Czech Life | All stories

In the past 20 years, the number of foreigners living in the Czech Republic has increased dramatically as a consequence of the opening of the Iron Curtain. Still, the country is far from being as diverse as most other European nations, for example France or Germany, and the vast majority of the Czech population remains Caucasian. During communism, the few black people who lived here stuck out like a sore thumb. Nowadays, their number has of course increased, but the size of the black community is still quite small.

In this week’s Czech Life my guest is Czech milliner Jolana Kotábová, an expert hat designer who – after many years of experience in the field – opened her own studio in Prague in 2011. Located in a beautiful stone house with vaulted ceilings in Prague’s Nerudova Street, her studio focuses on original women’s hats combining both traditional elements and modern. Anyone interested in felt, straw or braided-straw designs with flair should take the time to visit.

When is the last time you wrote to a pen pal? Fifteen or twenty years ago, getting letters written by your peers from the other side of the globe seemed so exciting and almost magical. But in today’s overly connected internet world, it would seem that children have so much information and knowledge at their fingertips that sending letters to other countries to make friends may seem a bit trivial.

According to an old Czech saying, ‘každý správný chlap’ (every real man) should at some point build a house, father a son, and plant a tree. Viktor Filipi, our guest in this edition of Czech Life, isn’t quite there yet in the first two departments but the last category he knows a lot about. The 24-year-old – a student in his final year in the Masters programme in Landscape Architecture at Mendel University – began working on his family’s garden more than ten years ago; just recently it was voted by readers of idnes as “the country’s most

The past few years have seen a rapid increase in the number of cyclists in Prague. As Praguers become more concerned with healthy living and the environment, more and more of them choose to cycle both for recreation and daily travel.

Over the last twenty years many Czechs have drastically changed their lifestyles, eating healthier foods and taking up new sports. Every weekend, cyclists and rollerblade-users hit local parks in Prague from Vítkov Hill to Stromovka. Fitness clubs which emerged over the same period are also going strong, drawing regular-goers to work-out in the gym, cycle indoors, or attend aerobics classes. Martin Nehasil is the programme director as well as a personal trainer at Solarium Fitness BBC – a popular fitness chain in the Czech capital. When I met with

When it comes to game designers you would be hard-pressed to find one more successful in recent years than the Czech Republic’s Vlaada Chvátil. Six years ago, the Brno-based designer made his mark with a civ-building board game called Through the Ages and since he has produced a slew of successes including titles like Space Alert (where players have to cooperate aboard a space vessel in trouble) and his newest game (released by the US company Wizkids) called Mage Knight. It’s a niche hobby but within it the designer has earned international recognition

The previous episode of Czech Life featured the first part of Lillian Schořová’s life story. The 92-year-old Englishwoman is one of the hundreds of English war brides who went home with their Czechoslovak husbands after the war. Lillian came to Czechoslovakia with Josef, a tankist from the armored brigade who was stationed in the United Kingdom, in 1945. In this episode, she talks about her life after the war, her difficulties learning Czech, her unusual career and how she feels today, looking back on all the ups and downs of her adventurous

Only a handful of the hundreds of British women who moved to this part of the world with their Czechoslovak husbands after World War II remain in the Czech Republic. Many have died, while some returned home to the U.K. decades ago. One of the few British war brides still living here is Lillian Schořová, whose home is in North Bohemia. Radio Prague’s Sarah Borufka visited her there for this episode of Czech Life.

The Czech Republic has repeatedly fared among the worst countries in Europe when it comes to obesity – placing in the “top five” in past Eurostat statistics. According to specialists, many adults in the country need to pay a good deal more attention to what they eat to avoid serious health problems. In this week’s Czech Life I spoke to nutritionist and wellness professional Monika Divišová, who runs a wellness centre in Prague. The first thing I asked her was why – when it comes to weight - many Czechs are so poorly off.