Palermo strikes a curious balance between large shopping precincts and narrow streets exuding romantic decadence, between makeshift street grill-stalls throbbing with electronic music and leisurely faddish restaurants. The city is, at times, caught up in another era, but also in the present, while aspiring to a better future.

A city of contrasts, influences and cultural convergence, Palermo has a lot to say in gastronomic terms. Both pasta and pizza are a mainstay of local cuisine, as they are in the rest of Italy, although here they have been revamped, displaying surprising traits, and combined with other local dishes that draw heavily on the sea or trip and offal. And, it is immediately evident the moment you walk into any of its markets, a must-see attraction if you happen to journey here.

Vucciria, Il Capo and Ballaró

Palermo’s three markets. They open every day except Sunday, from early in the morning until nightfall. As the stall produce becomes depleted, they clear up and bolt the small garages that act as storerooms. The markets are best visited in the morning, if you want to enjoy them in full swing. There’ll be vegetables you have likely never seen before, as well as spices, cheeses, a wealth of different olives, peppers, huge swordfish heads…

You can try street specialities such as pane con la milza or pani ca’ meusa (a sandwich of spleen fried in lard, served up with caciocavallo or ricotta cheese and lemon), arancini (fried rice balls, usually stuffed with meat) and panelle (gram flour fritters).

You could also take a breather and enjoy a marsala (vintage wine) at such bars as the legendary Taverna Azzurra, in the Vucciria, a meeting point every weekend after nightfall, when the market streets have been taken over by the youth, birras, music, table football and grills stuffed with stigghiola (tripe seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon, with or without bread).

You can stroll through the markets, sip a marsala wine and eat stigghiola. But you can also trek across the whole city and take note of some of the eateries worth visiting.

Da Diego. Pizzas and more, on the Via della Libertá. Not a tourist in sight and filled to bursting. An assortment of thick-dough pizzas stuffed with ingredients. We go for the one with mozzarella, sausage, spinach and mushrooms, accompanied by some swordfish involtini (rolls) with aubergine sauce, and sfinzione (Sicilian pizza) stuffed with ricotta and pesto. This is a type of focaccia topped with a crust of tomato, caciocavallo cheese, anchovy, onion and aromatic herbs.

Trattoria Michele & Jolanda. Just like home. We expected home cooking and, boy, did we get it! There you’ll be welcomed by Michele in the dining-room and Jolanda in the kitchen, sitting down at the table as if she were a guest. We order caponata (aubergine and other vegetables in tomato sauce), caprese (tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil) and a cold pepper salad as antipasti. Then pasta alla norma (tomato, aubergine and other vegetables), accompanied by le sarde, a typical Palermo recipe based on fresh sardines and fennel. And, not to be disloyal to the traditional repertoire, we round it off with cannoli– crisp, rolled pastry wafers filled with ricotta cheese. If you’re looking for an entertaining, lively, tasty, homemade meal at a good price, don’t fail to come here. It’s on the Via Cappuccini 12.

Osteria Mangia e Bevi. Quaint and pleasant. Beyond the family milieu we come to a trendier restaurant, but without foregoing fresh, wholesome cuisine, of course. We can recommend this restaurant for its fresh pasta, its fried pasta and its agglassati – two traditional ways of using up leftovers from yesterday’s dishes. Ideal, too, for tasting local wines and a marvellous cannolo served in a glass.

Other Pointers

When it comes to lodgings, we can recommend the Castelnuovo area, set in a shopping precinct and just a stone’s throw from the old town. We stayed at the Hotel Politeama, which is functional and provides wonderful, congenial service and a breakfast not lacking in sweet, savoury, fruit, jams with a host of flavours, different kinds of bread and even cannoli! The hotel looks onto a large piazza and the airport bus stops right outside the door, giving you a headstart if you want to move about without wasting time.

If you have the odd day left over, you are encouraged to get out of Palermo and discover a bit of Sicily. To accomplish this it is wise to get in touch with Ulisse, which organises regular, private outings from there. They really look after you – you won’t have any language difficulties and will be spared hassles when you need to use public transport and pick your way through the island’s chaotic traffic.

A destination worth discovering – Check out our flights here.

Text and photos by Silvia Artaza (Gastronomistas)

“The Metamorphosis”, by Franz Kafka (1883–1924), is undoubtedly one of the major works of the 20th century. Kafka took just 21 days to write it, yet nothing would be the same in literature after that, for, in this concise story, he soared to the heights of the genuine literary titans like Kleist, Dickens and Flaubert. Also the author of “The Trial” and “The Castle”, Kafka features among the leading figures of world literature. His theatre of operations and his inspiration were centred on Prague, the essence of which has thankfully has been preserved practically intact.

What is “The Metamorphosis” About?

“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin”. Thus begins the “metamorphosis” of a man who “thinks about nothing but his work”. Gregor Samsa is actually a person who stands for all of humanity. One fine day Gregor discovers that he has turned into something repulsive which should be hidden from everyone else. But, what does that suffocating story actually refer to? The novel sets out to make us aware of what we really are. The transformation into an insect involves an awakening. It is only then that Gregor sees the profound metaphysical horror he is living in. And, as he is the only person that notices it, he becomes a social outcast.

Kafka’s Prague

Prague was the centre of both his literary world and his life – a mysterious city, but also a dazzling one for its entangled layout and fanciful architecture. In his short stories and novels, Kafka does not name the places he describes, except for a select few. Nevertheless, Prague emerges in his work as an ever-present, imaginary city charged with metaphor and allegory. Indeed, if we look at his writings closely, it is easy to retrace the famous author’s footsteps through the maze of streets in the old city and the picturesque spots where Kafka lived and wrote.

The Old City and its Square

Kafka spent most of his life in Prague’s Old City. U věže, the house he was born in, was located on the corner of Maiselova and Kaprova street. After the city’s facelift in the late-19th and early-20th century, the only part of the building still wrought in the original stone is the facade – emblazoned on it is a simple commemorative plaque.

While the Kafkas moved often, and usually did so within a few houses of the original one, the trail of Franz Kafka is present at virtually every step through the Old City, but mainly around the Old Town Square. For instance, in the period 1880–1896, the Kafkas lived in the charming Minute House, very near the City Hall, which stands out for its beautiful sgrafitto decoration. The future writer lived just a stone’s throw from the German Institute, the present-day Kinský Palace. His father, Hermann Kafka, ran a haberdashery on the ground floor of the same building. Today the palace houses the National Gallery. On Široká street, between the narrow Maiselova street and the luxury Pařížská Avenue, stands the must-see Kafka Bookshop, virtually next door to the Maisel Synagogue and within view of the High Synagogue. Travellers are also urged to visit the Church of the Holy Spirit and the Spanish Synagogue, on Dušní street, which houses the school that Kafka frequented.

In Kafka’s Footsteps – the Museum and Castle

The famous writer’s work brings to life both the old Prague Ghetto and the Malá Strana quarter and Prague Castle. The Franz Kafka Museum is located near Charles Bridge in Malá Strana. A Kafka exhibition entitled “The City of K” was organised by the Barcelona Contemporary Culture Centre (CCCB) in 1999 and, after touring New York’s Jewish Museum, it arrived in Prague in 2005. The exhibition was arranged in two distinct parts – the first showed how Kafka was influenced by the city and how it affected his life, while the second part reviewed the way Kafka describes the city without actually mentioning the names of places that emerge in his novels and short stories.

The characters in Kafka’s novels often follow routes leading up to Prague Castle. While it is often said that one of the places he lived and worked in was the tiny house at 22 de Zlatá Ulička – Golden Lane – the house actually belonged to his sister and Kafka used to sometimes take refuge there to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre. The stories dating from that period were later published under the title “A Country Doctor”.

In 1917, the writer went down with pulmonary tuberculosis and later died in a sanatorium in Austria. His mortal remains lie in a family pantheon in the New Jewish Cemetery of Prague-Strašnice.

If you’re eager to experience a feeling of being shrouded in mystery, make sure you visit Prague. Check out our flights here.

Text by ISABELYLUIS Comunicación

Images by Czech Tourism, Nico Paix, Jose Mesa, Roman Boed

Beer is unquestionably one of the Czech Republic’s star performers. There, the valued elixir is more than sacred. Czechs love beer and are actually the world’s largest consumers per capita, putting back an average of 137 litres a year. The country boasts an endless array of brands, churned out either by large breweries or small family concerns. The latest trend is to blend different flavours in order to generate a bigger selection. Here, beer is a veritable institution, and a fad which is fast catching on is to bathe in the frothy gold liquid.

Following is a rundown of the best places to enjoy pivo (“beer”, in Czech).

Prague

Our beer route through the Czech Republic starts in the capital. Prague’s most famous beer is Staropramen, made at a brewery in the Smíchov district, which is well worth the visit. The brewery, which opened in 1869, includes sections with exhibits from that historic period.

The city’s most celebrated restaurant and beergarden is U Fleků, located in the historical centre. Once inside its huge interior, we recommend you pick up the menu and order some typical Czech dishes to go with your beer.

The best Pilsner Urquell is probably to be found in the Pivnice U Hrochů (“Hippo Beergarden”) on Thunovská Street, where the brew comes with an inch of head. Some claim that to test whether a beer has been poured properly, you should place a euro coin on top. If it floats, the beer has been served correctly. Another beer centre is the restaurant U Bansethů (Táborská Street 4). Opposite is a small brewery, the Sousedský pivovar Bašta, where you can also taste the beverage. If, however, you prefer to go for the more avant-garde flavours, make sure you head to the Nota Bene bar at Mikovcova Street 4, Prague 2.

However, beer does not exist solely for consumption, as attested by the Beer spa Bernard, located near the City Hall and the Powder Tower. Here you will enjoy a unique experience consisting of a soothing, curative beer bath. Needless to say, the spa session includes knocking back a Bernard beer.

Southern Bohemia

Our next stop takes us to southern Bohemia and the pretty town of České Budějovice. There stands another of the Czech Republic’s emblematic breweries – where Budvar beer is produced – known the world over as Budweiser Budvar. On our tour of the brewery they showed how the beverage was brewed by the traditional method, and how it is done nowadays. The visit also includes a tasting session of their famous pale lager.

Near České Budějovice lies the medieval jewel of Český Krumlov and the Village Golf Hotel Svachův Dvůr (Svachova Lhotka 1, Mirkovice). The hotel complex boasts its own small brewery, the Glokner, where they produce a Czech lager that is adapted to the different seasons – in summer, it is brewed “light”, whereas in winter it turns out somewhat “heavier” and more full-bodied. And, to round off your enjoyment of this beverage, the hotel offers its guests baths in their own beer.

Western Bohemia

North-west of Český Krumlov lies the city of Plzeň (Pilsen), the cradle of Czech beer. Discover the jealously guarded secrets of this beer city in this other post at My Vueling City. An hour’s drive away is a small town called Chodová Planá, known for its beer spa, the first of its kind in the Czech Republic. The spa offers the combined curative properties of a local mineral water known as Ilsano, Chodovar beer, hops and active beer yeast. And, if you’re a beer spa enthusiast, there is also a splendid spa town called Karlovy Vary.

Central Bohemia

We made our last stop at Žatec. This region, the country’s leading hops producer, is where the universally known Pilsner Urquell is brewed. It is clearly the best area for producing lagers. Here you can also visit the Žatecký pivovar brewery.

By now you must be quite thirsty, and not exactly for water! Get going and arrange your trip to Prague – check out our flights here.

Text by Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Images by Czech Tourism

Practically the whole of 20th-century architecture is represented in Prague’s urban fabric. Even today you can admire examples of major achievements in the various styles that emerged over the last century. Here at My Vueling City we have prepared an introduction to these styles, as embodied in some of the city’s most emblematic buildings.

Modernism

Among other things, Modernism was born of a desire to harmoniously depict “a total artwork”. One of the most prominent illustrations of this in the Czech capital is Villa Bílek. The sculptor, graphic artist and illustrator František Bílek (1872–1941) – together with Alfons Mucha – was one of the leading exponents of Czech Art Nouveau. This studio and residential villa, located near Prague Castle, was built in 1911. It was designed as a backdrop to reflect a field of grain – indeed, many of its details give form to this idea. For instance, the columns are stylised sheaves of wheat. The villa now houses a permanent exhibition on František Bílek.

Cubist Architecture

Cubist architecture took hold solely in Czechoslovakia. In this style, artistic value prevails over practicality, which often ends up tending to an exercise in style. At any rate, well worth the visit is the House of the Black Madonna or Dům u Černé Matky Boží, designed by the acclaimed Czech architect, Josef Gočár. Design enthusiasts will be pleased to learn that this is the site of the Museum of Decorative Arts, featuring furniture, ceramics, posters, publicity graphics and other select works by the Cubist painter, Emil Filla, and Josef Čapek. There is also an exhibition of Czech Cubism which runs until 31 December 2017. And, there’s more – the building also houses the Grand Café Orient, the only Cubist café in the world.

Functionalism

Functionalism is an architectural principle by which the form of a building is derived from its function. It was the essence of modernity as opposed to traditionalism. The best example of this in Prague is the Villa Müller, designed by Adolf Loos and Karel Lhota for the owner of a construction company, František Müller. In this villa, built from 1928 to 1930, Loos applied both functionalist ideas and the Raumplan theory – instead of dividing available space into different levels or storeys, it is distributed in “cubes”. The latter are arranged so that each room is interspersed on different levels. The building belongs to the City of Prague Museum and the interior still features the original furniture and fixtures. There is also a small exhibition on the life of Adolf Loos.

Socialist Realism

Functionalism inadvertently created a kind of transition towards post-war Soviet realism. Prague was happily spared from being disfigured by the Communist regime and subsequent Soviet domination. It is not so long ago that half of Europe still lived under a Communist regime dominated by the USSR. Prague was one of the most important cities on the other side of the iron curtain, and it was there that the leading Soviet architects of the time were active – their work can still be admired today. It may not be one of the most widely applauded styles in the history of architecture, but it impresses in that it clearly fulfilled its mandate, becoming an identity trait for a whole era.

Socialist realism architecture tended to be monumental, historicist, symmetrical, decorative and studded with references to Stalinism. The most famous building from that period is the Hotel International Prague, in the Letná district, put up under the direction of the government of the time. Like Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science, it was a small-scale copy of seven similar, monumental buildings in Moscow. Completed in 1954, the building with the tallest tower is 16 storeys or 88 metres high.

Independence – Contemporary Architecture

Despite Prague regaining its freedom after the fall of the Communist Bloc, this did not prompt an architectural revival in the city. It did, however, spark a marshalling of valuable resources to restore the city’s historical areas and renovate its residential districts. The most internationally acclaimed achievement of recent times is held to be the celebrated Dancing House – also known as Ginger & Fred for its silhouette, which evokes the two dancers of Hollywood fame. Designed by Vlado Milunič, a native of Prague, and the American Frank Gehry, it initially stirred up considerable controversy due to its placement among Baroque, Gothic and Art Nouveau buildings, seriously rupturing the area’s urban profile. It now contains an art gallery, a bar, a restaurant and a hotel.

This, then, is My Vueling City‘s review of Prague’s most prominent architectural landmarks from the 20th century. We expect you to be surprised by them when you visit the city. Check out our flights here.

Text by Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Images by Czech Tourism, Wikipedia Commons