Czech Life | All stories

Almost everyone has scored goals with a soccer ball before but have you ever gotten a hole-in-one? If you have no idea what we mean, find out in in this week’s Czech Life.

In most people's minds, the treeless landscape of the tundra is usually associated with Arctic countries somewhere in the northern hemisphere, but, in fact, you can also come across the tundra in the Czech Republic, that is in the Giant Mountains in the north-east of the country. Just how exactly has tundra developed in the heart of Europe? We find out in today's edition of Czech Life:

A new study conducted by the National Health Institute has found that there are more than 5,000 deaths annually related to breathing polluted air. More than half of population as to cope on an all-too-regular basis with air full of dangerous particles and dust.

Twelve couples hit the road this summer to compete for a title in the Czech Republic’s hitchhiking championship. The goal was to cover over 4,000 kilometers from Prague to Athens and back as fast as possible, and fulfill some rather unusual tasks on the way. How easy is it to hitch a ride these days? And what is so exciting about this mode of travel? These are just some of the questions I put to Jana Řezníčková, who was one half of the winning couple, but I first of all wanted to know if she had any previous experience with hitchhiking:

In this week’s Czech Life my guest is Pavlína O’Toole, the Czech-American author of a new book called Čas robinsonů. The novel the story of an expatriate in the US struggling to escape domestic violence. A website of the same name also exists to help people trapped in abusive and dangerous relationships, to try and show that, with courage, there is a way out.

According to a recent study, some three percent of the country's spider species have died out and about 50 percent are threatened with extinction. What are the reasons behind the spiders' disappearance? And is it true that there are poisonous spiders migrating to the Czech Republic from the south of Europe?

In this week’s Czech Life, I talk to Vratislav Filler of the NGO Auto*Mat which advocates sustainable development in Prague. In our interview we discuss Blanka Tunnel, traffic congestion and what is needed to make the capital more cyclist-friendly.

The Czech Republic recently experienced an intense heatwave, with temperatures hitting 38 degrees Celsius in places. Although the weather has now cooled down a little, the latest study on climate change carried out by experts from Charles University suggests that Czechs will have to brace for similar heatwaves more frequently in the future.

Czechs have a reputation as beer-lovers, but not everyone knows that they are extremely fond of honey. In fact, the Czech Republic has one of the highest numbers of beekeepers in the world and many of them are located right in the center of Prague.

In roughly a fortnight the state agency CzechTourism is launching a new app in for both Czechs and visitors from abroad planning vacations. Entitled, Czech Film Trips, the app will highlight hundreds of locations and feature photos and clips where numerous famous productions were filmed.