Where to go in Czechia
Places I saw and recommend in Czech Republic: Prague, České Budějovice, Český Krumlov, Olomouc, and Brno.
The Czech Republic should be called Czechia
Many countries have long, flamboyant names. One the worst offenders is The United States of America. What a mouthful! Fortunately, we have shorter versions (USA or America).
Other countries with long-winded names have a short alternative: The People’s Republic of China (China or PRC), The Russian Federation (Russia), and The Republic of Moldova (Moldova).
Unfortunately, the Czech Republic hasn’t popularized a catchy word to call itself. In an effort to promote one, we’ll use the best candidate: Czechia.
That way, when someone asks, “Where are you going?” or “What country makes the best beer?” you can say, Czechia, instead of the Czech Republic.
On February 25, 2009, I returned to a snowy Czechia. My goal: find an ugly Czech town. However, as my train came to a grinding halt in Olomouc (pronounced Olla-moats), I realized that I would need to keep looking. When a train station is ugly, the town may still be great; however, when a train station is pretty, the town is always great.
My mission was to find a certain hospoda (a pub that serves basic food) in a square named Václvské Nám. There I would find my couchsurfing host, Petra Šarhanová, a PhD student in biology. She had invited a couple of her friends to join us at the hospoda so that they could offer input for my book.
The cold winter darkness enveloped the town, but there were enough warm lights that hinted at the town's hidden beauty. The streets were quiet, which is remarkable for a town of 100,000, but winter has a way of making people stay inside.
I listened to the crunch of my footsteps on the frozen snow as I walked past the magnificent UNESCO-protected Sousoší Nejsvĕtĕjší Trjice (Holy Trinity Column). With time to kill, I strolled by the Gothic monstrosity, the St. Moritz Cathedral, which took over 100 years to build. Finally, I arrived at Václvské Nám. It's a charming square that has the oldest building in town, the St. Wenceslas Cathedral, which was first consecrated in 1131.
This is an excerpt from The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us. You might also want to read my first blog post on Czechia.
Recommended reading
Read up about Czechia in Wikipedia and Czechia in the CIA Factbook.
Travel deals to Czechia
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Interactive map of Czechia
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