Czech Republic is suffering with floods again this spring and it’s pretty bad. The following video is comes from Frydlant, a Czech quaint (or used to be quaint?) town in the north of the Czech Republic.
CZ: Ceska Republika opet trpi vaznymi zaplavami a to vsude. Nasledujici video pochazi z Frydlantu, malebneho mestecka na severu Czech.
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The following list is definitely worth printing out or even memorize if you are planning on visiting the Czech Republic. If you were indecisive about what places to visit, your problem is solved! Here are the top 12 nature landmarks in the Czech Republic. If you want to see a picture of each of them, click here (although the text is in Czech, do not despair,their list has the same number order as mine so go by the numbers). And in case you want to find out more about these places, just click on each one and it will link you to a more-in-depth resource.
CZ: Novinky.cz zverejnily moc hezky list 12-ti nejkrasnejsich prirodnich zazraku v Cechach. Clovek by si je mel asi vsechny zapamatovat, aby mohl nejenze imponoval sve neceske zname, ale aby je mohl vsechny v tom svem kratkem zivote navstivit a pokochat se jimi!
1. The Southern Bohemian desert in Trebonsko (Poust v Jiznich Cechach)
2.The Prokop Valley (Prokopske udoli)
3. Primeval forest in Beskydy (Prales v Beskydech) [click to continue…]
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The newly built cottages in Krkonose and Jizerske mountains lack style . The traditional so-called ‘roubenka’ cottages (see image below) are slowly being replaced by grandiose Canadian/Austrian-style cottages (see image below) which do not fit into the Czech countryside at all. That is why the Krkonose National Park came out with a new handbook for Czech contractors to guide them on what cottages should they be building in such landscape. [click to continue…]
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I think everyone would agree that Americans are not crazy about poppy seeds. The Czechs on the other hand put them into everything, including cakes (kolache), noodles and dumplings. Although each poppy seed is less than one millimeter in length it sure has a mighty power. Besides its culinary uses (condiment, decorative garnish, thickener, poppy-seed oil) poppy seeds have long been used as a folk remedy to promote sleep (opium) and fertility.
We are crazy about the poppies so much that we make movies about them too. Makova Panenka (= Poppy seed girl) is a Czech children cartoon which depicts a beautiful, big-eyed brunette whose skirt is made out of the petals of the poppy flower (see her image below). Heck, we even have a saying “You are such a poppy-head!” (= Ty jses takova makova palice!) meaning “You are so forgetful!”.
Why are we so obsessed about the poppies? How about if I tell you that the Czech Republic is the number one producer of poppy seeds in the world?! We make 33,101 tons of poppies per year (2007) which is 54.32% of the world production!!!!! That explains everything….although it does not really explain WHY are we so fond of cultivating this plant (ideas anyone?).
Here is a fun fact: [click to continue…]
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The New York Times travel blogger Alexander Lobrano happened to research the beauties of Slovakia, namely the magnificent Tatras. By vividly describing his visit to Kosice, Presov and Strbske Pleso, Lobrano got me excited about visiting – at one time – the eastern part of my homeland. [click to continue…]
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First the volcano now floods. What is going on with Europe? The Czech Republic has been plagued by extreme floods for some time now and the north-west region was warned to braise itself for even more flooding! The local authorities are prepared to pay about 5 billion Czech crowns, which is quite the unwelcomed amount in this economical situation. Read up more on Czech floods here (click here).
CZ: Nejdriv sopka ted zase zaplavy. Co se to s tou Evropou deje? Ceska Republika resi zaplavy jiz od kvetna a nove privalove deste se pry blizi n severo-vychod! Vlada se do rekonstrukce znicenych regionu chysta investovat kolem 5 milionu korun, coz je velmi nemila castka, kdyz se zamyslite nad nynejsi ekonomickou situaci…
Vice si teto krizi muzete precist zde (kliknete zde).
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Today left Prague an important travel expedition called the Bargans Bajkal 2010. It consists of 2 extra brave men – Vaclav Sura and Petr Blazek, who are to cross the Siberian Baikal lake on foot, by so-called unsupported style. All of their belongings (food included) will be pulled by those two man on sledges. The trail leads from the south peak of the lake to the north peak and it si ‘mere’ 650 km long, which should take them 4 to 5 weeks to conquer. The slight problem is that the temperatures during this time go as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. Only one such expedition has been done in the past, so if the Czech one is succesfull it will be a great victory.
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What a ‘beauty’, right? Can you guess where was this picture taken? No, it wasn’t shot in some hot desert state like Arizona or Nevada; this spider lives in the Czech Republic! Him and 3 other spider species are not only very rare kinds in nature but they are also THE BIGGEST SPIDERS IN CENTRAL EUROPE (!!) and – let me repeat – they all live in the Czech Republic, namely in the county of Olomouc. All of these four guys are living happily together in one particular area without having the need to compete over each other or eat each other up as it often happens in nature.
These spiders can grow up to 4 cm in diameter and their mandibles can be up to 1 cm wide. But don’t worry they are not poisonous and don’t like to bite humans - they would rather snack on tasty Czech beetles and other bugs. [click to continue…]
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If you don’t like to go mushroom picking you are simply not Czech. As most of us have experienced, summer in the Czech Republic (or Slovakia) can be very rainy; sometimes it rains for weeks! It is unfortunate for tourists but for mushroom pickers it is a time for celebration. As the forest soil sucks in the moisture, various mushroom types emerge but you have to have a trained vision to see them as they are really good in camouflaging themselves. When I was about 5 years old I went mushroom picking with my neighbor’s family. Since I was the youngest one in the pack I was sent on the most obvious and boring trails. Discouraged, with my basket being completely empty compared to the others, I slowly lingered on my assigned trail. All of a sudden I see this suspiciously big pile of leaves. [click to continue…]
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Do you ever watch the immortal CIA agent Jack Bauer from “24″? While the show is currently on its 7th season, Jack is still entertaining millions of viewers (including those in the Czech Republic). Most people don’t know, however, that the Czechs have their OWN Jack Bauer. His name is Emil Kucera and he is a stout entomologist. Why does he resemble the qualities of Mr. Bauer? Let me give you the highlights:
About a year ago, Emil and his colleague stole couple of hundreds of bugs from the Indian National Park near Singalia. I am sure they crossed the bug law for the better cause but the Indians did not see it that way. Since Emil did not have the permission to do that he got charged with 3 (!!!) years of prison while his partner was let go. Emil did not waist time after the verdict and managed to escape from the Indian prison. Now we are finding out that it was the Czech CIA who helped him escape! [click to continue…]
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