, the then Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO) decided that the card for travel by Prague public transport would be called Lítačka. It was not without criticism. The current city administrator Zdeněk Hřib (Pirati) has now announced that he plans to rename the Lítačka application.

“We are planning a survey to rename the mobile application PID Lítačka. What do you think we should call it?” Hřib asked at the end of Friday’s Facebook post, in which he presented a limited edition public transport card designed by fifteen-year-old Matěj Hošek, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome and is very fond of drawing city transport route plans.

Hřib said on Saturday evening that the name will remain for the card. “I primarily want to find out what the Prague citizens want to do with the name, but we will not rename the plastic card in the foreseeable future,” said Zdeněk Hřib. The change is related to the digital version, which allows you to upload a ticket to your mobile phone, among other things.

“We want the service to be as user-friendly as possible. Therefore, we will also look for a suitable name for the application, which would be understandable for visitors from abroad. I think that Prague citizens will come up with a number of inspirational ideas,” said the Mayor.

The name Lítačka was decided in the spring of 2016. “The two-word names were too long, and the name “tramcar” did not work because the card can be used not only on trams.” Mayor Krnáčová defended the decision and argued that the name Lítačka caused 52.5% of positive responses on social networks.

In discussions, however, people spared no criticism. Some pointed out that they knew the word “lítačka” as a synonym for jogging, and jokingly suggested calling the card Krndačka. The predominance of Prague residents defended decades-proven “tramcar.”

With Lítačka, Prague replaced the problematic Opencard, a project worth more than a billion crowns, the consequences of which are still being resolved by the courts.

The card, which allows for travel on public transport in Prague and Central Bohemia, also serves as a pass Prague libraries. Currently, over 859 thousand cards are registered in the Lítačka system, and a long-term pass is recorded on more than 630 thousand.

As of August 2018, passengers can transfer tickets to contactless bank cards or Czech Railways Cards. Since December 2019, it is sufficient to have a long time ticket recorded only on a mobile phone on the PID Lítačka application.

Are you in favor of renaming the Lítačka application?

As Central European cities, Vienna and Prague are connected not only by a common history but also by a common interest in further developing friendly relations. Therefore, the City of Prague has today approved an agreement on mutual cooperation, thus continuing to formalize urban relations and address key issues of regional development.

Prague and Vienna agreed on thirteen areas of cooperation. The key topic is housing policy, and whether to support housing construction or the system of housing allocation. Another important point is waste management, and the management and maintenance of green areas in the city.

The cooperation agreement will also concern the digitization of urban areas; for example the framework of electronic building permits, transport, and infrastructure, which can be used in the case of the construction of electric vehicle charging stations or the cultivation of public space.

“I think it is important to cooperate with partners with whom we have a lot in common, whether it concerns a common past or the Central European space we share. The already proven solutions to similar problems that we face as a metropolis are then easily transferable. Moreover, Vienna has long been ranked among the top quality of life rankings, so I believe that it is a partner with whom we can inspire in many ways,” says Zdeněk Hřib, Mayor of Prague.

Cooperation between the two cities has been developing successfully for a long time but has not yet been contractually anchored. With this agreement, the capital follows the trend of formalizing and strengthening inter-urban relations, such as in the Free Cities Pact, which Prague joined together with Bratislava, Budapest, and Warsaw last December.

The Prague-Vienna Cooperation Agreement also contributes to the realization of the sustainability goals defined by the United Nations in the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

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