Translate This Page
The little’un and I have been to Pilsen twice now and can really recommend that you spend a couple of days there to do it all justice. So as normal I will set the scene with a little bit of history etc…
Plzen (Pilsen), the capital of West Bohemia, was founded by the Czech King Wenceslas II. The capital of West Bohemia is nowadays again a sovereign city boasting with number of historic monuments The historical city centre is dominated by the slim tower of the Gothic St. Bartholomew Cathedral. With its height of 102,26 m (335 feet), this tower is the highest church spire in Bohemia. Renaissance town hall reconstructed by Italian master-builder Giovanni de Statia in the mid 16th century, the unique Brewery Museum, the historic underground with medieval cellars, Franciscan monastery and the Church of St Anna definitely rank. All these sites make up a part of the original checker board ground plan of the historic downtown, which was declared an historic town reservation in 1989.The whole range of important buildings is an evidence for the era of great boom in the city on the turn of last two centuries.
Today's Plzen counts 165 000 inhabitants and is a significant cultural, business and industrial centre, famous mostly due to the products of Plzen's brewery and the heavy machinery factories Skoda.
Pilsener Beer
The officials of Plzeň founded a city-owned brewery in 1839, Bürger Brauerei (Citizens' Brewery - now Plzeňský Prazdroj), and recruited Bavarian brewer Josef Groll who produced the first batch of modern pilsener beer on 5th October 1842. The combination of pale colour from the new malts, Pilsen's remarkably soft water, Saaz noble hops from nearby Žatec (Saaz in German) and Bavarian-style lagering produced a clear, golden beer which was regarded as a sensation.
Improving transport meant that this new beer was soon available throughout Central Europe andPilsner Brauart-style brewing was widely imitated. In 1859, “Pilsner Bier” was registered as a brand name at the Chamber of Commerce and Trade in Plzeň. In 1898, the Pilsner Urquell trade mark was created to put emphasis on it being the original brewery.
So there you have it that is why we can her in the first place as it is the birthplace of the modern Pilsener (Pils) beer.
Public transport
Plzeňské městské dopravní podniky operates a
network of trams, trolleybuses and petrol buses. A 24-hour ticket, valid on all
three, costs 40 crowns. Single tickets cost from 12 crowns. The day ticket is
excellent value at around £2!
You are only an hour or so away from Prague but the cost of beer and food etc is considerably a lot less.
A must do visit while you are there is Plzeňský Prazdroj (SAB Miller), U Prazdroje 7. Quite easy to find as it dominates the town and is quite near the main train station. Around £5 for the tour and allow at least 3-4 hours to do it all justice. The highlight form me was the old largering cellars and the ice store of days of old. At the end of the tour you get a sample of the Wood Fermented Pilsner Urquell, although you know this is just a tourist thing. Beware you have to pay to take photos, I did not and took just as many as every one else!
One our visit we took in three brew pubs the first one we visited is the Pivovar Groll / Na Rychtářce, Truhlářská 10.Only a short walk from the Pilsner Urquell brewery a strange place which seems as if it's been there for years but only opened in 2008. It is quite hard to get into as the building is very big, but the brewpub section is up some stairs from the court yard, as you pass through the entrance and straight out into the court yard. The pub is basically a large room with a bar in the corner and The brew-plant which is bedecked in green tiles is at the end and can be looked down upon from the balcony. They produces two solid, tasty and traditional beers.
Next up is U rytíře Lochoty, Karlovarská Třída 103. Which you need to take a tram No.4 to Sokolovská then walk back down the hill 50 metres and it's on your right. This is a roadside brewpub with two beers usually on sale plus good food the onion soup and bread was really good. The main room has a bar at one end is vaguely rustic with swords and armour on the walls. There is a large rear room with TV’s in and I think people we betting on the horses? The staff are very helpful and the beer is very quaffable.
Now for a bit of an adventure on a trolley bus to the small town of Černice, and the Purkmistr Pivovarský Dvůr,(the brew master here came over and brewed for the Wetherspoons Festival in 2009) Take trolleybus 13 to General Lišky, follow Ke Kači Louži (on your right in the direction of the bus) downhill until you reach the village centre and you can't miss it.
This is a new multi-function hotel/brewpub/health club in the middle of a sleepy village. The coppers in the main bar produce some good standard beers plus there's usually a couple of flavoured oddities to try such as cherry and blueberry on our visit. Food was quite good although you are paying for the surroundings here so I would eat in town and if you are peckish just get a snack here as after the beer there is not a lot to do but walk back to the trolley bus and hit some of the bars in Pilsen.
We only visited a few of the bars the ones that stand out are Klub Malých Pivovarů, Nádražní 16 A Cellar bar which stocks four Czech micro-brewed beers and is a good place to sit and pass the time away in.
Na Parkánu, Veleslavinova 4. Right next to the Pilsen Brewery Museum this pub is supposed to be the only one in the world serving n-filtered Pilsner Urquell, bit of a tourist trap but there is a good restaurant that does a decent goulash and smoked pork mmmm and there is a beer garden if it is sunny.
Also a good place to eat and drink which we found on our first visit in 2008 is the Bernard –In, Sady Petatricatniku 2. Serving the entire Bernard brewery range. The food is traditional and filling and I defiantly recommend it, no one spoke and English but we managed quite wel and we well looked after.
Another not to miss pub is the U Salzmannu, Prazska 8. Supposedly the oldest pub in Pilsen serving good beer and Czech cuisine specialities
Hope you find this of some help if you ever visit Pilsen Na zdraví Otto
