Czech apartment prices accelerated in 2H18, most likely due to the frontloading effect motivated by new macroprudential central bank rules. In our view, apartment prices should slow down this year. Czech apartment prices grew by 11.4% year on year in last quarter of 2018, after growing by 9.4% in the third quarter and 8.5% in the first half of 2018. In Prague, the prices of apartments rose by 8.7% year on year, but the prices of new apartments accelerated almost 18% year on year. Driven by frontloading activity on the credit market The sharp rise in apartment prices is most likely related to strong activity in the Czech property market and at the beginning of 4Q18, due to the frontloading effect on the back of stricter macroprudential recommendations of the Czech central bank. The volume of new housing loans accelerated by 30% in September and 50% in October 2018, as many were concerned mortgages might become unavailable to them after the new central bank measures. Prices to slowdown this year Given the frontloading effect pushing prices up in 2018, the slightly weaker economic activity expected this year, and mainly new stricter central bank measures limiting access to mortgages, property price growth will significantly slow down this...
As part of its electrification offensive, Škoda will set up almost 7,000 charging points in and around the three Czech plants in Mladá Boleslav, Kvasiny and Vrchlabí by 2025, spending a total of around 32 million euros for the charging infrastructure upgrade. The charging stations will primarily be available to the employees of the Czech automobile manufacturer. More than 300 charging points are already being used at the company’s headquarters in Mladá Boleslav for test operations. Last year, Škoda invested 3.4 million euros in the expansion of their charging infrastructure, with another 1.65 million going to the modernization of the power grid. The manufacturer invested a total of around 3.4 million euros in expanding the charging infrastructure at the plant last year: 1.65 million euros went into modernising and expanding the power grid, while the other 1.75 million euros on installing more than 300 charging points, including at least 220 AC and 80 DC charging stations. It looks like Škoda is fully embracing their electrification strategy, as board member Michael Oeljeklaus adds:”Preparations throughout production are in full swing. We have already trained over 11,000 employees in the field of e-mobility.” Author: red
March 17, 1939 brought a revolution on Czech roads: the commander of the German occupation forces ordered a change-over to a right-hand traffic system with almost immediate effect. Interestingly, the changeover was first introduced in the provinces on March 17, and then just over a week later in Prague, on March 26. “Technical reasons” – a perennial Czech explanation – were responsible for the delay. And the switch to driving on the right is almost always associated with or blamed on, Hitler. But new research by a historian called Pavel Fojtik suggests while the Nazis did indeed enforce this change, it was going to happen anyway. In 1926 Czechoslovakia had signed up to a so-called Paris agreement, committing the country to going right at some unspecified time in the future. The day the change was introduced in Prague the authorities reported 26 accidents –including one road death when a pedestrian stepped into the way of an oncoming tram after automatically looking the wrong way. Dozens of small and big alterations were made on the go – such as doors on buses being moved to the other side. As the change took place, boy scouts stood by roads and streets with...
Saint Patrick’s Day is a celebration in honour of the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. The day of celebration marks the day of Saint Patrick’s death, originally the event was meant to celebrate the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It has evolved into a mostly cultural celebration of Irish heritage marked with a day of drinking, green clothing, and Irish-themed parades. Large-scale St Patrick’s day celebrations have become a tradition in many cities around the world, but have only gained popularity in Prague in recent years. PROGRAMME: Saturday, March 16 NÁPLAVKA STREET FOOD (10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.) Street food festival at Smíchovská (Hořejší) embankment with Irish specialities and a Jameson bar, cca 60 stands DANCING HOUSE (11.00 a.m. – 10.00 p.m.). Viewpoint – great drink and view of Prague / Greening of Dancing House HALL 17, Holešovice market (3.00 -10.00 p.m.) Welcome drink Jameson Ginger, stand-up performances – Richie Bree, Johm Colleary; tattoo and barber services, Irish refreshment, an exhibition, Travis O‘ Neill ROCK CAFÉ (7.00 p.m. – 02.00a.m.) – Welcome drink Jameson Ginger; Underground Comedy, The Wild Roots, Cheers – admission fee CZK150 36 UNDERGROUND (9.30 p.m. – 05.00 a.m.) – headliner – DJ Marcus O’Laiore, Melvin Coxx, SNBM, Enrico, Michael C, and others. Admission...
Eighty-two years ago today, on March 15, 1939, Hitler gave Czechoslovak President Emil Hácha a stark choice: accept becoming a protectorate or face destruction. After Hácha reluctantly agreed to give up his country’s independence the German army started moving in. It was the beginning of six long years of occupation. On September 30, 1938, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact, which sealed the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany in the name of peace. Although the agreement was to give into Hitler’s hands only the Sudentenland, that part of Czechoslovakia where 3 million ethnic Germans lived, it also handed over to the Nazi war machine 66 percent of Czechoslovakia’s coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power. Without those resources, the Czech nation was left vulnerable to complete German domination. No matter what concessions the Czech government attempted to make to appease Hitler, whether dissolving the Communist Party or suspending all Jewish teachers in ethnic-German majority schools, rumors continued to circulate about “the incorporation of Czechoslovakia into the Reich.” In fact, as early as October 1938, Hitler made it clear...
Unlike Vyšehrad and its impressive fortification, which is on almost every tourist’s to-do list, Bastion is a gem hidden not only from Prague’s first-time visitors but also from many locals. Originally built during the times of Charles IV, the wall created a defense perimeter in order to protect the medieval city from any threat that loomed outside. Once it lost its purpose, Bastion, which lies at the opposing end of Nuselský bridge from Vyšehrad and can be accessed via Horská st. or down from Folimanka park, has been neglected for generations. Recently, however, Prague commissioned a revitalization of the former fortification, tearing down the leftovers from the derelict 19th-century building, erecting a new structure which currently serves as a rather fancy restaurant, and turning the rest of the fortification into a park with benches. In my opinion, Bastion serves as a great example of how to elegantly revamp and utilize public spaces in a city. A tasteful combination of corroded steel, stone bricks, and a green lawn blend perfectly, subtly incorporating the park into its local surroundings. With an amazing view of Vyšehrad, this is a great destination for a walk, and I personally love going there simply to sit...
Praguers are complaining about the beer bikes, special vehicles driving through the historical centre with tapped beer served aboard up to 15 people who are “cycling,” and the City Hall is considering banning this. According to Jan Wolf of City Council, “at the moment, one of the possible solutions seems to me to ban this mode of operation in places where there is a ban on alcohol consumption in public areas. This solution would be accompanied by a simple enforcement by the Municipal Police”. Now Prague 1 has support from Prague City Hall and it has also responded positively to a proposal to deal with “visual smog” as Prague 1 calls the various Disneyland characters wandering around Old Town Square. Prague Councilor for Culture Helena Třeštíková said on Tuesday that City Hall is preparing a directive which would curb these commercial attractions in the center of Prague. Marek Beneš, Deputy Chairman of Prague 1, agrees with the restriction of beer wheels. “This type of business is completely contrary to the interests of the population, the historical tradition and the spirit of old Prague,” he said. He added that similar issues should be addressed conceptually and therefore proposes the creation of a...
The Post Office City Costs Barometer 2019 has revealed the cheapest places for a European weekend break. The ranking looked at the total cost of two nights of accommodation plus the average price of typical tourist items in 48 cities in Europe to determine which ones offer the best value for money. Along with the average cost of two nights of accommodation for two adults in a three-star city centre hotel, the study looked at the combined average prices of the following typical tourist items: a three-course meal for two with a bottle of house wine, a cup of coffee, a coca-cola, a beer, and a glass of wine, a return bus or train transfer from the airport to the city, a 48-hour city travel card, a sightseeing tour, and a visit to a leading museum, a gallery, and a heritage attraction. Emerging cities Vilnius in Lithuania and Belgrade in Serbia were found to offer the best bargain breaks for 2019 by far, in a study of 48 cities. At the other end of the spectrum, Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, is Europe’s most expensive city. Porto was the only city in Western Europe to crack the top ten, coming in at sixth place. The biggest falls were for...
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated for the entire weekend in Prague. This is because every year, more and more expats & locals are loving and supporting the traditional celebrations that make up St. Patrick’s day. Now there aren’t a lot of Irish people in Prague, and St. Patrick’s Day really has nothing to do with Czech’s, but Czechs love a good party and partying in green for St. Patty’s is something to warm up the chilly weather. As with other notable structures around the world celebrating this holiday, the Petřín Viewing Tower, also known as the Little Eiffel Tower, will be lit in green on the holiday. Petřín’s new illumination for these events has been approved by city councilors, and could open the doors for the tower to sport some more colors in the future. However, not everyone agrees with the lighting. The Prague Conservation Reserve issued a statement asserting that the illumination should only be granted for national holidays and “extraordinarily” important days. One traditional symbol of Saint Patrick’s Day is the Shamrock. “Shamrock” is the common name for several different kinds of three-leafed clovers native to Ireland. The shamrock was chosen Ireland’s national emblem because of the legend that St. Patrick had used...
Vinohradský Pavilon is an interesting alternative to the conventional shopping centres that are most of the time overcrowded and can become horrible experiences instead of pleasurable ones. In particular, this place is situated in a former marketplace building and was reconstructed into a modern, three-story shopping gallery with a slightly industrial look and with various interior design shops, home accessories, electronics, lighting ideas, florists or even bikes. All the brands come from the Czech Republic and are unique when it comes to style and design. However, prepare your budgets, because some of the goods presented can be pricey, but if you decide to invest some money into your house interior, you can truly find some masterpieces with the best quality. Alternatively, you can just come and gather some ideas for your dream house (that is what I do all the time). There is also an open cafe in the middle of the centre for you to relax and have a break; it is from a coffee brand La Bohème Café and there is an actual coffee place just a few streets away (check out our article!). That is still not everything what you can find here: they also organise art exhibitions and...
Václav Havel Airport in Prague has been named as one of the best three airports in Europe at the Airport Service Quality Awards. The airports at Athens and Helsinki shared the prize with Prague as the best airport in the 15 million to 25 million annual passenger category. According to a survey by polling firm Median, 97 per cent of passengers consider the airport to be either ‘very good’ or ‘rather good.’ The awards are based on 640,000 passenger survey results in 84 countries. The Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme is the world’s leading airport passenger service and benchmarking programme. The ASQ Departures programme measures passengers’ satisfaction across 34 key performance indicators. Three-quarters of the world’s 100 busiest airports are part of the ASQ programme which means that, in 2018, more than half of the world’s 8.3 billion travellers passed through an ASQ airport. A range of new award categories, recognising excellence in segments of the customer experience announced earlier this year, have produced a diverse group of winners, illustrating the commitment to the customer experience of airports around the world. Author: red
Firstly the transport of people, then meals and finally packages. Modern transport services that want to make full use of their drivers and give them the possibility of additional income opens up entirely new possibilities for urban transport. Taxis and other alternative services will be used for passengers and to take the food from the restaurant to the customer. Czech Liftago launches its cooperation with Zásilkovna and therefore also with all the e-shops that are offered by standard delivery to one of the Zásilkovna branches. In practice, when completing a purchase, the customer can choose express delivery from the shipping options and then enters a request for one of the Liftago drivers in the vicinity that picks up the package and delivers it to the customer along the way. This can fill the time while waiting for other passengers or just extend the normal rides. Like express delivery from online supermarkets, the service will obviously cost more than traditional delivery to the store. However, over time, it can not only be cost-effective but also involve other partners. “We see our offer of services as a digital logistics platform with a wide range of logistics solutions, and the new delivery model...
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