CAPITAL PRAGUE - POPULATION 11 MILLION - AREA 78,866 SQ KM -OFFICIAL LANGUAGE CZECH
Prague, Prague, Prague – the Czech Republic's tourism industry still relies heavily on the medieval city, beloved of sightseers and stag parties, and 60% of all visitors to the country focus on the capital. But there's much more. Hitting the travel radar following a silver screen debut in Disney's Narnia films, the Bohemian Switzerland National Park, designated in 2000, is home to Europe's biggest sandstone canyon and a web of walking trails. Don't dismiss Prague though – May 2008 saw its inaugural Czech Beer Festival, heavy on folk dancing and fine local brews. Could this be the Oktoberfest of the future?
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
In a film series with West-East rivalry as a core theme, it would be wrong not to give the Communist Bloc a mention, and Prague was the first Bond locale behind the old Iron Curtain to be used as an actual setting. It is here in the 2006 remake of Casino Royale that a new-look Bond, played by a gritty Daniel Craig, gains his license to kill. Plenty of city landmarks make a appearance, including the lavish baroque library of gorgeous Strahov Monastery. Karlovy Vary, a sedate old spa town in the country's northwest, stands in as the Casino Royale itself. |
