Travelling the Czech Republic - There and Back Again
As already written in a previous post, I went to the Czech Republic for ten days in late July, together with my long-time travel mate Bernhard ;-)
I think (hope!) we both enjoyed the trip, although there was nothing unique to get us all excited about. Still, it were ten good days, so it definitely was worth it. Especially since the it from the last sentence is only something like CHF 450 (ca. USD 360), which is the total sum (per person) we paid for the whole trip. Yay for cheap night trains, and yay for cheap Easyjet flights! I was also positively surprised that Prague (Praha) wasn’t overcrowded with tourists, so my fears were unfounded. Prague seems to be more a typical destination for spring and autumn travels.
A few general observations
All the Czech people we’ve met were kind and friendly, and life seemed to follow a relaxed and mostly unrushed flow. I don’t know whether this is a common Czech characteristica or just a temporary effect caused by hot weather and summer vacations, though. However, despite all their friendliness, there’s one thing Czechs are not good at: Using elevators.
A major obstacle to many Czechs: A typical elevator.
Photo: Wikipedia
Time and time again we witnessed a seemingly inability of Czechs to cope with simple tasks involving elevators. The main stage for our studies was a mid-sized shopping centre operated by Tesco in the heart of Prague. We saw people standing inside the elevator for what seemed an eternity, happily waiting until some brave and/or elevator-savvy Czech finally pushed the right buttons. There were two women who entered the elevator without knowing which level they want to visit; so they left the elevator again. I think they’ll never make it past the ground floor. Once a whole family accompanied us on the elevator; when the elevator made a stop on a lower level, they appeared clueless on whether they should leave the elevator or not. In the end, they walked out and took the staircase for the last remaining floor. I can’t stop thinking about how doomed their children must be, for surely this is something which gets passed among generations.
Moving on from this light hearted observation, one interesting observation concerns the quite apparent distribution of wealth within the Czech Republic. The big cities like Prague and Brno, as well as the areas to the south are clearly better off than the more rural areas to the east of the country. Still, even among the wealthier areas one could always find manifestations of disparity, like old cars and houses showing every sign of old age, badly maintained. What made the situation bearable was the general sense of improvement and upswing one got in most places. The outlook of the Czechs and the Czech Republic seems to be positive, not negative.
Our guidebook (I’ve chose the Rough Guides over Lonely Planet for this trip) had a very compact but elaborate section on the history of the Czech Republic, and I enjoyed reading it. One visible remains from the Czech Republic’s communistic past are the many working class suburbs, where one tower block is lined after another. These tower blocks, which are probably modelled after the GDR’s Plattenbauten, are called Panelák. While most of them look quite desperate, there are some examples where recent changes make them at least a bit more friendly to the eye.
An East German Plattenbau area.
Photo: Wikipedia
It will be interesting to see how Europe’s current demographic shift influences the housing development and market in the long term. Since the total population is likely to decline, lower prices for housing could result, while there even could be more space for green areas, given the lower population density. On the other hand, immigration and a continual high unemployment rate together with a stable or growing amount of working poors could as well mean that such tower blocks will continue to absorb big parts of the poorer population. I suspect that despite a lower population density overall, the trend towards big centres will accelerate, leading to steady migration flow from rural areas towards cities. This could leave some rural areas practically uninhabited, and could change the face of many small towns - currently, they are characterised by many small farms, but in the future, bigger, more economically led farms are likely to displace them. The continued existence of poorer quarters within cities, together with a general trend of migration towards cities could form many urban ‘yet out of the city and closer agglomeration‘ areas where wealthy, families and elderly people try to find some tranquillity from the loud and overcrowded cities. Of course, this scenario is greatly simplified; given the long term effects the current housing distribution has, the big picture will not look quite as clear and definite as I made it appear. In any case, it’s certainly an interesting development to keep an eye on.
The Sixties and Seventies: Flower Power, LSD & Woodstock.
We visited a nice, small museum in Olomouc. Most of the open exhibitions were either about local history (but lacking any fundamental information…) or displayed some child-like drawings (which weren’t really interesting). However, one exhibition really stood out positively. Its subject were Czech graphic displays and designs from the sixties and seventies, featuring exhibits ranging from magazine covers to flyers and LP covers. It had some wonderful psychedelic covers, as well as many other colourful objects. It also was quite interesting to see some unique Czech art on display, and the exhibition shortly touched the events of the Prague Spring, which did not only end political freedom and the hopes of a whole generation, but also restricted the art, even though an artistic scene survived in the underground.
A few other random notes
I’ll say it only once, but you better believe it: The famous golden lane inside the Prague Castle is a tourist trap. Avoid at all cost. Thanks for your patience.
As said, the cities were nice enough but nothing really unique; I liked them nevertheless. Transport was comfortable, and especially the 15 day pass for Prague’s public transport system was really worth it. The metro in Prague features some rather long and steep escalators, which travel at a much higher speed than your good old shopping mall escalator. It was funny to watch people carefully trying to get on-board safely, and most people riding downwards were very visibly leaning backwards.
Our hostel in Brno had a very nice facade - at least from the front. However, as we approached the building from another street, we missed the splendid view. Here’s a picture which captures the whole building:
The Travellers’ Hostel in Brno.
Despite that, the hostel was comfortable, clean and nice. Throughout the Czech Republic, we never had any problems with finding decent accommodation, and they usually had very fair prices. In Prague, we slept in dorms at the University campus, which partly turns into some kind of big hostel area in summer. Also the already mentioned Hostel in Brno is in a school building.
Some of the most pleasant accommodation was in Ceske Budejovice, where we stayed at the Ubtovna Stavounion. We found it mentioned briefly in our guidebook, together with the strange advice of using the tourist office for booking. When we followed that recommendation, the tourist office kindly made the booking for us. It was only slightly odd then that nobody in the tourist office knew the exact location of the Ubtovna Stavounion, but we at least got a map and some help as to which street we should find. After a long and frantic search, caused by midday heat and strange street numbering, we finally found the Ubtovna Stavounion, about one and a half mile further off than we were led to believe. As it turned out, we were the only tourists at that place, because it mostly is occupied by blue-collar workers who live too far away from the city for daily commuting. Yet we had a very big room with much free space, friendly staff and people around us, and everything was clean - not to mention the very affordable price of the place..
Do you know any typical Czech meals? No? Me neither, nor do most Czechs, apparently. We had a hard time finding some kind of national dish, and Italian and Asian food seemed very popular. Popular enough for a competitive market to emerge:
Aggressive advertisement in front of an Italian restaurant in Kutna Hora.
Interestingly enough, many Czechs eat out in pups or cafes instead of restaurants, the latter serving roughly the same food but at higher prices. Also, many restaurants close already at 9 PM, which is ridiculous early. But in the end I finally managed to get some real Czech food, thanks to the recommendation of a waiter. The meal was called ‘valassky kureci steak [sic] spikovany uzenym masem s’cibulkou a posypany uzenym syrem’, which actually is just the list of the ingredients, but mhmhmh, it was tasty :-)
Aftermath
I can only repeat myself, and say that I enjoyed my trip to the Czech Republic yet wasn’t rendered overly impressed by most of its monuments. Yet it was an interesting time nonetheless, and I quite liked the relaxed and friendly ways of the Czechs. I mean, even their watchdogs are chilling:
The sign warns people about the dog inside. Better not let the beast wake up.
On a more serious note, I’m not all that happy about the pictures I’ve made, and I mostly blame my camera (an otherwise excellent Fuji Finepix S602 Zoom) for it. I already had some issues before doing this trip, so I’m thinking about buying a new one, probably again from the prosumer market. At the moment, my favourite is Fuji’s Finepix S9500 (data sheet from Steve’s Digicams).
For my next vacations, I’m looking into possibilities for taking a longer trip. I think I’ve really seen enough of Central/Middle Europe, so something more remote and/or exotic would be great. Many places spring to mind, so I won’t bore you with a long list of destinations. Let’s just say that Egypt (where I could visit an Arabic language school) and Japan (where I could visit Patrick on his exchange year) are currently on top of the list, although this means nothing yet.
