*Highlights of the city of Ostrava, a route along the Ostravice river: 11 km*

Highlights of the city of Ostrava, a route along the Ostravice river: 11 km

Ostrava is today the Czech Republic’s third largest city. Originally a relatively insignificant medieval settlement located on the prehistoric Amber trail (which ran from the Baltics through Poland and Moravia down to the Danube), Ostrava came to prominence in the late 18th century with the discovery of a vast black coal deposit in the Silesian basin to the north and west of the city.
Ostrava developed into the most important mining and metallurgical center for the Habsburg monarchy in the 19th century. The Vítkovice steelworks, founded in 1834 and run by the Rothschild family until the outbreak of World War II, became the largest iron and steelworks in the monarchy. For the Nazi regime, the Ostrava region was a critical to the war effort, at one point supplying up to 35% of the regime’s coal and steel. Hitler is famously supposed to have said “if you give up Moravian Ostrava, you give up Germany.”
On 30 April 1945 – the day that Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide in a Berlin bunker – Ostrava was liberated by the Red Army and units of the Czechoslovak tank brigade. The campaign to liberate the Czech part of Silesia was the bloodiest series of battles ever to have been fought on Czech territory. It should not, therefore, be a surprise to discover several monuments to the liberation across the city, not least the impressive memorial in the Komenského sady (Comenius park – map point 3). Just across Miloš Sýkora bridge (map point 6), on the Silesian side of the Ostravice river, T-34 tank number 051 sits proudly on a pedestal looking back towards to city center. Tank 051(part of the Czechoslovak tank brigade founded in 1941) was the first to cross the river on 30 April 1945.
However, Ostrava offers visitors far more than just memorials to the Red Army liberation. The city has cast off much of its industrial heritage and has become a major 21st century cultural center. The last coal was mined in 1994 and the Vítkovice blast furnaces were finally shut down in 1998. Since then, the UNESCO listed industrial area has been transformed to become the Czech Republic’s most visited tourist sight outside Prague.
Most tourist visitors to Ostrava will come equipped with their own guides and tips for the best things to see. The following route plan is simply this author’s attempt to map out a tour of his favourite spots in the city, starting from the train station and finishing in the Vítkovice industrial area. It is not a complete tour of every important sight, but will hopefully give visitors a taste of this vibrant and surprising city.
The route heads first into Comenius Park, the largest in the country after Stromovka in Prague. At the far end of the park, the iconic 85 meter First Republic New City Hall towers over the landscape (map point 5). Take the lift to the viewing platform for a panoramic view of the city. After a quick stop to inspect the T34 tank (map point 6), head into the city center to tour the oldest part of the city, with its elegant squares and Gothic church of St Wenceslas (map point 7).
The final section of the route crosses back over the Ostravice river (which separates the Moravian and Silesian sides of the city) to visit the reconstructed Ostrava Castle, originally built in the 13th century to protect the trade route and now a museum center. The final stop is the Vítkovice complex, which is really so extensive that it can take several hours to explore, especially if undertaking one of the guided tours.
The overall route is around 11 km and can of course be split over 2 or 3 days – that would be the best option! There are many excellent refreshment options in Ostrava. A good guide can be found in the Hejlík application. One of the author’s favourite places for lunch, brunch or dinner is the La Petite Conversation (map point 8).

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’ to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

Most visitors will design their own routes around the city, rather than reply on a rigid route plan, so no specific directions are given here, especially as there are no trail markers to follow
Download the mapy.com application and create your own route, perhaps using the tips suggested in the text above or use the reference points in the map above!