From the edgy bars cropping up along the regenerated riverfront to the
historic monuments of the former Jewish Quarter, getting off the
beaten track reveals another side to the Czech capital. By David WhitleyPRAGUE
The fall of the Iron Curtain and the rise of budget airlines was a transformative
twin hit for Eastern European city breaks, and nowhere felt the benefit more than
Prague. The Czech capital already had the fairytale castle, medieval streets and an
A to Z of architecture — and from the mid-1990s onwards it enjoyed an explosion
of visitors eager to lap it all up. But while the tourist hotspots can become
overwhelmingly busy during July and August, genuine local character still
remains in neighbourhoods a few footsteps away. That character may be changing
as the city settles into the 21st century, but in the likes of Karlín and Vinohrady,
it’s the locals that are driving the change. In Josefov, on the other hand, the influx
of travellers has helped preserve fragile traditions once almost lost forever.NEIGHBOURHOODIMAGES: LIBOR SVÁČEK; EVENUE PHOTOGRAPHY44 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel