Nestled at the foot of the Pálava Mountains in the south of Moravia, the picturesque town of Mikulov is one of Czechia’s most attractive destinations. While the town is best known for its wine cellars and historical monuments including an old Jewish quarter, there is more to Mikulov than meets the average tourist’s eye. For instance, few people know that in the past few decades, the town assembled one of the largest collections of contemporary Czech art.

The powerful narcotic fentanyl has had a devastating impact in the US, contributing to record overdose numbers. Just last week the first fentanyl-related deaths in Czechia were reported in the media. So should the authorities be worried about a similar crisis in this country? I spoke to Viktor Mravčík, an expert on drug addiction.

The northern town of Žatec and surrounding hop-growing landscape have just been granted UNESCO World Heritage status, becoming the 17th Czech entry on the list. Žatec is called Saaz in German and its distinctive Saaz hops are what have earned it this accolade. But what makes these hops so special? I spoke with the Prague-based US beer and travel writer Evan Rail.

Czechia has the third lowest share of university graduates in the European Union, after Italy and Romania, according to a recent study published by the OECD. Only 26.67 percent of Czech residents between the ages of 25 to 64 have a university education, compared to the EU average of 37.67 percent. I discussed the situation with education expert Bob Kartous:

Envirofest is the only festival in Czechia focusing on environmental issues and awareness – and it is organised not by professional ecologists, but by ordinary people who want to motivate others to lead a more sustainable way of life. Through music, inspirational meetings and workshops, the festival aims to show that a sustainable lifestyle makes sense – and to make it mainstream.

The village of Ostrožská Lhota in the Zlín region has been named “Village of the Year” for 2023, ahead of Hrádek from Moravia-Silesia and Dolní Poustevna from the Ústí nad Labem region. The winner was announced this past weekend at a folk festival in the Moravian town of Luhačovice.

A group of nine young people from mainly Eastern European states – including Georgia, Albania, Ukraine and Serbia – are currently in Czechia at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under a scheme to establish ties with high-flyers in the region. And some of the participants in the Duke Wenceslas Future Leaders Programme – Ani Khachatryan from Armenia, Timur Vilic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia’s Grigol Gegelia – came into our studios during a visit to Czech Radio.

At the end of the summer, Czech diplomats stationed around the world traditionally come back to Prague for a week of consultations about their individual agendas and global affairs. This year the meeting was inevitably overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and its impacts on the world at large. I met with Jakub Landovský, Czechia’s ambassador to NATO, to discuss the course of this conflict, its impacts on global security and whether it can change the world order as we know it.

Traditional fishing has taken place in the waterways between Jindřichův Hradec, Tábor and České Budějovice for over a thousand years. This area is primarily where Czechia’s annual 20,000 tons of fish are caught, almost 90% of which are carp – the traditional fish eaten by Czechs at Christmas. But this centuries-old fishing tradition could be under threat – from climate change.

Ice hockey players across Czechia are lacing up their skates for another season as the Extraliga returns. But who are the favourites to take the top flight title in 2023–2024? And how do hockey games here compare to, for instance, in the NHL? I spoke to Czech Radio hockey commentator František Kuna on the eve of the new season.