An Easter excursion out to the Czech borderlands from my hometown of Munich left me contemplating the sadness of artificial borders and the greatness of having somewhere so cheap, so close at hand! One of the many great things about living in Munich is that you can drive to at least 4 other European countries very easily. It's less than km from Munich to the Czech border. Two and a bit hours in a car. Strange then, that I've only been two times previously. The prices are cheap, the food and beer is great, the landscape is appealing and there are some beautiful well preserved small cities to visit.
This third trip was up to Karlovy Vary and on to the Northern borders and the so called Swiss Bohemia national park near Dresden; sort of tracing the arch of the North East border of the country by car. The immediate borderland on the Czech side is littered with casinos, brothels and grim little shopping centres selling bulk-pack cigarettes. Things cheer up further in, but the overwhelming atmosphere remains one of emptiness and, to some extent, desolation. The people and the place look so depressed compared to their German equivalents just a few kilometres away.
The towns are dilapidated and under-populated. The spa town of Karlovy Vary is a riot of glamour and wealth in this context. Such a beauty of a town. Running up a little wooded valley, grand 19th century hotels stacked one atop the other on either side. At the valley bottom winds the main promenade, curving its way past a series of colonnades and drinking fountains, serving up the warm curative waters straight from the source. After a few mug-fulls my blood was up and I was ready for a big night out.
Here though the emptiness and poverty of the Czech Republic struck again. A town of over 50 thousand inhabitants, you'd expect to find some cluster of bars and clubs. But no. Once the elderly tourists have hit the sack, or gone for their late night liposuction, the town is left empty. A rock bar and an empty club, both inhabited by very drunk teenagers, was all there was on offer. One passerby told us that if you want any action you have to go out nearer to pay day: Everyone's broke by the end of the month.
The Czech Republic is famous for its low cost of living. A recent survey by the expat community InterNations placed the country as third best in the world for affordable cost of living. But it has not always been so.
