The end of the year is almost here. Few people can imagine a New Year’s Eve party without a glass of bubbly. If you’re planning to celebrate in Prague or somewhere else in Czechia, you’ll appreciate a few tips for the best sparkling wine produced by Bohemian and Moravian winemakers. Bohemia Sekt is the most famous and most popular Czech sparkling winemaker. Paradoxically, it is made in Starý Plzenec, near Plzeň, the mecca of all beer lovers. The delicious sparkling wine can be purchased in almost every Czech shop or restaurant. Did you know that? One glass of Bohemia Sekt contains about a million and half fine bubbles The plastic stopper for sparkling wine bottles was invented in Czechia You’ll find a giant stopper in front of the Bohemia Sekt building, a popular place to take photos In 2021, over five million bottles sold during Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Czechia The American soldiers and happy citizens drank about 37,000 bottles of this sparkling wine when celebrating the liberation of Plzeň at the end of WWII Our Tip Take a tour of the factory to uncover the secret of the production of sparkling wine, see the original cellars from...
The 75th edition of the oldest Czech winter swimming contest will be held near the National Theatre, between Slavonic Island and Střelecký Island. The event will start at 11 a.m. on Boxing Day and will be attended by hardy men and women. The memorial is called after Alfred Nikodém, who was a goldsmith in Prague and a proponent of Spartan lifestyle. His final Christmas ice swim in the Vltava was in 1945 and he died four years later. The year after his last dip in icy water, 1946, was reportedly so cold that it wasn’t possible to break the ice in the river to create a swimming channel without it freezing over again instantly, so the first Boxing Day ice swimming competition took place the following year, in 1947. The self-proclaimed goal of the “otužilci”, as they are known in Czech, is to increase resilience and toughness – to the cold, to temperature fluctuations, and to pain and general unpleasantness. According to Komárek, there are health benefits too. Winter swimming was first seen in Prague in 1923 when he and six other enthusiasts plunged into the freezing cold Vltava River watched by a crowd of stunned on-lookers. More info here
The Prague Transport Company has published a timetable for the city’s public transport services during the winter holidays. Like last year, it has undergone certain restrictions and changes. Christmas Eve, 24 December: public transport will operate according to the Saturday schedule, with the daytime schedule ending at 18:00. From then on, the underground will start running at extended intervals of 20 minutes. The last trains from terminal stations will leave as usual at midnight. Trams and buses will run at 30-minute intervals in the evening and nighttime (between 18:00 and 07:00), except for the 119 bus. The funicular will have its last departure at 17:00. On December 25, all transport will follow the Sunday schedule. Daytime buses and trams will hit the streets at 07:00 (the 119 route earlier – at 04:30). Routes 58, 143 and 187 will be canceled. December 26 – similar to the previous day. December 27-30 – transport will run according to the special “holiday” (prázdniny) schedule during school holidays. Tram No. 4 and 21 and bus No. 187 will not be operated. Tram 16 will only operate on the Kotlářka – Ústřední dílny DP segment. The extended timetable will be in effect on 31 December....
Despite a drop in temperatures across Czechia last week, gas reserves in the country remained at the second-highest level since 2014, the country’s Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela announced on Twitter on Tuesday. The Czech government is trying to reduce gas consumption due to supply problems linked to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine; it is aiming to save 15 percent of gas this winter, equivalent to 800 million cubic meters. So far, more than 180 million cubic meters have been saved. As of Tuesday, domestic reservoirs across the country are holding 2.9 billion cubic meters of gas and are at 84 percent total capacity. “According to our data, last week was the second coldest in the last four years,” Síkela said. Gas consumption was thus about 7 percent higher than in previous years. “However, it corresponded to weeks when the average temperature was approximately five degrees higher,” the minister noted. Czechia was covered in snow last week, with temperatures falling well below zero, especially in the second half of the week. “The fact that we passed the first difficult test is also reflected in the price of gas, which fell below €110 per megawatt hour (MWh),” the minister...
Veselé Vánoce! It’s Christmas Eve, traditionally the most important day for Czechs in this holiday season of good cheer. It is on this day that Christmas presents are exchanged – left under the tree by Ježíšek (the Baby Jesus) – following a meal of fried carp and potato salad. Known as Štědrý den, or “generous day”, December 24 is traditionally a day for fasting before feasting (in that no meat is served). And for generations of Czechs, it is also a time for enjoying televised fairytales about princes and paupers, damsels and devils. During the totalitarian regime, the Soviets attempted to foist a Russian Christmas character upon the Czechs. This kindly gent, known as “Grandfather Frost”, held a position similar to that of Santa Claus. Grandfather was thoroughly rejected in the country, and now, the Czechs are waging the same sort of battle against Jolly Old St. Nicholas. While they have no objection to Santa Claus being the center of holiday celebrations in other countries, the tradition here is for Ježíšek to bring presents to children. Eventually, families round off their dinner by singing carols at the table and then move towards the Christmas tree. However, the children will have...
The Czech National Bank (CNB) has received strong incoming impulses after inflation in the country surged to 16.2% in November after slowing down to 15.1% in October 2022. Prices were also seen to be rising month-on-month as inflation peaked up by 1.17% after falling by 1.44% in October. Food and housing costs made the most contribution to inflation. Inflation may reach 16.9% in 2022. Interestingly, inflation was projected to be 19.8% in 2022 without pricing in the effect of the energy savings tariff introduced by the government this year. However, even with this tariff and other measures to lessen the contribution of high energy prices, it seems that prices are accelerating no matter what measures are taken. Inflation is not going to stop as large companies have already announced heavy price increases for next year. Utility rates, especially on heating, are expected to be raised dramatically by double digits next year, commented Martin Marsovsky, chief manager of Finmex Academy. The second impulse came from the Federal Reserve (Fed) of the United States that raised its interest rates to 4.5% from 4.0%, slowing down its highly aggressive rate hike trajectory. The Fed has already raised its interest rates by 75 basis points...
Ester Ledecká has been named Czech Sportsperson of the Year for the second time in her career. In a poll of over 200 journalists the 27-year-old finished ahead of tennis doubles pair Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková in second place and ice hockey star David Pastrňák in third Health Minister Vlastimil Válek has reassured the public that the drug shortage situation is under control, Czech Television reported on Thursday. According to the minister, Nurofen and penicillin are already available again in some pharmacies. The first rotation of Ukrainian soldiers trained at the Czech army’s Libavá military training ground in the Olomouc Region left on Thursday morning, the Czech Army announced via its Twitter account. The ride service company Uber has won the bid to officially operate the taxi service at Prague’s Václav Havel Airport starting next year. The contract with the current operators, TAXI Praha and FIX, will expire in January 2023. The number of children of foreigners at elementary schools in the Czech Republic rose by 7.6% in the past school year, to 30,543, not including the children of Ukrainian war refugees, according to data released by the Czech Statistical Office. At present, 3.2% of students at elementary schools are foreign, while 10 years ago they represented 1.8% of students.
On Wednesday, the Gift for Putin initiative, raised money for a Hummer H1 to serve as a military ambulance on the front line. A total of CZK 6.5 million was raised with CZK 1 million sent by a Czech woman working in public healthcare. “Our chin really dropped over this donation,” the organizers commented. The Dárek pro Putina (Gift for Putin) project works in cooperation with Team4Ukraine1. “We are working with the medical division, where there are doctors who save lives on the front line. The guys have their own ambulances, which they use to get wounded soldiers from the front line away to front-line hospitals,” said Martin Ondracek, co-author of the initiative, adding that the ambulance would be named Hope. “I spoke to the guys from Team4Ukraine1 who said it was one of the most moving conversations. I know that the lady works in the health sector,” Ondracek told iDNES.cz on Thursday. Team4Ukraine1 revealed on Twitter that the donor’s name is Jana Rejlova. “Yesterday (Wednesday, ed.) she was on the phone when part of the team had just crossed the border back to the EU from Ukraine. It was touching,” said the doctors, who also stressed that the woman...
The Czech government has extended checks at the Slovak border by another 30 days. Back in September, Austria and the Czech Republic introduced border checks for a period of ten days, which has since been repeatedly extended. Both countries decided to introduce checks amid a significant increase in illegal migration through Slovakia. The Czech government has now announced a further extension of checks, which were to be scrapped as of December 26. The government, however, says that they will be less intensive, writes the ČTK newswire. “The number of caught illegal migrants is decreasing, and while the border situation is still not ideal, the measures have paid off,” said Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan. According to the Czech police, the border check teams uncovered 9,292 people illegally crossing along with 134 traffickers. Also, 3,484 people were returned to Slovakia. Migrants use Slovakia and the Czech Republic as a transition country between the start of their migration and their final destination. The path leads through Serbia and Hungary, too. Most come from Syria.
Uber becomes the new operator of the taxi service at Václav Havel Airport Prague from the spring of 2023, having won the concession procedure entered by two bidders. The winner of the tender guarantees a fixed fare price quoted in advance, 24/7 service availability, and a fleet of up to five-year-old mainly upper middle-class cars. “Taxi service is key for us. In the concession procedure, we emphasised the requirements of passengers, who above all want to know the price in advance. The new taxi operator will provide its services under the constant control of the airport. All rides, even those outside of Prague, must comply with the maximum price regulation,” Jakub Puchalský, Member of the Prague Airport Board of Directors, said. The current operators’ contracts terminate in January 2023. The new taxi operator will start preparations immediately after signing the agreement so that they can offer their services as soon as possible after the end of the existing cooperation. The operator will have the obligation to determine the final price before each ride, which will be calculated by their software. The resulting fare must not exceed the agreed price, even when changing the route or waiting in a traffic jam. Easy...
The Czech government has reached a deal with the country’s biggest energy companies on a compensation system for a cap on electricity and gas prices, the prime minister, Petr Fiala, said on Wednesday. The government has set price caps for next year at CZK 6,000 for one megawatt hour of electricity, including VAT, and CZK 3,000 for one megawatt of gas. The demolition of the pig farm built on the site of the former World War II Roma concentration camp in Lety has been completed. The Romany Culture Museum wants to open a visitor centre there in late 2023 or early 2024, the museum’s spokeswoman Karolina Spielmannova told CTK yesterday. Entrepreneur Karel Janeček has filed a petition at the Czech Constitutional Court after being the Ministry of the Interior said he excluded him from the race for president. Officials said Mr. Janeček had failed to reach the threshold of 50,000 valid signatures. The Czech government has signed a non-binding memorandum with Sweden and the company BAE Systems to purchase CV90 tracked combat vehicles. The government decided to launch negotiations on acquiring CV90s via intergovernmental treaty in July. The Czech Army is seeking 210 vehicles. The Czech...
Looking for a unique gift for that Czech (or non-Czech) beer drinker in Prague? How about a meter’s worth of beer? At Ambiente’s ever-popular chain of Lokal restaurants, a new meter-long gift voucher offers recipients exactly one meter of beer. How much beer is in a meter? The meter-long voucher holds markings for every centimeter, and counts off one beer for every 11 centimeters. Stood back-to-back, that comes out to exactly nine glasses of beer in Ambiente’s classic Pilsner mugs (well, technically, it comes out to .99 meters worth of beer). The voucher can be had for 531 crowns, and is valid for one year from the point of purchase. You can purchase the meter-long voucher from Ambiente’s e-shop, which also offers more traditional gift vouchers in amounts of your choosing to Lokal and other Ambiente restaurants. You can also book a spot at Lokal’s Beer Tapping school, where barman Lukáš Svoboda will teach you how to serve traditional pours like Hladinka (half brew and half foam), Šnyt (two-fifths beer, three-fifths foam), and Mlíko (almost all foam). One of the top-rated local restaurant chains often praised for their traditional Czech dishes and fresh Pilsner, Lokal has locations in Prague in Old Town, Malá Strana, Kunratice, Karlín,...
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