14/12/2016
Not just Prague. Discovering Ostrava, the heart of the Moravian-Silesian Region by Mauro Stelletti
A few years back, from a couple of tourists visiting Bevagna, I learnt that a guide on Umbria titled: “Not just Tuscany” had been published in their country. Shifting from Umbria to the Czech Republic, “Not just Prague” could be a simple introduction for a reflection on Ostrava. This city is one of the main centres of the Severní Morava, a region worthwhile discovering and thoroughly experiencing because of its natural beauty and historical and socio-cultural riches. Thus, when visiting Prague you should not leave without having first caught a glimpse of Ostrava !!! and its surroundings. And this is why:
1) Ostrava offers a cross-section of the industrial history of the last two-three centuries and it can easily be considered the milestone of a tourist itinerary yet to be developed in the heart of the Moravian-Silesian Region, particularly through some of its towns: Příbor where you can visit the home of Sigmund Freud, Kopřivnice with the Tatra Technical Museum, Nový Jičín with the Hat Museum, and Štramberk where - even today, exactly as hundreds of years ago - you can sip on locally brewed beers.
2) Ostrava is well connected to Praha, only a few hours away, thanks to an efficient and functional network of state and privately-owned rail transport.
3) This city, home to the famous tennis player Ivan Lendl, has also a vocation for sports and hosts one of the major athletics competition, the Zlatá tretra / Golden Spike, which part of the World Championship.
4) Ostrava does not deny its past as an industrial city. On the contrary, day after day this past is brought back to a new life thanks to the conservation and enhancement passionate work of Dolní oblast Vítkovice as can be admired in Dolní oblast Vítkovice, Hlubina a Landek and Landek Park.
However, Ostrava is not merely a city with a heavy industrial heritage, it is also a “green” city, in its own way. From the tower of the New Town Hall, Ostrava fully reveals its beauty. In addition to an unusual view over the city, you can admire the Silesian side of the Beskydy Mountains, the Moravian pass on the border with Poland and, in a clear day, even Praděd.
Thus Ostrava is the tangible evidence of how a city can live up to the present, combining it with the revival and enhancement of its past as its distinctive trait. Colours of Ostrava is a further and exciting demonstration of all this!