Scottish Games, Sychrov, The Czech Republic by Jaromír Zajíček

Traditional Scottish Games at Sychrov Castle are among the largest Scottish Games in Europe and are held under the auspices of Her Excellency Sian Macleod, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Czech Republic.

Really a rich program can be seen in two stages – primary and secondary, Games are hosted in a neo-Gothic castle Sychrov and its beautiful park. It is located about an hour driving from Prague.

Busy Scottish Games Programme includes

• Traditional and non-traditional Scottish and Irish music performed by famous Czech and foreign artists
• Demonstration and teaching of Scottish dances
• 2nd Whisky Festival – tasting scotch whiskey (single malt and blended)
• Classic Scottish Weightlifting competitions
• Children’s competitions throughout the day
• Theatre performance for children
• The show of the British veteran cars (Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Aston Martin, etc.)
• Historical camps with regular demonstrations and lectures
• Fencing
• Trained birds of prey demonstrations
• Market stalls with traditional and modern Scottish jewelery, kilts (skirts), music and small souvenirs

The basic admission fee is 400,- Czech Crowns (around €16), children up to 15 years for free. For further information about Scottish Games at Sychrov Castle can be found on the official website.

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Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by Joshua Lock

Although hiking in Wales is irrefutably gratifying, this spellbinding country has lots of attractions, activities and sights to satisfy the yearnings of all its visitors, regardless of age or taste. If you are fortunate enough to be heading off to Wales sometime soon, then you may be interested in reading about some of the top places to visit in this mesmerising nation.

Welsh Hawking Centre and Animal Park

Situated in the town of Barry in South Wales is the Welsh Hawking Centre and Animal Park. This animal centre looks after 200 birds of prey species and includes falcons, buzzards, Hawks, owls and eagles. There are also many other small animals to see, including new born chicks, ducks, rabbits and geese.

National Waterfront Museum

Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum is also a great attraction. With artefacts dating back some 300 years, this fascinating Welsh museum paints a unique picture of Wales’ vast industrial and maritime heritage. Displaying an interesting combination of innovative and interactive technology, with traditional displays, Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum offers a captivating visitor experience.

Anglesey Sea Zoo

Zoom off to the north to Anglesey, where a spectacular coast, winding lanes and friendly hospitality means you can truly relax and indulge in the Welsh way of life. From witnessing submarine wolves, to spotting some amazing invertebrates and taking a peek at the ‘No Bone Zone’, it is easy to understand why Anglesey Sea Zoo is one of Wales’ leading tourist attractions.

You can also get inside the Seven Sisters Shipwreck, walk through shark pool grids and muse past the centre’s Kelp Forrest. This is full of gigantic fish and overall Anglesey Sea Zoo is home to an incredible 150 species of marine life.

Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by Pete

Caerphilly Castle

You cannot go far in Wales before you see some sort of castle dominating the landscape and one of the country’s most imposing and exciting castles has to be Caerphilly Castle. This majestically grand castle is an outstanding verification to Wales’ turbulent medieval times and an ideal tourist attraction.

Touring through Wales in a caravan can be a great way to discover some of these fascinating attractions and, being a ‘caravanning paradise’ you are never too far away from a one of the many caravan sites in Wales.

The following travel information is brought to you by Caravan Club. Caravan Club are dedicated to providing caravan enthusiasts with comprehensive information on caravan parks throughout the UK, including many great caravan sites in Wales. They also provide advice for all aspects of caravanning.

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At the area of ​​240,000 square meters you will find more than 750 species of birds from all continents. Visitors have the opportunity to see a unique show of birds of prey or to feed the tame birds out of hand. The reservation owns the largest collection of parrots (more than 200 species), including the rarest ones. Rare species of birds fly without any restrictions above the heads of visitors.

But Weltvogelpark Walsrode is not about the birds only, you will find there also great gardens.

Next to Weltvogelpark Walsrode there is a huge parking space available also for the caravans and mobile homes. Basic admission fee is €16, but you can get there also for free at the day of your birthday. Weltvogelpark Walsrode is open daily from 18 March to 1 November 2011 from 09.00 am to 19.00 pm.

For further information visit the official website of Weltvogelpark Walsrode

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The animals here live in very nice pavilions and it is really amazing how much space they have available. The pride of the ZOO is a newly built Indonesian jungle pavilion, tiger and predators pavilions, and a house of African gorillas. Very interesting exhibitions are also an aviary for birds of prey, pavilion of big mammals, the giraffe area and polar bears pavilion.

But the Prague Zoo is probably mainly proud of a unique breed of rare Przewalski’s horses. The main task of zoos is to protect species and help in their reproduction and Prague Zoo is involved in the reintroduction of Przewalski’s horses. Przewalski’s Horse lives in the wild only in Mongolia, and even there it was last observed during the scientific expedition sometimes in the 50′s of the 20th century.

Natural evolution

During its existence, the Prague Zoo has undergone many changes and has made great development. In its opening in 1931 Zoo had about 300 animals and was spread on an area of ​​only 8 hectares. It gradually expanded, but still retains the quality.

Prague Zoo was very affected by floods in 2002. A large number of animals were killed and many buildings were damaged. After the floods, ZOO has undergone extensive refurbishment and now it is a very modern and popular zoo. The symbol of those floods is a sea lion Guston, who in 2002 got into the river and was caught up in Dresden, Germany. Unfortunately the seal lion died on its way back to ZOO.

During the reconstruction of the Prague Zoo, several interesting and unique buildings were built here. These include also the most expensive pavilion in the history of the Czech Zoos – Indonesian jungle. The pavilion was opened in 2004 instead of 50-year-old monkey pavilion. The pavilion has an elliptical shape of the greenhouse, which creates the impression of the jungle. Inside, visitors can see the orangutans, gibbons or lizards.

Other interesting sites in the Prague Zoo include complex of monkey islands, children’s zoo (where kids may even feed the animals), African pavilion and lots of other new pavilions. Prague Zoo is growing rapidly, so in the near future we can look forward to another interesting enclosures and pavilions.

How to get there

Prague Zoo is one of the places where you can spend pleasant moments with your children. You can come here by your own car, or you can take a bus from the subway station Holešovice. A pleasant experience can be already a trip to the zoo by a ferry across Prague.

For more information, visit official website of Prague Zoo.

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