The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is one of the most significant events of its kind in Europe and ranks among the most famous in the world, second only to the Brazilian Carnival.

This Saturday, Prague will get a taste of this vibrant celebration filled with colors, music, and dance.

The parade, featuring one of the winners from this year’s Tenerife carnival and her award-winning costume, will begin at 3 p.m. at Ovocný trh and will proceed to the Old Town Square.

The Tenerife participant’s costume, an enormous wearable art piece, measures 5 x 6 x 4.5 meters and features striking yellow, gold, and red hues.

Along with the dancer will be her suite of drummers and she will be accompanied by Drag Shiky, the drag queen of this year’s also popular carnival in Gran Canaria.

The Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival, held from January 12 to February 18 this year, is the second most important carnival in the world. Each year, half a million spectators watch the main parade, which features hundreds of dancers and bands.

The carnival is so vital to the island that it even has its own museum, La Casa del Carnaval, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Visitors can enjoy the vibrant displays of costumes and sequins year-round.

These elaborate costumes are crafted by skilled designers over months and often cost tens of thousands of euros.

This year’s carnival theme was the World of Television, and the annual election of the carnival queen was a highlight. The grand gala took place on February 7, with Corina Mrazek González crowned queen.

This unique presentation of Canary Islands culture is free to the public and part of the celebration marking the 30th anniversary of Canaria Travel travel agency.

“We combined our anniversary celebrations into a two-day program. The first day includes a working meeting with our Spanish partners, ending with a social evening. The second day is open to the public in the center of Prague. Thanks to long-standing personal relationships that have evolved from work to friendship, we can offer Prague an exclusive taste of the famous Canarian carnivals as an invitation to holiday in the Canary Islands,” said Lenka Viková, owner of Canaria Travel.

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Prague 7 is considering naming a viewpoint after Alexei Navalny, the prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died on February 16th while imprisoned in a Siberian penal colony.

The Prague 7 administration is proposing to name the viewpoint near the Governor’s Summer Palace in Stromovka after the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The proposal will be sent to the municipality’s local history commission for approval. If approved by the commission, the recommendation will then need to be voted on by the city council.

“Alexei Navalny’s death is a significant loss not only for Russian society but also for the global fight for democracy and human rights,” said Mayor Jan Čižinský (Praha 7 Sobě). “While a sign bearing his name was placed at the Governor’s Summer Palace in 2021, naming the viewpoint after him wasn’t possible at the time as Prague only allows naming public spaces after deceased individuals.”

Several locations around the Russian embassy in Prague already bear the names of prominent figures who opposed the Russian government.

Since 2020, the square in front of the embassy has been named after Boris Nemtsov, a murdered Russian opposition politician.

The same year, the Stromovka promenade was named after Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who was assassinated.

In 2022, part of Coronation Street near the embassy was renamed Ukrainian Heroes Street, and the adjacent bridge over the railway was named after Ukrainian war hero Vitaliy Skakun.

Alexei Navalny, the longtime Russian opposition politician and critic of Vladimir Putin — often considered to be a vocal and prominent thorn in the side of the Russian government — died in prison at age 47.

Navalny, a former nationalist politician, helped foment the 2011-12 protests in Russia by campaigning against election fraud and government corruption, investigating Putin’s inner circle and sharing the findings in slick videos that garnered hundreds of millions of views.

The high-water mark in his political career came in 2013, when he won 27% of the vote in a Moscow mayoral contest that few believed was free or fair. He remained a thorn in the side of the Kremlin for years, identifying a palace built on the Black Sea for Putin’s personal use, mansions and yachts used by the ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, and a sex worker who linked a top foreign policy official with a well-known oligarch.

The Prague transport company ROPID is testing its new metro scheme, with designers now including passenger feedback in the process. 

The new draft display, which is presented on a black background, only shows the subway line on which the passenger is currently traveling.

“Based on your feedback, we have prepared an alternative version for you before the upcoming public survey. The scheme of the overall routing of the metro lines with the center detail has also been modified to improve readability,” PID explained on its Facebook account.

Passengers can see the draft new designs at the Palmovka, Jiřího z Poděbrad, and Chodov metro stations.

Furthermore, adjustments have been made to the rectangular plan, situated on glass stands adjacent to the doors.

Passengers are now encouraged to express their preference between the two options: the comprehensive three-line display or the simplified single-line version. Share your feedback and comments through this link

You can register here.

The transport company also says it will introduce a trial run of “completely new vertical maps of the metro lines” at JzP.

Online, some people have criticized the new draft maps for being “too dark.” Others point out that a single-line map makes it harder for plan out a route (that involves other lines) on the network.

The Czech authorities have announced that the country will extend its internal border control with Slovakia once again.

According to the Minister of Interior of Czechia, Vit Rakusan, the border controls with Slovakia will remain in place until January 3, 2024.

Commenting on the extension of the measure, Minister Rakusan said that by keeping stricter rules in place, the country wants to combat irregular migration into Czechia.

He further stressed that border controls are necessary as there is a lack of common EU policies aimed at guarding the external borders of the EU and dealing with migration, Reuters explains.

In addition, Minister Rakusan said that it only makes sense for Czechia to keep border controls in place as long as the neighbouring countries do the same.

Czechia initially introduced internal border controls with Slovakia on October 4 after an increase in irregular border crossings and in an attempt to put an end to people smuggling activities.

Since then, the country has continuously extended the measures and has stressed that apart from the Czech-Slovak border,  random checks will also be carried out along the whole border section.

Poland has also extended its internal border controls with Slovakia. However, unlike Czechia, Poland has extended the measures for a period of 11 days until December 3.

The extension of the border measure with Slovakia was signed by the Minister of Interior of Poland, Mariusz Kaminski. According to the Polish authorities, the measure has been extended amid an increase in irregular migrants trying to cross the border.

Just like Czechia, Poland also initially introduced its border controls with Slovakia on October 4 and has been extending them since then.

Several other Schengen Member States currently have internal border controls in place, including Austria, Germany, and Slovenia, among many others.

Benjamin restaurant in Vršovice pleasantly surprises visitors not only with quality products and a minimalistic menu, but also with the presence of only two employees: chefs.

Benjamin is located at Norská 14 in Vršovice. It is owned by successful chef and restaurateur Jakub Červenka, who also runs Café Buddha and Pru 58, where you can sample high-quality Asian street food.

Červenka worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant in England, where he gained valuable experience.

The layout of the restaurant is very unusual and does not look like other restaurants in Prague. Everything in the restaurant is imbued with minimalism, from a single table to a limited 8-course tasting menu.

Minimalism does not end there. The restaurant employs only two people: two chefs, Jakub Červenka and Claudio Sejkati, an Italian chef.

The restaurant does not have waiters, or sommeliers, that we are used to seeing in restaurants. There are only two people who communicate directly with customers and make the atmosphere special.

The dishes are brought to the table by the chefs, who also present the dishes and pour wine for the guests during the wine pairing.

The dishes themselves are also quite surprising and innovative. Although Červenka and Sejkati use more or less a dozen ingredients, you can taste a small tartlet filled with mushrooms and eel. Or a fresh tomato variation with tabasco called Bloody Mary, served in combination with marinated tomatoes and brynz dumplings.

For the next course, the chefs bring marinated artichokes with a slightly sour taste, accompanied by Jerusalem artichokes and sunflower seeds. Then comes one of the highlights of the whole dinner: duck liver and duck hearts seasoned with sea salt, fermented currant dust, and popcorn.

Benjamin is open from 10 am to 6 pm Wednesday – Saturday.

Exquisite tastes will not leave anyone indifferent and even a shared table and a limited menu will pleasantly surprise you.

Yesterday, September 13, the first stone was laid, which served as the beginning of the construction of a new bridge across the Vltava, which will connect the Zlíchov and Dvorce districts (Prague 4 and 5), and relieve traffic on other bridges.

Dvorecký most will be built for public transport, pedestrians, motorcyclists and rescue vehicles.

“Trams will run on it, but it is too early to talk about the number of lines. Buses should also use it, which can significantly relieve the pressure on Barrandovský most, where bus traffic had relatively big problems in the past due to the density of car traffic,” says DPP CEO Petr Witowski.

The bridge will be 388 meters long and 16 meters wide. Under the bridge, on both banks, there will be a recreation area and a cafe where local residents can spend their leisure time.

The design of the project was developed by the Czech architectural firms Tubes and Atelier 6, and the construction will be carried out by the winning companies Metrostav TBR, Strabag and Firesta-Fišer. The value of the contract is CZK 1.075 billion.

“The Dvorecký Bridge will be of great importance for tram transport as it will allow the interconnection of Prague 4 and Prague 5. It will be followed by so-called southern tram tangents, will connect important tram lines from Barrandov and Modřany and will allow the public transport system to implement some connections outside the traffic congestion the central area of the city, which is a plus for Prague,” architect Roman Koucký from the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR) said.

However, it is not yet clear what name the bridge will bear. According to Transport MP Adam Scheinherr, “Zlíchovský most” would be a better name, but the final decision has not yet been made.

Completion of construction is planned for the end of 2024 – the beginning of 2025.