15.10.2017 liina-liina

Weirdly wonderful Ostrava, part one – Mercure Ostrava Center Hotel

Ever visited Ostrava? Ever even heard of it? Ostrava is the third biggest city in the Czech Republic, mostly known by its coal mines and probably now also as the place where the ice hockey championships were arranged in 2015. I have visited the city already three times. As a teenager, our basketball team made a very interesting choice and decided to attend a tournament that took place in this industrial town that none of us had even heard of. The trip was, well, tragicomic in many ways and at least unforgettable if anything else. It left quite big marks so I never believed that I would visit Ostrava again. But I sure did. Twice already. I have actually seen four different hotels/hostels in Ostrava! However, I’m focusing on my latest trip and the hotels I got to visit that time.

The reason for my latest trips to Ostrava the past two summers is a festival called Colours of Ostrava. The four-day-long event has definitely been more than good reason to make the effort of visiting Ostrava. The festival is arranged in an old and urban coal mine district which already makes the festival worth seeing. The line-up is filled with good music of all genres, from world music to jazz and techno – it is an interesting mixture of big current artists and smaller local names.

Though I highly recommend this festival to everyone, this is not the reason why I’m writing this post. But I do recommend these following hotels, in case you’re thinking about visiting the festival and looking for a place to stay! During my visit, I was staying at Mercure Ostrava Center Hotel. My first reaction: I can’t remember when was the last time I had stayed in a hotel as high-quality as this was. (I’m a student, so I rarely have opportunities to stay in luxurious hotels…). The room rate at the Mercure Hotel is very good and value for money. The rooms were clean and pleasant with a bathroom big enough – exactly what one could expect from a 4 star hotel. In addition to the bar and restaurant, the hotel had also a wellness centre with a gym. It wasn’t big but the few equipments they had there were in good condition which is always a plus. Hotel’s location is indeed quite central and it was really easy to take a tram from the hotel to the festival site. The breakfast was also nice! In addition to the buffet table, there was a changing chef preparing eggs for the customers according to their wishes. Omelettes, scrambled eggs or poached eggs – whatever one pleased to have. And the chef could be the receptionist on one day or the sales manager on another. I thought this was cute.

If you ever visit Ostrava, I believe that this might be the best hotel option, in case you appreciate comfort and quality. The only minus was that during my visit the street where the main entrance was located was in construction and it was completely torn open. The contractors also started their work in the street pretty early (too early for me) in the morning, so they functioned pretty much as my alarm clock… Also since one could still weirdly use this street despite of this construction, the hotel’s halls were quite dirty from the sand that everyone was bringing in with their shoes which then sticked to the hotel’s fitted carpet. It just made me feel sorry for the cleaners…