Which European Country has the Worst Drunks According to YouTube Videos

by Neil Woodburn on

Europe has a long tradition of drinking. While this may not be such a bad cultural norm, there are a few bad apples who embrace their love of alcohol just a little too enthusiastically.

If you’ve been to Europe, you know what I’m talking about. Sure, my home country of America has its share of drunks, but for whatever reason I always see far more stumbling, incoherent, word-slurring reprobates on the streets of Europe than I ever do back home.

So which country is the worst? Which European country is plagued with too many drunks encountering difficulty riding bikes, crossing the street, holding a tune, or otherwise trying to go about their daily lives while debilitatingly inebriated?

Well, now thanks to YouTube, you can be the judge. Just click the play button on any of the below videos and then vote for Europe’s most intoxicated country at the end of the post.

Cheers!

Poland

Poland #2

Russia

Germany

Switzerland

Czech Republic #1

Czech Republic #2

Slovakia

Croatia

France

England

Ireland

Scotland

Ukraine #1

Ukraine #2

Romania

%Poll-3050%

Leave Prague for Authentic Czech Pubs

by Neil Woodburn on

To get the typical Czech pub experience these days, one must now leave Prague far behind.

When I first began visiting this fine city more than a decade ago, traditional Czech pubs were on every corner. They were smoky, served cheap beer, and full of all walks of Czech life, from students to pensioners, artists to soldiers, and everything in between.

Today, however, most pubs in the center of Prague are now overpriced tourist dives that lack the charm and character of their communist era predecessors.

So, what to do?

Traveler extraordinaire Rick Steves has a solution: leave town.

The Czech Republic is blessed with numerous small towns simply oozing with character. Although many have moved with the times, a leisurely drive through the countryside will reveal those that haven’t. You probably won’t be able to pronounce their names, but you will be able to locate the local bar and pop in for a pint. If you’re lucky, you just might get a surly, communist era waitress who ticks off your 50 cent beers on a small slip of paper left at the table. Take a deep drink and you may just travel back in time.

Low-Brow Wine-Cellar Hopping in Moravia

by Iva Skoch on

Getting away from cities. Folks in costumes. Plenty of cheap wine to go around. If this concept frightens you already, you might as well stop reading now.

Most people visiting the Czech Republic–some 8 million annually–come only to Prague. For those trying to get away from all those tourists, I suggest heading to the south eastern part of the country: the wine growing region of Moravia. September is a great month to go because the wine harvest is in full-swing and wine-tastings readily available.

I am not going to lie to you. Don’t expect Napa Valley or Bordeaux. Don’t even bother with the red wines. Too cold for them. The whites, however, range from Pinot Blancs to Rieslings, and are generally very good. Above all, the wine cellars are all different and their owners tend to be generous, eclectic types.

You can also do a bicycle tour of Czech/Moravian wineries. Just remember as of last year, you can actually get a ticket when riding your bicycle drunk in the Czech Republic. Thankfully, no “open container” laws, yet.

Mushroom Pickers Unite!

by Iva Skoch on

Well, it’s that time of year again in the Czech Republic. Time for those atavistic hunter-gatherer instincts to be unleashed. Thousands of Europeans with crazed looks in their darting eyes, trembling fingers clutching baskets, socks rolled over their pant legs (ticks!), marching, probing, snooping, we stumble through the forests like zombies. We guard our secret spots, we spy on others for their secret spots, we come home lucky, or we come home dejected.

Yes, it’s mushroom-picking time.

With Czechs and Slovaks, at least, it’s an obsession. I’ve heard claims that 80% of us do it at least occasionally. And this is the time of year. A certain combination of weather conditions (usually rain then heat) makes these buggers sprout up, filling the forests. And collect them, we do. It’s a family affair, taking up our weekends. The fuller the basket, the better. They are sauteed, made into soups, dried for the winter.

The kind we hunt is called the “hrib,” also known as the boletus or porcini mushroom (pictured above).

Americans can’t seem to understand this custom, although there is ‘gold in them thar hills’: one need only read a recent New Yorker article about the fortunes made mushroom-picking in the woods of Oregon, for example. Wikipedia, in a well down article, lays mushroom picking down as a Slavic custom, only for those braving poisoning, using knowledge passed down for generations.

Savvy Traveler: Let Czechoslovakia Die, Please

by Iva Skoch on

It has been 14 painful years for me since Czechoslovakia broke up in what they called a “Velvet Divorce“. Not so velvet for me.

Since January 1, 1993, I have been trying to patiently teach everyone outside the country to learn to love the sound of “Czech Republic” and “Slovak Republic”. I know, I know. It doesn’t quite come out as easily but please, don’t make me suffer any longer.

See what I have to go through on a daily basis:

“I can detect an accent. Where are you from?”

“Czech Republic.”

“Ah, Czechoslovakia.”

“Well, it’s actually the Czech and Slovakia now. The country split up in 1993.”

“Oh, I see. So, in Czechoslovakia, do you have indoor plumbing?”

Well, OK. It’s not quite that bad but it often comes close. Sometimes, when I travel I just tell people I am from Iceland so I don’t have to put up with the whole routine of “Czechoslovakia” any more. Please, let the nonexistent country die a velvet death.