Náchod in May

We will be in Náchod in May for the Open Day that is held by Náchod’s Pivovar Primátor.

Ok, that sounds like good fun.

But please tell me of one or two other places that are worth looking at/drinking in, in Náchod.

Not yer bottled stuff, though. I would like the proper Czech pivo, please.

Any ideas...

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You%26#39;ll be able to find Primátor on tap pretty much everywhere in Náchod, and you should drink as much of it as humanly possible, chances are that you will no see it anywhere else.

Primátor has some pretty decent %26quot;standard beers%26quot; but their best stuff starts at 13°balling, specially their poltomavé, it%26#39;s gorgeous, maybe the best of its kind, and their Exklusiv 16°. Their Weizen is worth a look too, but you can find it at tonnes of places in Prague.

The town itself is quite nice and the hills surrounding it are worth looking. There are a couple of smaller breweries not far: Rampušák ( http://dobruska.info/pivovar/en_uvod.php ) and Žamberk ( www.pivovarzamberk.wz.cz ). You might want to visit them if you are planning to extend your stay for another day.

As for where to drink. Go to the smokiest, cheapest hospoda you dare enter and there you will find the best pivo.

MAX

http://pivni-filosof.blogspot.com/

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%26quot;You%26#39;ll be able to find Primátor on tap pretty much everywhere in Náchod, and you should drink as much of it as humanly possible%26quot;

Thank you Max, even though we are in Náchod for just the one day and night I shall do my best, as instructed.

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It%26#39;s a shame you are only there for one day - just down the road there is the beautiful little medieval town of Nove Mesto nad Metuji - I lived there for 7 months once upon a time, and worked in Nachod, and it has what I can safely say is the best castle in the country, and it is still inhabited by the original owners, which is a rarity.

To be perfectly honest, Nachod is no great shakes, but it might have been spruced up a bit lately so don%26#39;t take my word for it :)

I%26#39;m afraid I can%26#39;t agree with Pivero on the beer, but that is probably because it is really all you can get in that neck of the woods, so I did begin to yearn for something different after a while! Yes there is Rampusak, but v. difficult to find on tap.

However - I agree - go to the dirtiest, smokiest place you can find and you are bound to also find the best beer. You might get some stares from the %26#39;štamgast%26#39; table, but as long as you stick to the beer etiquette, you can%26#39;t go wrong:

- just sit down at a free table - the waiter will come in due course and will say %26#39;pivo?%26#39; or %26#39;svetle?%26#39; (light beer). Just nod and they will keep coming until you say stop.

- he will put a mark on a piece of paper - you must keep this on the table as this tells the waiteer how many beers you have had. Do not destroy it or he will get annoyed.

- there are complicated rules concerning clinking glasses (usually only done on first and last beers, or when a new person joins your party)

- look the other person straight in the eye when clinking

- don%26#39;t cross over when clinking

- don%26#39;t swirl your beer to create more head

- don%26#39;t send a beer back if you think there is not enough in your glass - it will eventually reach the %26#39;line%26#39;

- remember that the guy at the beer pump is the boss, not you (probably no. 1 rule)

- don%26#39;t rip up the beermats (even if they appear to be in very poor condition). They don%26#39;t like it.

- the cardinal sin (and I have seen people thrown out of pubs for doing this) DONT pour your dregs into a new beer. Each beer is a work of art, and should not be sullied in any way.

- If there are more of you and you are paying separately, don%26#39;t be the last person to pay your round when it comes to tallying-up time, as the people before you will inevitably have underestimated how many they had and you will end up paying for several more than you bargained for.

- The word for gents is %26#39;zachod%26#39; (toilet), or %26#39;WC%26#39; -it will probably say %26#39;muzi%26#39; on the door or, more likely it will have an amusing image of a little boy peeing or similar.

- If you want another beer and make eye contact with the waiter, just do a %26quot;thumbs up%26quot; and they will know you want %26quot;ješte jedno%26quot;.

- At those palces that beers keep on coming withouth needing to order, pay when you are drinking your last pint, otherwise you will have to drink another one, and it%26#39;s so hard to say now.

- When you want to pay, just make eye contact with the waiter while picking up the slip of paper

- OH! and ALWAYS put a coaster on the table before your beer arrives.

Thanks to Pivero for his contribution to this - feel free to add some more!

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Thank you GCEK.

Glad Påsk! (Happy Easter)

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We are thinking of popping across the border to Poland with a few złoty to try a couple of their Craft Beers.

How can we achieve that from Náchod?

What%26#39;s the favourite route, to walk (ha ha), get a bus, or what.

It%26#39;ll only be for a couple of hours just to be able to say we also had a nice beer in Poland.

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Even though it is extremely close, the links are very poor indeed.

I%26#39;ve walked it several times. It is 9km from the centre of Nachod to Kudowa, but if you only have a couple of hours, get a taxi to Kudowa Zdroj http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudowa_Zdrój or a bit further to Duszniki Zdroj, which is a bit more picturesque. Or if the taxi driver is unwilling - I don%26#39;t see why he should be - just go to the border and walk from there. In fact, with Schengen the border isn%26#39;t even there any more. Rather than taste the beer, which doesn%26#39;t match up to the Czech offering and costs more, these are spa towns (before the war they were some of Germany%26#39;s most exclusive spa resorts) and there is a wide range of weird and wonderful water to taste - hold your nose while you are doing so, though :)

There are buses to Kudowa, but they only seem to go on weekends, and then every 2 hours (9.30, 11.30, etc). Nobody has reason to go during the week, you see:) It is only a 20 minute journey.

It is well worth the trip - the atmosphere completely changes as you walk across the %26#39;border%26#39; and you really feel as though you have gone to another country, even though it is only a couple of miles. I first did it getting on for 16 years ago when it was still very cold war with fierce passport controls, but times are changing...

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GCEK, thanks for this. Most helpful.

Umm, I am not sure of the setup.

Do you simply walk over the border without any showing of passports or anything.

Or, if in a taxi, does the taxi just drive through without stopping.

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Absolutely - there is no %26#39;border%26#39; any more. It is a bit like walking from Holland to Belgium, but bring your passports anyway. The taxi should just drive through, yes, although I haven%26#39;t been there since the border rules changed. It is perfectly feasible just to get the taxi to the frontier and walk, though, if he is unwilling!

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Thanks GCEK, how%26#39;s Manchester this morning.

There%26#39;s a dull leaden sky with chilly east wind here in sarf west London.

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Oh - and don%26#39;t try and find any craft beers in that part of Poland (or any part, for that matter), as you will probably be disappointed. I would be surprised if you found anything other than Tyskie, Zywiec, or the ubiquitous Heineken or Carlsberg (who together control 90% of the Polish beer market :( )

Zywiec isn%26#39;t bad, but not a patch on Czech beer.