1936 On the Continent

familiar aspects of Prague life. In the cafés you will see people writing their letters, transacting business, arguing about politics, or preparing for their examinations. In the afternoons the cafés are the meeting places of families whose homes are too small for visitors. Thus, in many respects, our cafés take the place of a club. Their proprietors are very hospitable, and you can stay as long as you like even if you only order a cup of coffee. Not only that, but the waiter will bring you any of the chief European newspapers you may want, and countless glasses of water. For this reason the tips given in cafés are comparatively much bigger than in restaurants, hotels, etc., where a maximumof 10 per cent. of the bill is ample. In addition to the tip it is usual to leave on the café table a 20-heller piece or so for the young assistant-waiter who has been of most service to you. You can make arrangements to meet your friends in a café or to have your letters sent there. If you visit the same café regularly, you can reserve a table for the use of yourself and your friends, and you will thus become the object of special attention on the part of the proprietor. Most cafés close between midnight and 1 a.m., but there are others which open at that hour, so that continuity is fully maintained. It is pleasant in summer to sit at one of the tables on the pavement outside the café. I also advise you to visit the Café Slavia on the embankment of the river from which there is a wonderful view of the Hradany. Another agreeable spot, especially in the evening, is the terrace of the Café Mánes on the Slovenský ostrov. Many cafés in Prague have excellent orchestras, and in some of them there is a dance floor.
About Eats
    You will next need advice about lunch. All the big hotels in Prague have a restaurant where the cooking is largely French with slight modifications, and all of them have been praised by experts. Between the hours of 12 and 3 you can also obtain lunch, and considerably cheaper, at all the restaurants in the main streets, but here the dishes are more local in character. Still, until you have tried real Czech cooking your knowledge of Czechoslovakia is incomplete. So do not hesitate to enjoy roast pork or roast goose with cabbage, and the famous knedliky, a kind of flat dumpling, which accompanies all Czech dishes. I have already mentioned the excellence of Czech bread and rolls, of which there are many varieties, flavours and shapes. Nor must I forget to mention the excellence of Czech pastry. It is natural that a country with an abundance of sugar, milk and butter should produce pastry of high quality, and you will soon discover for yourself how good it is. In the larger confisseries people sit and talk to their friends, just as in the cafés. The majority of the visitors, however, are ladies.
Small Restaurants
    There are in Prague many small restaurants which are almost like clubs for the immediate neighbourhood. Thechoice of dishes is not great, but the food, mainly Czech specialities, are always freshly and tastily cooked. In these small restaurants, however, beer is even more important than food. The western part of Czechoslovakia, in which Prague is situated, is a beer-producing region, except for one very small area which produces wine. Apart from this, the wine-producing districts of Czechoslovakia are in the east and south. Hence, Prague is a city where more beer than wine is drunk. All the little restaurants serve good beer in excellent condition and well chilled. Czech beer may roughly be divided into light beer (Pilsen, Budjovice, Smíchov and hundreds of other beers) and dark beer which is heavier and sweeter. Of these, I need mention only Pardubice beer, which resembles English porter. There are also in Prague a number of establishments which serve nothing but beer. Some of them, particularly the famous “u Fleku,” are worth visiting in the evening when the customers who come there to drink bring their supper with them.
    Although, as I have said, beer is the most popular drink in Prague, Czechoslovak wines are also worth trying. In the large restaurants, of course, you can obtain any kind of wine, but there are also special wine shops which serve Yugoslav, Italian or Bulgarian wine. In most of them, however, you can sample the native Czech, Southern Moravian, Slovak and Carpathian Ruthenian wine. They are light wines, of very diverse but pleasant flavours, and, above all, they are quite