The Slavia is the most famous of Prague’s old cafes, a cherrywood-and-onyx shrine to art-deco elegance, with polished limestone-topped tables and big windows overlooking the river. It has been a celebrated literary meeting place since the early 20th century – Rainer Maria Rilke and Franz Kafka hung out here, and it was frequented by Václav Havel and other dissidents in the 1970s and '80s.

　　Today you might encounter performers from the National Theatre across the road, and mass tourism seems to have passed the place by. Best for a Turkish coffee and a slice of something nice on a rainy afternoon in the company of a good book.