The heart of Europe

Czech republic, often called very poetically heart of the Europe. It is famous especially for its capital city Prague with historical old town. The city I come from is called Pilsen, it is situated on the western side of the country and it is the forth biggest. It is known for brewery with quite popular beer brand – Pilsner Urquell.

If you are going to travel from Poland to Czech Republic, you would probably not experience any big cultural shock. The language is quite similar, I can understand around 50 % of written polish, with spoken Polish it is a little bit more difficult. Even mentality of people does not differ that much. Warsaw old town looks similar to Prague old town, so for me Poland is almost like a home away from home. However I enjoy much more Polish food than Czech cuisine and I would say the food in grocery stores has better quality. 

Even though Czech Republic is small country and not known by everybody (it happened to me few times, that someone I met did not know, where is it) there are still some things to be proud of (okay, maybe not on all of them I mention :D). Anyway let me tell you some interesting facts about Czech Republic, that you might have not know.

1. The inventions of contact lenses come from Czech scientist – Otto Wichterle. 

2. Czech writer Karel Čapek wrote play called R.U.R. in which was used word robot for the first time. Later with more advanced technology, this word started to be used almost in every language.

3. Czechs invented sport named nohejbal. It is combination of soccer and volleyball. For this sport we use net like in a volleyball, but the net is a bit lower, because the ball is kicked over it.

4. Czech Republic is a land of beer. The consumption of it is the highest in the world. It is around 140 l per person in one year.

5. Also it is the most atheistic country in the world. Only 19% of people call themselves believers.

6. Czechia is perfect for sightseeing – on its area is over 2000 of castles, you can not find that many in any different country.

In this last part, I would like to share with you, my favourite pictures from my country, which I found in my phone from the last year. Not really sightseeing place, more like hidden gems I randomly found. Places close to my heart.