Travel to the Czech Republic

How to get there

Opening hours & more info

We found out that when tourists come to the Czech Republic, in 99% of cases they visit Prague. The capital and biggest city in our country.

 However, the main aim of this blog is to present you also other beautiful places in our small but lovely country! We live in the north, so be sure you will have an opportunity to read a lot about hiking and trips that have something to do with mountains. We also love a good meal and a cup of coffee, so visiting and writing about restaurants and cafes is also our hobby.


And what is the main advantage of writing this blog? We learn something new about the country we were both born in. We haven't been in every village/ town/city, we haven't seen everything, but it's on time to change it! Come with us and experience the Czech Republic with locals and be sure we will inform you also about places you should skip because they are just tourists trap.

Ready?

Mulled wine, towns and cities covered in snow, Baby Jesus, Christmas trees, Christmas sweets, potato salad,... just a few things typical for Christmas in the Czech Republic, but let's start from the beginning!

Christmas Sweets

Who brings presents to children in CZE?

We don't have  Santa Claus or Father Christmas, but the Baby Jesus or Ježíšek (that's how we call him in Czech, but it's hard to pronounce for foreigners). Nobody knows how he looks like, because he leaves presents under the Christmas tree during Christmas dinner. When you hear a bell, you know that all Christmas presents are already under the tree and Baby Jesus left.

Christmas Crib/Nativity Scene

Typical Christmas dinner

Dinner is served on 24th December and consists of carp soup, fried carp and potato salad. However, the carp is sometimes replaced by another fish, wine sausage or fish fingers. After dinner, family goes to the Christmas tree where they find Christmas presents and unwrapping can start! A week before Christmas, you can spot fish vats and carp salesman everywhere.

Midnight Mass

Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve is not only for religious people, even if your aren't a Christian, you can go to church and sing some Christmas carols.

Christmas Traditions

There are so many Christmas traditions in the Czech Republic. Let's start with these connected to Christmas dinner:

• When decorating and preparing the table for Christmas present, make sure you set the table for an even number of people (odd numbers bring bad luck and also you should be ready if an unexpected guest comes during dinner).
• There should be only one person getting up from the table druing the dinner - usually the wife/mother, because she serves the meal, others have to sit and can get up from the table after the dinner is finished - getting up from the table during dinner brings bad luck.
• If you want to be rich in an upcoming year, make you sure that you place the fish scale that you find under your plate after dinner into your wallet.

How to get there

Opening Hours

Interesting Facts

Master Hanuš

Astronomical dial -notice the North Pole is down

We hope these 3 legends will make your visit even more exciting and don't worry, these 3 legends are just the beginning!

Libuše

This legend explained the origin of the capital city, the city of Prague.

Libuše was a Slavic princess and she is said to be very beautiful and also very intelligent. She and her husband Přemysl rulled over the Czech lands in 7th century and one day Libuše had a vision and said this famous sentence:

Horymír and Šemík

Vyšehrad is a perfect place for walks or for having picnics and there is also one legend you should definitely know about this castle!
The main characters of this legend are Horymír (a young lord) and Šemík (his horse). Are you ready? Here we go!

A long time ago, when Křesomysl, who loved silver and gold, ruled the Czech lands, farmers left their farms and worked in mines. That led to famine and many landlords were angry and sent a delegation led by Horymír to Vyšehrad. The discussion with Křesomysl didn't go well and property of Horymír and his village (Neumětely) were set on fire. This made Horymír and his friends angry even more, so they burnt down the miners' village and as a result, Horymír was sentenced to execution. However, he did have a last wish: to ride his faithful horse Šemík one more time. When Horymír got on Šemík, he whispered something in his ear and then something amazing happened! Šemík jumped out of Vyšehrad and not long after they dissapear, people saw them on the other side of Vltava River riding fast to Neumětely. Sadly, this jump exhausted Šemík and he talked to Horymír in human voice, he wanted a tomb to be built for him and then he died and Horymír built him a tomb, but it disappeared. However, Šemík is said to be sleeping in Vyšehrad rock ready to come out when he is needed again!

Remember this legend when you look down from Vyšehrad :-)

Karlův Most (Charles Bridge)

The most crowded bridge in Prague - famous Charles Bridge - is without doubt a very spectacular bridge. The first stone of this bridge was laid in 1357. The Czech lands were ruled by Charles IV. and he was tired of building new bridge after every flood, so he wanted the new bridge to be resistant and indestructible. And that is where the legend starts. It is said that eggs were added to the grout :-)

On the second Sunday in May we celebrate Mother's Day. Do you want to know which countries also celebrate this important day on the exact same day? I was sure it is only the Czech Republic, so I was really surprised when I found out that also these countries celebrate this day on the same day (get ready it will be a really looong list of countries):