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Decidedly off the well-trod Prague tourist path, the massive early 18th century Baroque complex Invalidovna is nonetheless one of the city’s architectural gems. In fact, you have likely seen it – the former home for war veterans has served as a backdrop for many films, from the Miloš Forman classic Amadeus to the Hollywood superhero film Hellboy, and most recently for the miniseries Einstein and Freud.

The concept of international work camps is 100 years old. Every year several hundred foreign nationals come to the Czech Republic to participate in interesting projects in the field of renovation, environmental protection or community work, and hundreds of Czechs go abroad for the same purpose. I spoke to Zuzana Pitková from the NGO INEX which organizes international work camps in the Czech Republic about what they offer and in what way this year is different.

This week a proposal put together by some government and opposition members of the lower-house sparked a heated debate. It suggests imposing a new regulation that would oblige food retailers to ensure that 85 of all non-specialised products they sell are made in the Czech Republic. Politicians and farmers are divided in their opinion, with some seeing it as a welcome boost to Czech agriculture, while others fear it is a state intervention in the market.

At the start of the year Prague was gearing up for another record tourist season, but as the coronavirus pandemic hit, the city’s tourist figures plummeted. Cancelled flights and closed borders saw the number of foreign visitors to the Czech Republic drop by nearly a third in the first quarter and the outlooks for the rest of the year are bleak. In fact, Barbora Hruba, from Prague City Tourism says there is scant hope of a revival anytime soon.

The travel website Amazing Places has set itself an ambitious goal – to promote often hidden gems around the country which will guarantee an unforgettable holiday tailored to your preferences. The team of young enthusiasts creating the list have combed the country for the most magical places there are to be found from cozy wooden cottages, mills and farm houses to exceptional apartments and hotels, which offer quality services, beautiful surroundings and excellent food. I spoke to Hana Krausová, the company’s managing director, about how it all began, what her work entails and how is has been affected by the coronavirus crisis.

The COVID-19 crisis leads to some unexpected positive trends. Many Czechs have exchanged their cars for bicycles. In fact, so many people are getting on their bikes that it can lead to congestion on some of the most popular cycling paths and forest roads in the country.

When Daniel and Marta Kolský opened their first cafe in Prague’s Londýnská street they shared a passion for coffee and a determination to fulfil their dream. Today they are respected professionals in the coffee business and own seven cafes and a bakery, operating with a certified fair-trade label. Their chain of Mamacafes is known for its excellent coffee, mouth-watering pastries and quality service. I asked Daniel Kolský to tell me how they established the business and why they chose to work with coffee.

If your experience with marmalade is limited to the traditional breakfast staples then you are missing out on an exciting culinary experience. Today marmalade makers from around the world are creating sophisticated recipes that have elevated the once-simple preserve from your grandma’s pantry to a new level – to be used on roast meat or fish.

The coronavirus pandemic is already changing our lives. Many everyday activities have moved into the virtual world. This applies especially to our social life but increasingly work and learning as well. Psychologists underline that the key to getting over this difficult time is to stay in touch and not to get into isolation. Vít Pohanka describes how he deals with the problem with his foreign students at the University of Pardubice.

The national flag of the Czech Republic, which is the same as the flag of former Czechoslovakia, will celebrate its centenary on March 30th. While the celebrations of the centenary of Czechoslovakia were grandiose, the flag’s golden anniversary is likely to pass largely unnoticed, overshadowed by the coronavirus crisis and other concerns. I spoke to the country’s leading vexillologist Aleš Brožek about how the flag was selected, why Czechs only bring it out in turbulent times and how to prevent hoisting it the wrong way round. I began by asking him how the flag was selected.

There are more than half a million foreigners living in the Czech Republic, according to data from the Ministry of Interior. With the COVID-19 epidemic in full swing across Europe they have found themselves in a strange situation in recent weeks, living in a country tightly restricted by quarantine and often unable to travel home to visit and support their families. Radio Prague International spoke to some of them to find out more about how they have been impacted by the situation and what they think of the measures that have been taken.

Women in this part of the world have had the right to vote since the first Czechoslovak Constitution was approved a century ago. However, Czechs have never had a female prime minister or president and the vast majority of the country’s politicians are still men. Why is that? And how likely is change in this regard?

In the previous episodes of the Czechs in Brexit Britain series, we explored what worries the local Czech community about Brexit and the new business ties the country is trying to establish with Britain. In our closing feature we will look closer at the Czech community itself and some of the clubs and institutions that they have built in the United Kingdom.

Eva Spekhorstova has a passion for languages. At the age of 15 she already speaks 17 languages and has an insatiable thirst to learn more as different cultures open up to her. When she visited Radio Prague’s studio we spoke about what attracts her to foreign languages, how she goes about learning them and how different languages relate to her emotions. I began by asking her at what age she first started learning foreign languages.

In addition to the Czech Republic financing developing aid projects around the world, the network of Czech embassies provides aid in small-scale local projects. The Czech Embassy in Cambodia recently joined forces with the Japanese Embassy and the French Development Agency to fund a local project in which two community kindergartens were built in the villages of Trapeing Chrab and Beung Preah. The kindergartens, with complementary infrastructure, were handed over to the locals late last year and are now attended by close to 70 children under the age of six. I spoke to Lucie Chudá, a diplomat at the Czech Embassy in Phnom Penh, who took part in the endeavor and began by asking how such projects are chosen.

Karel Čapek was a leading Czech interwar novelist, playwright and journalist and is perhaps most remembered for works of science fiction such as The War with the Newts and R.U.R., which gave the world the word “robot”. But did you know that Čapek was also a travel writer? His pieces from around Europe are the focus of the book In Search of a Shared Expression by Mirna Solic, a lecturer at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Glasgow. I spoke to her on the phone from Scotland.

The past two years have seen a revitalization in Czech-Indian ties, with intensified cooperation in the academic and business spheres as well as people to people contacts. The driving force behind this effort is the Indian ambassador to the Czech Republic Narinder Chauhan. When the ambassador visited Radio Prague International this week we spoke about the strong bonds between the two nations, the growing Indian community in this country and her life in Prague. I began by asking her how far back Czech-Indian relations actually go.

Open For Business, a coalition of leading global companies dedicated to furthering LGBT+ inclusion, has published a new brief on the Czech Republic making an “economic and business case” for all couples, regardless of sexual orientation, having the right to marry and adopt children. Working together with Jsme fér, a Czech NGO which helped introduce same-sex marriage legislation, the coalition has compiled evidence that LGBT+ discrimination costs this country 0.1 to 0.7 percent of its GDP each year. I spoke to representatives of both groups to learn more about the economic and human costs – and potential benefits – for society at large.

The picturesque Georgian village of Kvenobani, nestling in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, is a long way to go to discover the secret of tea- making. But the experience is authentic and those adventurous enough to head there can make up their minds between spending a whole month to care for their “own” tea-garden, to grow and process their own tea from scratch or attend a four-day workshop in which Czech tea enthusiast Petr Sič will teach them the art of tea making.

Almost every fifth Czech company faced a cyberattack last year, a rise of 20 percent year on year, according to data released by the Czech Statistics Office. The most common form of cyberattack was the so-called “distributed denial-of-service”, triggering a collapse of normal traffic by overwhelming the server. However hackers also often deployed extortion programs known as “ransomware” that make data or even an entire system inaccessible until the attacker is paid off.