The Berkeley Guides:
Berkeley Guide to Europe:
Czech Republic:
Background Information for
Czech Republic
By Deborah Giattina and Laura Helmuth
Traveling in the Czech Republic doesn't warrant taking out a hefty advance on your credit card, but don't visit the heart of Europe simply because the prices are reasonable. Visit the Czech regions of Bohemia and Moravia for the gentle green mountains riddled with hiking trails, for the psychedelic vibrancy of dandelion fields against a backdrop of blue skies, for Prague's spired skyline down to its cobblestone streets--and, who are we kidding, for the beer.
It's fitting that the legendary builder of the Czech Republic's capital, Prague, was a plowman named Premyslid: Even after the intense modernization of the country's medieval villages during the communist era, the Czech approach to life remains closely tied to the land. The most industrial of towns are not far from small lakes and peaceful trails in wooded ravines. Even the most urbane Czechs abandon their city flats on weekends, seeking long afternoons working in the gardens of their country houses, hunting for berries and mushrooms in the forest.
Since its settlement in the 5th century ad, tribes of Czechs have considered the lands of Bohemia and Moravia their divinely ordained home. Never mind that the Czech lands have endured centuries of foreign domination--first by the Holy Roman Empire, and later by the Nazis and the Soviets. Between the world wars the Czechs and Slovaks were spliced together to form Czechoslovakia, one of the most prosperous nations in Europe until Hitler took over. The union survived under the Soviets, but in the late 1980s Slovaks got tired of being second-class citizens in a country ruled by Czechs (the "Velvet Divorce," meaning the bloodless split between Czechs and Slovaks, became official on January 1, 1993).
Václav Havel, president and former dissident playwright from the Prague Spring era, may be the Czechs' leader in spirit, but Vaclav Klaus, the Minister of Economics, has made a greater impact on the look and feel of today's Czech Republic. His aggressive five-year plan for a market-driven economy has done for capitalism what Stalin hoped to do for communism. The result is low unemployment, slick new shops on every square, a stock exchange, and joint-venture capital pouring into the country from all directions. Like we said, don't come to the Czech Republic solely because it's cheap; truth is, it ain't all that cheap anymore.
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