“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
–Victor Hugo

It’s not just musicians (Peter Gabriel and Seal, to name a few) that sing the praises of Prague’s Aria Hotel, a five-star music-themed boutique hotel.

Morgan Freeman, Andy Garcia and Madeleine Albright are just a few who have followed the Italian mosaic of an ancient Gregorian chant that starts at the hotel’s wrought iron entrance and crescendos at the back where it adjoins an 18th-century Vrtbovska garden, the oldest of Prague’s palace gardens.

Each of Aria’s four floors has a musical theme (jazz, opera, classical and contemporary), each of the 52 rooms is named for a famous musician (complete with that musician’s bio on the in-room flat-screen computer) and each guests receives an I-pod with 565 pieces of music (of all styles) to play in their room.

A staff Ph.D. musicologist presides over a 5000-CD library (from Dvorak to Elvis) and happily hunts down last-minute opera tickets and suggests clubs for hearing hot new bands. Once, Aria’s musicologist even recruited a local opera singer to accompany a surprise wedding proposal with “Ave Maria.” And another time, when a different happy couple said “I do” in the adjoining Vrtbovska gardens, the staff arranged for bells to chime at The Church of St. Nicholas.

“That was all coordinated with my cell phone,” admits Petra Daliborava, marketing and PR manager.

Just next to the American Embassy, this hotel with the Versace-inspired décor and “whatever you wish” service offers the perfect location. It’s a block from Prague Castle, a five-minute walk to the Charles Bridge and its rooftop terrace restaurant has what many consider the best view of Prague’s famous 100 spires.

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