Hradčany is not just in Prague – climb the one in Ostrava, including Bolt Tower
The autumn chill can chase you indoors, but this is not so terrible. Colder weather doesn’t keep visitors away from lookout towers and cafes – just the opposite! You can have both at the top of Bolt Tower in Vítkovice, enjoying a delicious cup of coffee at the highest point in Ostrava.
Lower Vítkovice is a unique example of industrial architecture and how to change a derelict mining complex into a thriving cultural center. Every year one of the biggest music events in the Czech Republic takes place here – the Colours of Ostrava Festival. In the future, the former coking plant could become a ​​library and the area a college campus. Today Vítkovice is topped off with Bolt Tower.

In the shape of fire and bearing the name of a record holder

The tower was built on top of blast furnace 1 and rises 25 meters. Visitors in the glazed superstructure can therefore view the surroundings from a height of nearly 78 meters. In addition to the café, they will find multifunctional spaces and a club inside – all part of the tour route of the furnace. Fire always burned over it and the today flames are recalled by the shape of the newly built structure. Another interesting point is the name of the tower – it was blessed by Jamaican athlete, record holder, world champion and Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, who has looked around Ostrava several times while there for the international athletic meet Golden Spike.

And that’s really not all in Ostrava

Ostrava has long since left its reputation as an ugly industrial city behind and is becoming a rather sexy destination, where people go for culture, entertainment, sports and science. This includes the part of the World of Technology located in the above-mentioned Lower Vítkovice complex. Ostrava is not ashamed of its mining past and you can learn everything about at Landek Museum, which is the largest in the Czech Republic. If you would like to know more about what it means to be a miner, go to Michal Mine, a national cultural monument, which has appeared in several films. You can also take your children to see the zoo in Ostrava and its renowned elephant pavilion. No children are required to party on Stodolní Street, where the parties and bars have long made it known, even outside Ostrava, as the place that never sleeps.