Olomouc

Most people would never think of visiting Olomouc when they visit Czech Republic, Prague and Cesky Krumlov are the more obvious and touristy choices. I wanted something off the beaten route and to visit a city in the state of Moravia. Both Prague and Cesky Krumlov are in Baravia. Brno, the capital of Moravia didn't look that enticing - drab and deary.

A university town, Olomouc has the nicest people and the best and cheapest food. Seriously, we met friendly aunties and professors. Not a single short tempered person. We stayed at Poets Corner which is a nice homely place to stay in but the musty smell gets to me sometimes.

We ate and drank in huge quantities, amazed by the cheap beer and the humongous portions of food.

Pivovars (breweries) to try:

Moritz -

We had the best food here. My portion of pork ribs were huge and divine. Excellent 10,11 (semi-dark) and 12 degrees beer.

 

Moritz's 10 degrees beer. A superb and light beer.

Svatovaclavsky pivovar -

This brewery is easily the most popular place in olomouc. It's the favourite brewery of the owner of Poet's corner. They serve really unique fruity beer like sour cherry and manadarin beer. My sour cherry beer tasted a tad like cough medicine. Honest. But my mates loved their 10 and 12 degrees beer. Try also their half half beer which is half dark and half light beer mixed together. You can actually see the two layers of dark and light beer. Really fun and interesting to drink.

Pricier restuarant, with ambience to boot:

Vila Primavesi - We came here for dinner as it was recommended as the best resraurant in Olomouc. Best retuarant(s) in my opinion must serve great food, with good welcoming atmosphere and be valued for money. This fancy upscale restaurant tucked at the corner of Marianska is one of the pricier restuarants. Every occupied table had a bottle of wine and most were decanting their wines. My mates and I breathed a little harder when we stepped in. Not used to fancy places but thankfully like all restaurants in Olomouc, even this was easy on the pocket by Singapore standards. Grins.

Cafes:

Cafe 87

Their famous choco pie

I have been repeatedly told that Cafe 87 has the best choco pie. Their choco pie was wonderful - chocolately and not overly sweet. Best in this town, but not mind blowing. 

Their carrot cake 

They sell however really good carrot cakes. I would return to this cafe for its laid back, chillax ambience with free wifi (awesome!).

Cafe Sant Angelo -

They serve a plethora of cakes. We had two chocolate ones. I honestly dislike the chocolate cakes in Olomouc. Only Cafe 87 serves reasonable ones. The rest of the cafes have horrible chocolate ones. They are dense and sticky, bland and taste undercooked. It probably has to do with the style of baking in moravia.

One of the cosiest cafes with great ambience. We came here for breakfast on the last day of our trip.

My toasted bacon and cheese sandwich was good. There were bell peppers in it and i am not so fond of them. How wrong can one go with bacon and cheese? Their pancakes lacked lustre. Their scrambled eggs were reported to be good. My mates had different flavours of hot chocolate- normal, nougat and rum. I wouldn't recommend their hot chocolate at all. But if you must try one, go for the normal one.