Enjoy Ostrava Like We Do

Even on days without one of the many music festivals held here, this former ironworks complex is worth a visit. We take the [výtah] to the blast furnace of Bolt Tower to get a coffee and cake with its view over the entire city (which is where we take the photos that have earned us so many followers). Go check out a concert or lecture in the former gasometer, and if you still want more, you can easily spend the entire [víkend] at the World of Technology exhibition.

This is certainly an experience of a lifetime and also a deep foray into the soul of Ostrava. You can begin a nice walk along Landek Ridge with a nature trail that takes you past cross-sections of layers of coal formed over 250 million years ago. And then you can take an elevator down into the oldest mine in the city. We call it fáránígoing down the pit and you can even try using the typical miner's greeting “Zdař Bůh”.

After all that hard and dangerous work, here in Ostrava we've learned to party just as hard. And our stamina is legendary. Stodolní Street, for example, has built up a reputation as a prime location to view Central European party animals in their native habitat, but now there's plenty of night life in other parts of the city as well. Don't hesitate to ask anyone when you get here. Just say [Dobrý den] and we'll be glad to point you in the direction of the latest hotspots.

Artists appearing at music festivals such as Colours of Ostrava and Beats for Love are happy to share photos on social media with all their fans at the Dolní Vítkovice complex. And you can bet we'll be there too every [léto] dancing away to the rhythm of all kinds of [hudba]. The atmosphere here, especially at night with the light shows and video projects, is absolutely indescribable.

It may seem that the only people in Ostrava are former miners, foundry workers and festival goers. But that's not true, the city also has an historic centre full of hip cafés, restaurants and other nice places we like to visit with our [přátelé]. The ultimate experience is the view from the city hall tower, where on a clear day we can see all the way to Poland or Slovakia.

A completely bizarre phenomenon is the Ema slag heap, now a protected nature preserve. It is a 315 m tall, man-made [kopec] created from slag dumped here that continues to smoke, with temperatures inside the hill reaching up to 1000 °C. We like to come here in the wintertime to warm up a little, while the rest of the year we admire the flora that love the warmth, the steppe fauna and the Ostrava panorama. Get ready for your selfies!

When we need to get out the city, we grab a few friends, a backpack and tent and hop on the train na [čundr]. Away from the city in the mountains there's fresh air instead of a WiFi signal. You too can take a [výlet] to the Beskids, perhaps to mythical Radhošť Mountain or Pustevny, where you will be enchanted by the wooden architecture in folk Art Nouveau style. Just one hour away from Ostrava, you can easily spend an entire day.

The venerable Karlova Studánka Baths are the complete antithesis to industrial Ostrava. This is where we go to heal our bodies and cleanse our lungs with the cleanest [vzduch] in all of Central Europe. The baths are right at the foot of Praděd, the highest mountain in the Jesenik Range. In addition to their therapeutic effects, the baths also good for the soul – one look at the ornate Empire style of the wooden bath buildings is sure to warm the cockles of every aesthete.

Head for the fairy-tale mountain town of Štramberk to sample their special local gingerbread – štramberské [uši]. Then, altogether different smells – oil and gasoline – beckon you to the museum of famed automaker Tatra in nearby Kopřivnice. And anyone nostalgic for the days before flush toilets when people woke with the rooster at four in the morning to milk the [krávy] won't want to miss the open-air folk museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. More tips for trips can be found here.