- Shortcuts to points on this page:
- E-mails: a word of explanation…,
- Maps,
- Finding the (bus, tram, trolleybus) connection in Ostrava,
- Tickets, customs,
- Small guide to Ostrava.
Accommodation
Participants can choose from among the following hotels and hostels. (Send your requests to us. We shall book the accommodation centrally.)
Hotel Jindřich
Full name: "Hotelový dům Jindřich"
Category: ***
Prices:
CZK 480 for a single room CZK 600 for a double room without a TV set CZK 750 for a double room CZK 1100 for a room with three beds CZK 1300 for apartments (with one double bed) CZK 300 for an additional bed (if the room is full) CZK 350 for an additional bed CZK 70 for breakfast
Distance: not more than 10 minutes of walking from the Faculty of Science
Phones:
+420 596112979 +420 596174111
Fax: +420 596112776
E-mail: hdjindrich a okd cczz
Type at-sign character ("@") instead of " a ", type dot (".") instead of space (" "), and type just "cz" instead of "cczz".
Www: www.hd-jindrich.cz
Address: Nádražní 66, Ostrava
Transportation to the hotel: when you arrive by train to Ostrava-hlavní nádraží (Ostrava-Main Station in English), take any tram (1, 2, 8, 12) and go to the stop "Hotelový dům Jindřich" (approx. 6 minutes). Go some 150 metres back to the old winding tower
Transportation to the Faculty of Science: go in front of the hotel, turn left and go along the Nádražní street. Then turn left to the 30.dubna street (you will see the green tower of the New City Hall at the end). The faculty is the next building behind the "Red School" (a red building) on the right-hand side. The address is 30.dubna 22. You should read: "Ostravská univerzita, Přírodovědecká fakulta"
Polský dům
Full name: "Hotel Polský dům"
Category: ***
Prices:
CZK 800 for a single room with breakfast CZK 1150 for a double room with breakfast CZK 1600 for apartments (with one double bed) with breakfast CZK 300 for an additional bed with breakfast
Distance: not more than 10 minutes of walking from the Faculty of Science
Phones:
+420 596122001 +420 596122004
Faxes:
+420 596126005 +420 596125062
E-mail: hotel a polskydum cczz
Type at-sign character ("@") instead of " a ", type dot (".") instead of space (" "), and type just "cz" instead of "cczz".
Www: www.polskydum.cz
Address: Poděbradova 53, Ostrava
Transportation to the hotel: when you arrive by train to Ostrava-hlavní nádraží (Ostrava-Main Station in English), take any tram (1, 2, 8, 12) and go to the stop "Hotelový dům Jindřich" (approx. 6 minutes). Go along the "Albert" supermarket and turn right to the 30.dubna street. Go ahead some 100 metres to the crossing and turn left to the Poděbradova street. Turn left. You will see the hotel some 50 metres ahead of you
Transportation to the Faculty of Science: go back to the "Albert" supermarket and go on along the 30.dubna street (you will see the green tower of the New City Hall at the end). The faculty is the next building behind the "Red School" (a red building) on the right-hand side. The address is 30.dubna 22. You should read: "Ostravská univerzita, Přírodovědecká fakulta"
Hotel Maria
Category: ***
Prices:
CZK 750 for a single room with breakfast CZK 850 for a double room (single person) with breakfast CZK 950 for a double room (two persons) with breakfast CZK 1200 for a room with three beds and breakfast
The prices given above apply to the Czechs and Slovaks. The prices for foreigners (except Slovaks) are higher generally, but if 5 or more rooms are booked, then the above given prices will apply to foreigners as well.
Distance: approx. 1 minute of walking from the Faculty of Science
Phones:
+420 596110676 +420 596110677 +420 596110679
Fax: +420 596110678
E-mail: objednavky a hotel-maria cczz
Type at-sign character ("@") instead of " a ", type dot (".") instead of space (" "), and type just "cz" instead of "cczz".
Www: www.hotel-maria.cz
Address: Přívozská 23, Ostrava
Transportation to the hotel: when you arrive by train to Ostrava-hlavní nádraží (Ostrava-Main Station in English), take any tram (1, 2, 8, 12) and go to the stop "Hotelový dům Jindřich" (approx. 6 minutes). Go on to the crossing and turn left to the 30.dubna street (you will see the green tower of the New City Hall at the end). Go along the street to the "Red School" (a red building). Then turn right to the Přívozská street. The hotel is on the right-hand side of the street
Transportation to the Faculty of Science: go back to the 30.dubna street and turn right. Enter the second door on the right. The address is 30.dubna 22. You should read: "Ostravská univerzita, Přírodovědecká fakulta"
Hostel NH
Prices:
CZK 300 for a double room CZK 450 for a room with three beds CZK 600 for a room with four beds
Distance: approx. 20 minutes of walking from the Faculty of Science, approx. 10 minutes by trolleybus
Phones:
+420 596611940 +420 596634261
Fax: +420 596635275
E-mail: Vaclav Peklo a tj-nh cczz
Type at-sign character ("@") instead of " a ", type dots (".") instead of all spaces (" "), and type just "cz" instead of "cczz".
Www: www.tj-nh.cz/ubytovani.htm
Address: Varenská 40a, Ostrava
Transportation to the hostel:
when you arrive by train to Ostrava-hlavní
nádraží (Ostrava-Main Station in English), you can
get on the trolleybus no. 108 and go to the stop "Stanice
záchranné služby" (approx.
30 minutes).(But there are another ways. Being at the "Hlavní
nádraží" trolleybus stop, you can take the
trolleybus no. 102 and go to the "Zimní stadion"
stop (approx. 13 minutes). Then you can either simply walk (go on,
along some oldish industrial building, to the crossing and turn right;
you will immediately come to another crossing with traffic lights where
you have to turn left to the Varenská street; come to the
"Stanice záchranné služby" stop; not more
than 10 minutes) or take the bus no. 48 or trolleybus
no. 107 or 108 and go one stop to "Stanice záchranné
služby" (approx. 1 minute).)Having come to the "Stanice záchranné
služby" stop, go slightly ahead along the "Orfa"
furniture & carpets shop and immediately turn right to the
Sládkova street. The hostel is within the area of the
playground, which is on the left. There is written on the main gate of
the playground: "Tělovýchovná jednota
Nová huť Ostrava". Enter the area and go ahead. The
hostel is in the first building on the right-hand side.Alternatively, you can arrive by train to the railway station
Ostrava-Svinov. Two new subways have been built there during the last
year (or two). Use one of them to leave the area of the railway
station. When you are in front of the main building of the station,
turn right and go upwards to the bridge. There are bus and tram stops
on the bridge. (The stops are named "Svinov mosty".) The
tram stops are in the central part of the bridge, the bus stops are on
the sides of the bridge. Being inside the bridge, turn left and go
upstairs to bus stops (the bus will drive you to the east). Take the
bus no. 39 and go to the stop "Futurum" (approx.
12 minutes). Go on foot along the "Carrefour" /
"Futurum" shopping centre and continue along the
Varenská street until you come to the playground (on the
left-hand side). (Well, you do not have to walk, you can take the bus
no. 48 or trolleybus no. 108 or 109 and go to the stop
"Stanice záchranné služby"; approx.
3 minutes.) Going on foot or by bus, you will come from the
opposite direction than you would if you came from the Main
Station.However, if you are at the "Svinov mosty" bus stop, it may
happen that the bus 39 does not come for a long time –
it has interval of 40 minutes in the night. Should this be the
case, you can try to take any of the busses no. 37, 49, 54, 56, and go
to the stop "Nová Ves vodárna". At this stop,
change to the bus no. 39 or 48. If you change to 39, proceed as
before (i.e., go to the "Futurum" stop and so on). If you
change to 48, you can go directly to the stop "Stanice
záchranné služby". Again, you will arrive from
the opposite direction than you would if you came from the Main Station.
(This way, going by the bus no. 39 or 48, takes approx.
20 minutes in total.)There is a yet another way from the railway station Ostrava-Svinov (if
you are too lazy to climb to the bridge, but not too lazy to wait for a
bus): When standing in front of the main building of the station, go
ahead through some small park and find the bus stop
"Bílovecká" of the bus no. 37. (Coming to
the stop, the bus will drive you to the right, towards the
bridge…) Go to the stop "Nová Ves
vodárna". It was described above how to go on from this
stop
Transportation to the Faculty of Science:
go to the Varenská street and turn left. Then go straight ahead
(away from "Carrefour" / "Futurum"), do not
turn anywhere. First you will come to a crossing with traffic lights,
beyond the crossing you will go along some not wide road (between a
scrubby fence on the left and the oldish industrial building on the
right), then you will cross a bridge over a railway. You will see
"Bauhaus" on the right. Come to the hotel "Polský
dům", which you will see in front of you (slightly to the
left). Turn left to the Poděbradova street, then turn right to the
30.dubna street. Go ahead along the 30.dubna street (you will see the
green tower of the New City Hall at the end). The faculty is the next
building behind the "Red School" (a red building) on the
right-hand side. The address is 30.dubna 22. You should read:
"Ostravská univerzita,
Přírodovědecká fakulta".At the stop "Stanice záchranné služby",
you can also take the trolleybus no. 108 or 109 and go to the stop
"Husův sad" (approx. 7 minutes). Cross the
Českobratrská street and go ahead, along the Husova street,
until you get to the 30.dubna street. Turn right and come to the
faculty
Hotel DMH
Prices:
CZK 320 for a double room CZK 350 for a double room (de luxe, with a TV set) CZK 410 for a room with three beds CZK 440 for a room with three beds (de luxe, with a TV set)
The price does not include breakfast.
Distance: approx. 35 minutes by tram from the Faculty of Science
Phones:
+420 596751779 +420 596751780 +420 596751781 +420 596751782 +420 596751783 +420 596751784 +420 596796111 +420 596796260
Fax: +420 596752200
Address: Výškovická 122, Ostrava-Zábřeh
Transportation to the hotel:
we recommend that you get off from the train at the Ostrava-Svinov
railway station. Two new subways have been built there during the last
year (or two). Use one of them to leave the area of the railway
station. When you are in front of the main building of the station,
turn right and go upwards to the bridge. There are bus and tram stops
on the bridge. (The stops are named "Svinov mosty".) The
tram stops are in the central part of the bridge, the bus stops are on
the sides of the bridge. Being inside the bridge, choose the left
stairs up to come to a tram stop (the tram will drive you to the east).
Get on the tram no. 7 and go to the stop "Kino Luna"
(approx. 18 minutes). Go back along the
Výškovická street. The hotel is on the left-hand
side. (Alternatively, you can get off one stop sooner at
"Kotva". Then go on along the "Kotva" shopping
centre. You will come from the opposite direction to the hotel. This
way is more pleasant, but the walk is slightly longer.)You can also get off at the railway station Ostrava-hlavní
nádraží (Ostrava-Main Station in English). Get on
the tram no. 2 and go to the stop "Kino Luna" (approx.
31 minutes). Then go on as before
Transportation to the Faculty of Science: go to the stop "Kino Luna" (or "Kotva") and take the tram no. 2. Go to the stop "Hotelový dům Jindřich" (approx. 25 minutes). Go back and then turn left to the 30.dubna street (you will see the green tower of the New City Hall at the end). The faculty is the next building behind the "Red School" (a red building) on the right-hand side. The address is 30.dubna 22. You should read: "Ostravská univerzita, Přírodovědecká fakulta"
E-mails: a word of explanation…
You have probably noted that all e-mails are given in a rather strange form. This is an intention to confuse e-mail harvesters. An e-mail harvester is a computer program which wanders the Internet and collects all e-mail addresses it can see. A huge database of e-mail addresses is obtained thus. Finally, the people who carry on the harvesters send "spam" (business proposals, advertisements, and so on) to the obtained addresses.
Therefore, if you have to publish your e-mail address on the Internet, it is a good idea to modify it a little bit to have some protection against spam. If an e-mail address is "clickable" (like this), it is the worst case from this point of view because the harvester can "click" the address as well. But even if the address is not "clickable", things may not be all right. The harvester can analyse the text of the webpage. It is not a problem to look for all strings of the form "something@something" (note the at-sign ("@") inside).
An elementary protection lies in replacing the at-sign ("@") by the word "at". But as this kind of protection is well-known nowadays, we are afraid that some advanced harvesters can detect this case as well. (We know that an e-mail takes the form "name at somewhere.cz". Note the key-word "at" followed by a sequence of dot-separated words. The last word of the sequence must be a top-level domain (like "cz", "sk", "pl" etc.).) That is why we have decided to distort the e-mail addresses a little bit more.
Maps
We have prepared some maps with the railway stations, tram or bus and trolleybus stops, other significant points, hotels and hostel mentioned above being marked. Please choose the appropriate version according to your browser (the version for Netscape Navigator 6+ works with Internet Explorer 4+ as well):
Finding the (bus, tram, trolleybus) connection in Ostrava
Some general transportation instructions were given above. But you may like to find the connection in Ostrava yourself.
Use the "connection form" (in Czech, pops up a new window, but English and German version is also available) to look up your connection.
Fill in the starting stop ("hlavni nadrazi" or "svinov mosty") and the destination stop (one of the names mentioned above, such as "stanice zachranne sluzby"). You can use lower-case letters – the query is case insensitive. You even do not have to bother with accents – you can enter the name in ASCII and the system will still be able to understand the names. Finally, fill in the date and time of your arrival (remember that trains are often late) and look up your connection.
Tickets, customs
To use the public transport of the City of Ostrava, you have to buy a ticket. Tickets are valid for a certain amount of time. There are several kinds:
- 15-minute ticket (CZK 8),
- 45-minute ticket (CZK 12),
- 60-minute ticket (CZK 17),
- 90-minute ticket (CZK 22),
- 105-minute ticket (CZK 26),
- 120-minute ticket (CZK 30),
- 24-hour ticket (the City of Ostrava only: CZK 32).
The ticket is to be stamped as soon as you get on the vehicle (bus, tram or trolleybus). The ticket is valid for the given amount of time. The ticket remains valid even if you get off and change the line (the ticket is not to be stamped for the second time), but you must not to exceed the time limit.
If you use the bus or trolleybus in the night (from 20:00 till 4:00), you can get on through the front door only and you have to show your ticket to the driver (or stamp it immediately). This does not apply to the tram.
If you have a lot of luggage, you should pay even for the luggage. You should not transport more than three pieces of luggage. A piece of luggage can be transported free of charge if it does not exceed the dimensions of 30 cm × 40 cm × 60 cm (or if it is a cylinder-shaped object not longer than 150 cm and of diameter not exceeding 10 cm, or if it is a board-shaped object not exceeding the dimensions of 5 cm × 80 cm × 100 cm). None of the given dimensions can be exceeded. You should pay the carriage otherwise. The half-priced variants of the tickets are to be used to pay the carriage. Thus, there is 15-minute half-priced ticket (CZK 4), 45-minute half-priced ticket (CZK 6), 60-minute half-priced ticket (CZK 8 – not CZK 8,50 – this is an exception) and so on. But in practise, we are not aware that someone would have ever measured passengers' pieces of luggage using a rule. Therefore, it seems to be reasonable to look at your luggage. If you think you have a lot of luggage or some big piece of luggage (apparently exceeding the prescribed dimensions), pay for it.
There are many ticket slot machines around Ostrava where tickets can be bought. Tickets can even be bought at the railway station (Ostrava-Main Station, Ostrava-Svinov) at the cash desk – this is handy if you arrive to Ostrava by train. Tickets are also sold at the tobacconist's. At last, there are several offices of the Transportation Company of the City of Ostrava where tickets can be bought as well:
- Main Station (on the ground floor of the passenger hall),
- bus and trolleybus stop "Zimní stadion" (the outlet is in the wooden booth which you will see on the place).
The opening hours of these two outlets are Mon–Fri, 5:00–18:00. Finally, 15-, 45-minute tickets can be bought at the driver's, but an additional fee of CZK 4 is charged (i.e., you shall pay CZK 12 or 16 (full price), or CZK 8 or 10 (half price), respectively). Surprisingly, 24-hour tickets can also be bought at the driver's and no additional fee is charged (i.e., CZK 32 (full price) or CZK 16 (half price)).
Small guide to Ostrava
If you get tired from mathematics, you may wish to walk around Ostrava and sight-see. We would recommend especially the following monuments:
- The Church of St. Wenceslas. The oldest building in Ostrava, from the 13th century. Located on the Kostelní náměstí (Church Square).
- The Statue of John of Nepomuk. A Baroque statue from the 18th century. On the Kostelní náměstí.
- The Old Town Hall and the Plague Column of Virgin Mary in the foreground. The oldest building from the original historic centre of the city, from the 16th century. There is a museum now, open daily. The plague column is the oldest Baroque sculpture in Ostrava, from the beginning of the 18th century. On the Masarykovo náměstí (Masaryk Square).
- The Parish Church of St. Joseph. An interesting building from the 18th century. Built in Baroque style, influenced by Classicism. On the Těšínská street (in Silesian Ostrava, beyond the Ostravice river, on the right from the Miloš Sýkora Bridge, follow the upward street).
Other interesting buildings include:
- The Silesian Ostrava Town Hall. From the beginning of the 20th century. On the Těšínská street (in Silesian Ostrava, beyond the Ostravice river, on the right from the Miloš Sýkora Bridge).
- The Silesian Ostrava Castle. From the 13th century. Was rebuilt several times. Its current appearance is not so interesting as one would expect. On the Hradní street (Castle Street; in Silesian Ostrava, beyond the Ostravice river, on the right from the Miloš Sýkora Bridge).
- The Evangelical Church. From the beginning of the 20th century. Built in Dutch Renaissance style. On the Českobratrská street.
- The Cathedral of the Divine Saviour. The second largest church in Moravia. From the end of the 19th century. Built as basilica in Neo-Renaissance style. On the náměstí Msgre. Šrámka (Monsignor Šrámek Square).
- The Antonín Dvořák Theatre. Formerly the National Theatre of Moravia and Silesia. From the beginning of the 20th century. On the Smetanovo náměstí (Smetana Square).
- The Parish Church of the Coronation of Virgin Mary. From the beginning of the 20th century. Built in Neo-Baroque style. On the Stojanovo náměstí (Stojan Square; in Ostrava-Mariánské Hory).
- The Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary. From the end of the 19th century. Built in Neo-Gothic style. On the náměstí Svatopluka Čecha (Svatopluk Čech Square; in Ostrava-Přívoz, not far from the Main Station).
- The Parish Church of St. Paul. From the 1880s. Built as basilica in Neo-Gothic style. On the Mírové náměstí (Peace Square; in Ostrava-Vítkovice).
- Polský dům (the Polish Centre). The building is from the beginning of the 20th century. Built in Art Nouveau style. On the Poděbradova street.
- The New City Hall. The largest city hall building in the Czech Republic. Built in the 1920s. The tower is 86 metres high. The four bronze statues symbolise the four functions of the city: mining, trade, learning and metallurgy. On the Prokešovo náměstí (Prokeš Square).
- The sculptural group "the Confluence of Four Rivers" (the Odra, the Opava, the Ostravice and the Lučina). By sculptor Miloš Axman. On the Varenská street by the "Dům vodohospodářů" (Water Management Administration Building) bus and trolleybus stop.
- The Miloš Sýkora Bridge. There is a small statue of Miloš Sýkora by the bridge to commemorate his act of saving the bridge at the end of World War II.
You can walk around Ostrava (you may have to use the public transport in some cases) to see the monuments. But from the tower of the New City Hall you can have panoramic view of Ostrava, see some mountains around Ostrava, and see most of the above mentioned monuments at once. The tower is open daily from 9:00 to 19:00 (summer time, April–October) or from 9:00 to 17:00 (winter time, November–March), but can temporarily be closed if the weather is bad. (The entrance fee is CZK 20 (full price) or CZK 10 (students), but a discount of 50 % is allowed for a group of people (20 persons or more)).
There are also some interesting museums in Ostrava. We highly recommend the Důl Michal (Michal Colliery) – a national cultural heritage. A guided tour. You will see the authentic atmosphere of a coal mine and learn many interesting facts about the organization of the work. Open April–October: Tuesday–Sunday, tours at 9:00, 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00. But an extra guided tour for a group of people can be arranged (even in March). Tell us in advance if you would like to see this monument. Address: Čsl. armády 95, Ostrava-Michálkovice.
The Museum of Mining (Landek) is another interesting one that we recommend. Open Tuesday–Sunday from 9:00 to 16:00. Address: Pod Landekem 64, Ostrava-Petřkovice.
If you like night-life, we recommend coming to the Stodolní street (www.stodolniulice.cz, but there is nothing at these pages, or www.stodolni.cz, but these pages are slow, time-consuming and if you do not have a strong computer, they will probably overburden it). The Stodolní street is known even abroad for a lot of extraordinary clubs and pubs that can be found on it. The clubs and pubs are open till very late at night.
Much more information about Ostrava (list of museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas, actual cultural events, further architectural monuments, and so on) can be found at the Ostrava City Information Centre.
Some brief presentation of the City of Ostrava is also given at www.mmo.cz/ostrava/mesto.html (in Czech, but English, German and Polish version is available as well).
We wish you a pleasant stay in Ostrava.