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St Wenceslas’s mother was, by all accounts, an unpleasant woman. She killed her mother-inlaw and might have done in her son, too, but the gates of hell swallowed her up before she could act. She sometimes wheels through Loretanská náměstí in a fiery carriage.

In an attempt to bedevil the monks at the Emaus Monastery, Satan took a job there as a cook and seasoned their food with pepper and other spices. To this day, Czech cuisine has few piquant flavours.

In light and dark varieties, this is the best-selling beer in the country.

Local resident Michal Fried dons a white cloak each night and leads visitors through an after-dark ramble around the Old Town in search of some of Prague’s ghostly nightlife. To join the tour, look out for the ghoulish-looking man standing beneath the Old Town Hall’s Astronomical Clock.

Not quite as spicy as its Hungarian cousin, Czech goulash is essentially a rich beef stew minus the vegetables. Don’t even think of ordering it without knedliky dumplings on the side. Beef is the standard recipe of this staple dish, but you can sometimes find goulash using venison, chicken and even vegetarian variants.

The Germans call these coarse little noodles Spaetzel . They’re included in the Czech culinary canon as a nod to nearby Slovakia, from which they originate and with whom Bohemia has shared so much history. You can either order them s zelím (with sauerkraut) or s bryndzou (with a creamy, sharp cheese). The dish is a filling and cheap Eastern European alternative to pasta.

Here’s a twist: Americans brewing beer in Bohemia. The centuries-old recipe produces a caramel, malty brew.

In 1948 the Foreign Minister was found dead in front of Černín Palace, having “fallen” from a window, according to the Communists.

Nepomuk was already dead when he was thrown over the side (see Statue of St John of Nepomuk).