Prague Apartment Hunting and Beer Baths

Feels good to be back to blogging!

Was busy the last few weeks, going to a few different cities in Europe after DC. Most time was spent apartment hunting in Prague, where I will spend more time in. My previous schedule has been hectic with back to back flights twice or more a week, so I am looking forward to traveling much less. Much less, in our world, being maximum three countries a month.

One of the most prestigious streets in Prague. Check out that entrance!

So ok, you're a bit weary of traveling, but why Prague?



If you want the official reason, it's for poker - online poker became even more strict and now most countries don't allow one or more of the sites. Online poker being a big part of my boyfriend's career, we needed to move to a country where such rules were not set. It had to be in Europe since he has a lot of business in Europe, and Czech Republic was one of only 3 or so countries with loose online poker laws.

The unofficial reason is we love Prague, which is simply an amazing city to be in. Bustling, romantic city with all the charms of old medival buildings that are strictly preserved. It's breathtaking at night. Yet it's modern in every way - fast wifi, plenty of flights, nightlife, great restaurants. And the fact that cost of living is one of the cheapest in Europe is yet another plus.

Photo from last year - awesome city!

How cheap? Let's just say a 3-4 bedroom penthouse apartments with rooftop and sauna in the most expensive street was still under our budget. With average Prague salary being ~$1500/month when converted to US currency, even in the city center average one bedrooms are about $500/month. Talk about bang for your buck. Outside the city center is even cheaper and most meals are ~$10/person at a nice restaurant.

Here are some apartments we saw, without being too revealing:

Marbled indoor sunroom, overlooking the Old Town

Fireplace

Marbled bathrooms

Sleek kitchen

The biggest kitchen we've seen. Boyfriend for size reference.

Awesome hanging fireplace for real wood

That terrace view <3

After 3 long days of viewing over 20 apartments in the cold, it was time for some spa to rest my weary feet. I found a cool spa in Prague called Spa Beerland where, you guessed right, take a bath in beer.

While drinking beer. And eating beerbread. Too much?

This is a unique experience even for locals, but beer skincare and love for sauna isn't unusual. Many European countries, especially colder regions, have saunas built in their homes. In countries like Germany they like to pour beer, rather than water, over the hot stones which evaporates to a fresh bread like scent thanks to the yeast. So the marriage of these two elements isn't too odd in the cold and beer loving countries like Czech Republic.

The bathwater consists of a large pitcher of beer, a scoop each of hops and yeast.

They also give you a straw bed to rest in after your bath, which is quite itchy. There are blankets, though.

And of course, we need to have some food to end the night. Prague is unusual for a European city that there are plenty of restaurants open all day, from breakfast to past midnight. This is a very typical meal in a Prague pub. A piping hot goulash in bread bowl and Czech beer, perfect in the winter.

Saurkraut not included, but always welcome.