Friday 14 August 2015

Creativity in tourism: Prague Behind The Scenes tour

This post gonna be slightly different from the rest as I am not going to write about alcohol today.

Well, maybe just a bit. And just at the end. I would like to share with you my recent experience from Prague. I have been living here quite a while now so I don ́t only know my my way to work and back. But true is that my knowledge of the city itself and its historical parts is not so broad. In general I am not a person who likes to fight with tourist for place on Charles Bridge or at the Prague Castle. So in general I don ́t go downtown much for sightseeing, usually just to hang out with friends to explore new places to eat/drink at.


However, my friend Dana just recently started her new business called Prague Behind The Scenesa very special tour offering Prague visitors cool alternative to all those touristy stuff. I was invited to join her one day.

The tour has a great concept, very authentic, with really carefully selected non­touristy routes which however cover the main Prague sights and take you to beautiful unknown parts of the city as well. With almost nobody around (great for taking pictures). Obviously locals know how to avoid armies of tourists!



This tour is asbolutely perfect for Prague firstimers but also for everyone who wants to learn about the city from local and get valuable information you would never find in guide books. Just at random: we saw the smallest house of Prague, we were passing absolutely unique artistic glazier workshop where stained glass windows for famous St. Vitus Cathedral were made and Dana also took us to the hidden part of the city where cannonballs from Prusian occupation of Prague can still be seen in house walls!



Great benefit of the tour is WIFI – you can use it all the time as the guide is having portable WIFI router. Every participant of the tour can get connected and post pictures online right away! I also need to mention that Dana, the founder of Prague Behind The Scenes tour, doesn ́t use any umbrella! How cool! She limits the size of the group up to max. 8 people per tour. Which is fantastic as there is enough time for discussion and question and you don ́t feel like you are following your shepherd.

Almost at the end of the tour we stopped for well deserved break in lovely „home style“ café for light lunch and delicious coffee. For beer lovers in us, Dana recommended a special pub called U Černého vola, close to Prague Castle. There are no promo signs outside, not even inside as this is true and authentic Czech pub where local fixtures still go to. Despite the fact we were just close to Prague Castle, the prices were like from perifery...



The tour ended in Prague Castle gardens with stunning view over the city. We were just sitting and starring, while Dana gave us very nice „thank you for joining my tour“ gift: polaroid­like printouts with images of sights and places we just saw on the tour. I ́ve already pinned mine on the fridge.

If you like the idea and you would like to join this tour one day, visit Prague Behind The Scenes website: www.praguebehindthescenes.com or Facebook page. The tour goes daily upon previous booking.