Spying at Hotel Jalta

If you were a Westerner of political or economic importance visiting Prague during the Communist Era, chances are you may have stayed at the glamorous Hotel Jalta on Wenceslas Square.

And if you stayed at the Hotel Jalta, chances are you were under covert surveillance. As in, the lint brush in the drawer was bugged.

We recently toured the underground chamber/nuclear bunker where the regime operated its Hotel Jalta spy surveillance and stored medical and military equipment in the event of an attack. It's easy to book; you just e-mail or call the hotel and they set you up with a local guide.

Descending into the bunker was like walking through a wormhole...

...and into a graveyard for wiretapping devices.

Our guide was brilliant; she was hugely knowledgeable and peppered the tour with personal anecdotes from her own family's experiences.



She encouraged us to handle some of the exhibit items, like this very heavy gun of some sort.

We also learned the system for recording/listening to hotel guests' phone calls...

 ...and crawled through a bunker tunnel that would have opened onto Wenceslas Square.

Apparently hotel staff didn't know what was underneath their establishment; they just saw men coming and going through an off-limits door and were told to keep their mouths shut. How fascinating to be privy to this slice of Cold War narrative today!

If you go...

Where: Jalta Hotel, Wenceslas Square 45/818

Reservations required: call 222 822 111 or e-mail  concierge@hoteljalta.com

Tickets: I think we paid 150kc each

Linking up with Pack Me To, Chasing the Donkey, The Fairytale Traveler, A Southern Gypsy and Ice Cream and Permafrost for The Sunday Traveler.

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A Scottish Streak: Glasgow

After a dip into Dublin and an Edinburgh Christmas, we made our way via CityLink bus to Glasgow.

Pros: The Kelvingrove Museum and meeting friends in the center for shopping and Italian food
Cons: Lots of orange teenage girls running around in bellyshirts in 3-degree weather (?)

We were only in Glasgow a couple of nights and they were, regrettably, in a hostel that needed dire disinfecting. However, what we saw of the city was remarkable!

Everyone's favorite was the eclectic Kelvingrove Museum - much like a zany, mixed-up Smithsonian. It has 22 themed galleries on everything from French Impressionists to the Scottish ecosystem to Oceanic cultures. Just a fascinating place where a few hours felt like a handful of minutes.

Just a jump down the road was a real-life Hogwarts, the University of Glasgow. Most of it was closed but we had a good wander around in the quiet. I half-expected a golden snitch to whiz past us.

 

Another stop was a bar. In a church. Yes - a bar in a church! I come from the Midwest where it's not uncommon to see beer at a church-sponsored Lenten fish fry. But this was a whole new experience. To be fair, this structure formerly known as Kelvinside Parish has long since ceased to be a house of worship and is now an arts and entertainment venue called Oran Mor.

The following day, we met up with Scottish and Czech friends in the center for Italian at a place whose name escapes me and some serious shopping at post-Christmas sales. At dusk, the half-naked, sprayed-orange youth appeared in droves, tottering around on go-go heels and sporting huge front-bouffant hairdos. (Caveat: In my own teen years, I wore XL flannels; we all have our hiccups.)

On public transit back to our hostel, I saw this, probably left by one of the pumpkin-colored teens. It's a strange high-alcohol, caffeinated, fortified wine produced by Benedictine monks that is known as a "hooligan" drink here. Such an oddity... and our last memory of Glasgow.

Linking up with Bonnie Rose and her new co-hosts for Travel Tuesday! (Working on adding a link-back; this iPad won't let me...)

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A Scottish Streak: Edinburgh

OAfter a dip into Dublin, we flew to the UK for a Scottish Christmas in Edinburgh.

Pros: Edinburgh was aesthetically stunning and I bought the warmest wool scarf there
Cons: Nearly everything "touristy" was closed for five days straight and the grey sleet was nonstop

BW, brother TheHipster and I all agreed that we wish we would've planned our whole vacation just for Edinburgh. We felt we didn't give it enough time, especially with things being closed between holidays and a museum workers' strike. We were enchanted by the grandiose architecture and ghostly little passageways and gobs of artsy/foodie spots.

On Christmas Eve, there were a number of fairs/markets open in city squares, but the weather was positively prohibitive. Those people on ice skates below are a hearty bunch; it was literally raining ice needles in the photo. About 5 minutes later, everyone headed for shelter.

We followed the Royal Mile up to Edinburgh Castle on two different days, stopping to poke in shops and churches and things on the way. It's a shame we couldn't actually get into the castle, but we got some good shots of the outside.

One of the few attractions that had open doors was the Scotch Whisky  Experience, so we partook in that. To my surprise, I (sort of) enjoyed a smoky sample from the peat bogs of Scotland.

We spent Christmas Day in a beautiful apartment rental; luckily, we'd raided Marks and Spencers the day before along with everyone other person in central Edinburgh. The place was a war zone, with shelves gone bare and food trampled on the floor and people pushing to get the last mince pie. Just nuts! (Pardon the pun.) But we made it out with sausage rolls and salmon and other goodies.

Speaking of food, a restaurant in Edinburgh that we LOVED was The Dogs. An old, high-ceilinged flat filled with mismatched antique furniture, it served amazing gourmet food for not a lot of money. And it was a welcome find after the night prior, where we went to an Asian restaurant and ordered the special hot pot menu that all of the Asian people around us were eating. The waiter wouldn't let us have it because he said, "you wouldn't like it. Too Asian." What?? But it was the only place open in the neighborhood so we didn't argue.

In a way, it was rather lovely just having time to walk about and take panoramic pictures rather than rushing from tourist site to site.

We saw a home where Scottish poet Robert Burns (yes, of the infamous Burns Night) lived. And we met a friend who took a train in from her family's village to show us some of the historical pubs downtown.

And then we hopped a bus for... Glasgow!

Linking up with Pack Me To, Chasing the Donkey, The Fairytale Traveler, A Southern Gypsy and Ice Cream and Permafrost for The Sunday Traveler.

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Dublin and Dublin

When BW's brother came to visit 'round Christmastime, we assumed he'd want to see Prague and then jet off somewhere without frigid windchill. But never underestimate a Minnesotan. Brother TheHipster opted to travel to the ruddy UK, so we piled into cheap RyanAir flights and headed for Dublin on our way to Scotland.

(Why is Dublin the fastest-growing city in Europe? Because it keeps Dublin and Dublin.)

Upon arriving at our apartment rental in the Land of a Thousand Smiles, we were greeted with this:

What is it? A cloud spear? A mammoth knitting needle? A pole to Heaven? No, no, no, it's the Spire of Dublin, a piece of 120-meter-high public art. (I read it's also nicknamed "the needle" due to all the junkies in the area.)

And then we bellied up to a warm table and dove into shepherd's pie and bangers and mash. A respectable first night.

In subsequent days, we trekked all over the chilly city - sometimes in aggravating circles - but we saw a lot that we liked. Some of my personal faves were...

The antiquarian book store Cathach Books (also known as Ulysses' Rare Books). There were rare editions by W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, of course James Joyce. And some of the tomes were worth tens of thousands of euros!

The Guinness Storehouse. Oh, fountains of  dark, creamy amazement! We toured the place, learned about things like hops and barrels, and had our free beverage up in the Gravity Bar with an expansive view of Dublin.

The Dublin Writer's Museum. Ok, I did this one while the boys went to the Jameson Factory. Lots of scrawlings and letters and things from writers I love - and this big, framed, original manuscript by Jonathan Swift.

Live music at O'Donoghue's. We were just strolling along one afternoon with frozen toes, looking for a place to get warm, when we heard spirited Irish tunes wafting out of a building. Inside, there was a circle of musicians and we sat for over an hour, listening to them.

Trinity College. We weren't there long, but nonetheless, it was pretty surreal walking in the footsteps of the likes of Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker and lots of other luminaries in the world of literature and humanities. Unfortunately, the Book of Kells was closed.

The historied Long Hall Pub. This Victorian gem was empty when we arrived at opening time but full a half-hour later. And the staff was couldn't have been more amiable - maybe this friendly Irish thing isn't a stereotype?

Our next stop: Scotland. But here are a few parting shots of Ireland's capital:

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