Cheers to Prague: The Land of Beer and Dumplings

If you were looking to buy tickets to the Prague Beer Festival this year, it wasn’t wise to leave it till the last minute! Many beer fans were left disgruntled when they rushed to try to get on the list the day before the festival started and were greeted with a big SOLD-OUT notice on the event webpage. I, for one, was anything but surprised. Having spent four months in Prague this past year, I was a firsthand witness to the fact that any time there was an event-based around, or even involving beer, there were people clamoring for a spot. In fact, I don’t really remember an event that didn’t involve beer. We once went to see a “blind exhibit” where we had to make our way through an obstacle course in complete darkness relying on our four other senses, and when we made it through we assumed the reward was our own sense of accomplishment. But no! It was six giant mugs of foaming Czech Budweiser!

One of the very first words we learned in our Czech 101 class was “pivo” which means “beer.”  We were told it was among the most important ones we needed to get by in the city for four months. Classes were often concluded with professors telling us what was new on tap at the local pubs and beer gardens and what classic brews we had to try before we left. “Beer Flavor of the Week,” we called it. Most of the people on the trip loved beer, and they were more than happy with this free advice. I’m really not a huge beer fan, but by the end of the trip, even I learned to like it. If I hadn’t, it would have been like going to Italy and professing a distaste for gelato, or going to France and turning up my nose at pastry. How can you not indulge in something that’s around you all the time? Oh, and the dumplings were big too.

The Czech approach to tourism is quite simple. Prague is the land of beer (and dumplings); they don’t market themselves as anything else and the simplicity of the appeal works. The Prague Beer Festival, a full 17 days, lasted from May 15 to May 31 this year, has beer enthusiasts excited for 70 different kinds of Czech beer. The event may be revving up to rival Oktoberfest in the future as the premier beer festival in Europe as Prague slowly becomes more and more secure in its place as the beer capital of the world. I recently learned that people in the Czech capital consume more beer per capita than any other city in the world — they know it, and they show it. And that is why tiny little Prague, as the land of beer and dumplings, draws thousands of visitors every year to drink and celebrate pivo, and make friends with the locals in the process. I’ll sign off with the same cheer we used to end every night we spent in Prague last year: PIVO! PIVO! PIVO!