INTRODUCTION
The Czechs and Slovaks have rarely been in full control of their historical destiny. The Nazis carved up their country in 1938, only twenty years after its foundation; the Iron Curtain descended just ten years later; and in 1968, Warsaw Pact tanks trampled on the country’s dreams of "socialism with a human face". Even the break-up of the country was cooked up by the intransigent leaders of the two main political parties, and went ahead against the will of the majority of the population, and without even a proper referendum.
Yet the events of November 1989 – the Velvet Revolution – were probably the most unequivocably positive of all the anticommunist upheavals in Eastern Europe. True to their pacifist past, the Czechs and Slovaks shrugged off 41 years of Communist rule without so much as a shot being fired. In the parliamentary elections the following summer, the Communists were roundly defeated, and Václav Havel, a playwright of international renown with an impeccable record of resistance against the previous regime, was chosen as president. The euphoria and unity of those first few months evaporated more quickly than anyone could have imagined, and just three years after the revolution, against most people’s predictions, the country split into two separate republics.
In contrast to the political upheavals that have plagued the region, the Czech and Slovak republics have suffered very little physical damage over the last few centuries. Gothic castles and Baroque chateaux have been preserved in abundance, town after town in Bohemia and Moravia has retained its old medieval quarter, and even the wooden architecture of Slovakia has survived beyond all expectations. Geographically speaking, the two republics are the most diverse of all the former Eastern Bloc states. Together they span the full range of central European cultures, from the old German towns of the west to the Hungarian and Rusyn villages in East Slovakia. In physical terms, too, there’s enormous variety: Bohemia’s rolling hills, lush and relentless, couldn’t be more different from the flat Danube basin, or the granite alpine peaks of the High Tatras, the beech forests of the far east, or the coal basins of the Moravian north.
More accessible today than at any time since the 1930s, the major cities are now buzzing with a cultural and commercial diversity, and fail to conform to most people’s idea of Eastern Europe. At the same time, the remoter regions are more reminiscent of the early twentieth century than the twenty-first. Prague has withstood a whole decade of Western-style tourism, and now has the facilities to cope. In the remoter regions, however, facilities are only slowly being upgraded. Inevitably, the continuing pace of change in both republics means that certain sections of this book are going to be out of date even as you read them, such is the volatility and speed of the current transformation.
The break-up of Czechoslovakia
The sharpest division in the country before 1989 was between Party member and non-Party member; nowadays, the most acute problems are between ethnic groups – Czech and Slovak, Slovak and Hungarian, Slav and Romany. The Czechs who inhabit the western provinces of Bohemia and Moravia are among the most Westernized Slavs in Europe: urbane, agnostic, liberal and traditionally quite well-off. By contrast, the Slovaks are, for the most part, more devoutly Catholic and socially conservative. Though their peasant way of life is slowly dying out, the traditional, agrarian codes of conduct remain embedded in the Slovak culture.
Throughout decades of peaceful coexistence, the Czech–Slovak divide remained one of the distinctive features of the country: Czechs and Slovaks rarely mixed socially, visited one another’s republics only as tourists, and knew little about each other’s ways, relying instead on hearsay and prejudice. Yet despite this, and the constant rumblings of discontent in Slovakia, few people predicted the break-up of Czechoslovakia. During the summer of 1992, numerous attempts were made by the Czech and Slovak federal governments to reach a compromise that would preserve the federation while giving the Slovaks a degree of autonomy to satisfy their national aspirations, but for whatever reasons, no agreement emerged.
Events were soon overtaken by the elections of June 1992. A sweeping victory by the nationalists in Slovakia and the right wing in the Czech Lands quickly propelled the country towards disintegration. The new Czech administration, intent on pushing through free-market economic policies inimical to the Slovaks, and a Slovak government that had pledged to declare Slovak sovereignty, finally agreed to disagree, and on January 1, 1993, after 74 years of turbulent history, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist.
To begin with, both sides seemed keen to help preserve at least some of the numerous personal, political, economic and cultural ties of the old federation. In the end, very little has survived: both countries have separate currencies and formal border controls, and dual citizenship is not permitted. Predictions of a post-Yugoslav scenario have proved unfounded, though the issue of Slovakia’s Hungarian minority remains potentially volatile, and both republics have witnessed an upsurge in nationalism and racism, much of it directed against the large Romany population they share.
Excerpted from Rough Guide to the Czech and Slovak Republics (Czech & Slovak Republics (Rough Guides)) by Rob Humphreys. Copyright © 2000. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
WHERE TO GO AND WHEN
Almost entirely untouched by the wars of this century, the Czech capital, Prague, is justifiably one of the most popular destinations in Europe. Poised at the centre of Bohemia, the westernmost province, Prague is also the perfect base from which to explore the surrounding countryside. Both the gentle hills and forests of South Bohemia, one of central Europe’s least-populated regions, and the famous spa towns of West Bohemia – Karlovy Vary, Marianske Lazng and Frantiskovy Lazng – are only a couple of hours’ drive from Prague. Pine-covered mountains form Bohemia’s natural borders, and the weird sandstone "rock cities" in the north and east of the region are some of its most memorable landscapes.
Moravia, the eastern province of the Czech Republic, is every bit as beautiful as Bohemia, though the crowds here thin out significantly. The largest city, Brno, has its own peculiar pleasures – not least its interwar functionalist architecture – and gives access to the popular Moravian karst region, plus a host of other nearby castles and chateaux. The north of the province is often written off as an industrial wasteland, but Olomouc is a charming city, more immediately appealing than Brno, and just a short step away from the region’s highest mountains, the Jeseniky and Beskydy.
Although the Slovak capital, Bratislava, can’t compare with Prague, it does have its virtues, not least its compact old town and its position on one of Europe’s great rivers, the Danube. Slovakia also boasts some of Europe’s highest mountains outside the Alps: these have long formed barriers to industrialization and modernization, preserving and strengthening regional differences in the face of Prague’s centralizing efforts. Medieval mining towns like Banská Utiavnica and Kremnica still smack of their German origins, and the cathedral capital of the east, Kouice, was for centuries predominantly Hungarian. In the Orava and Liptov regions, many of the wooden-built villages, which have traditionally been the focus of Slovak life, survive to this day. Carpatho-Ruthenia, in the far east bordering Poland and the Ukraine, has a timeless, impoverished feel to it, and is dotted with wooden Greek Orthodox churches and monuments bearing witness to the heavy price paid by the region during the liberation of World War II.
In general, the climate is continental, with short, hot summers and bitterly cold winters. Spring and autumn are often both pleasantly warm and miserably wet, all in the same week. Winter can be a good time to come to Prague: the city looks beautiful under snow and there are fewer tourists to compete with. Other parts of the country have little to offer during winter (aside from skiing), and most sights stay firmly closed between November and March.
Taking all this into account, the best months to come are May, June and September, thereby avoiding the congestion that plagues the major cities and resorts in July and August. Prague in particular suffers from crowds all year round, though steering clear of this high season will make a big difference. In other areas, you may find yourself the only visitor whatever time of year you choose to go, such is the continuing isolation of the former Eastern Bloc countries’ nether regions.
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