Over the next few weeks, Prague’s squares—big and small—will fill with the comforting aromas of svařák, smoked ham, and other delicacies. The Christmas market season is upon us, and with it, the arrival of hordes of tourists eager to indulge in Prague’s winter tourist season.
“Obviously, this is going to have an impact on how I organize my tours”, says Lucas, a tour guide who starts his walks on Old Town Square. “We’re going to have to explain the inner workings of Christmas markets for those who aren’t necessarily familiar with the concept, talk about the history of churches and other buildings, and of course make our clients understand that we don’t have time to explore the markets as part of the tour.”
This need to be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances is nothing new. In fact, it’s one of the key skills required to become a tour guide in a city like Prague: and one of the job’s biggest attractions.
Becoming a tour guide in Prague
Forty-year-old Colombian-born Lucas, a Paris-educated architect by trade who has also lived in New York, has been based in Prague for over 10 years. After studying English literature and Russian, followed by various stints in the worlds of teaching, corporate HR, and fundraising campaigns, 32-year-old British national Nathan moved here seven years ago.
When the two longtime friends and neighbors found themselves in a somewhat of a slump job-wise, they sat down to figure out what their next adventure could be: on top of a strong affinity for languages, the two are consummate history buffs. They also, more importantly, share a love for Prague, Bohemian history, and Czech culture.
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After a few weeks of additional research, benchmarking, and administrative bureaucracies, Pragolem was born, their two-man certified outfit offering tours of the Old Town & Jewish Quarter, as well as Prague Castle in English (by Nathan) and even in French and Spanish (by Lucas).
The walks, filled with historical tidbits and juicy anecdotes, last about two and a half to three hours, with visitors then paying their chaperone a voluntary amount at the end of the tour. Since they’ve started, barely a day has gone by without at least one, if not more, bookings. They’ve now each completed more than 100 tours for approximately 500 visitors.
Expats.cz recently became one of the 1,000 Pragolem-embarked visitors, joining the duo as they recount their latest experiences over a beer in their favorite Prague 1 haunt.
A different experience every time
“I love adapting my tour to my clients the moment I meet them”, explains Lucas. “It’s kind of a speed-dating game, you never know who you’re going to get, and need to recalibrate the second you see them.”
He adds that each one of his tours is a bit different, explaining how he fine-tunes the content or the way he gives the information based on the age, nationality, or interests of visitors, how they react, and what kind of group dynamics he sees that day.
A French-speaking group? “I explain Czech history through a lens they can relate to, insisting a bit more on figures like Charles IV or Napoleon”, says Lucas.
And for visitors from New York? “Got to mention Dvořák at least a couple of times,” adds Nathan, who, taking care of the English-language tours, also thrives in how varied and diverse his groups turn out to be.
A self-proclaimed nerd of the history of religious warfare in the Czech lands, Nathan tells Expats.cz that he would be “furious to know that somebody left Prague without knowing about defenestrations.”
For him, the most rewarding part of the gig is when people ask him as many questions as possible and challenge him, a key prompt to making every tour a bit different than the last. It also helps him improve as a tour guide, too.
“You need to find ways to convey the information in a way that feels fresh for you, so it feels fresh for them too, otherwise it’s not going to come across as authentic”, he explains.
As seasons change and weather turns, private tours too must adapt. And with Prague authorities seeking to promote the city as a year-round destination, and industry trends showing that the out-of-season autumn months are now becoming a key sought-after time for trips and holidays, busy bees of the tourism sector continue to work round-the-clock to grow, entertain, and inform.
“The hardest client you can have is a child”, able to go from the whole spectrum of devilishly bored to angelically inquisitive. “If you win over a child, you know you’ve truly won,” he says, recounting with a smile one of his more recent tours.
Sharing a passion
Physically demanding with no assurance of how much you’ll earn after three hours, the work of a tour guide comes with its fair share of difficulties. “It’s not always rewarding, but when it is, it feels really good,” Nathan says candidly.
The pair explains that some clients can be rude or unruly, unresponsive, or simply drag their feet throughout the tour. Anyone who has worked in the tourism industry knows this is virtually unavoidable. But these cases are just a minority, Nathan and Lucas emphasize, adding that every day brings surprises, new experiences, and more confidence in dealing with whatever the job will throw your way.
“Our job is to generate curiosity for people and help them understand where they are. If they like it, they’ll dig even more into it, and sometimes even teach us new things, and that’s what’s great about it,” Lucas says.
After almost five months on the job, both can share with Expats.cz their favorite types of clients, and the most generous nationalities. For the sake of multicultural decorum, this information will, however, remain off the record.
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And when asked whether they’d recommend becoming a tour guide, they don’t skip a beat: “Yes,” comes their immediate response, in chorus.
Lucas quickly follows up: “A lot of people are doing it because it can pay well, and because it can come across as easy. It’s not. It’s not an easy job, at least if you want to be good at it. But it’s a beautiful job, I’ve met wonderful people, and the point is to believe in what you do and why you do it.”
Tongue-in-cheek, Nathan quips: “It’s tough work, immensely tiring. But I don’t think I’ve ever been as fit and healthy as I am now.”
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