"Industrial Ostrava" a Ostrava Travel Page by cheekymarieh

Ostrava has an industrial heritage similar to North East England. It had a heavy dependency on the mining and steel industries which in recent years have declined.

The city is built on the banks of the River Ostravice. It is only 10 miles from the Polish border and 30 miles from Slovakia so it has influences from its neighbours.

Ostrava, admittedly wouldn't have leapt out at me as a place to visit and I probably wouldn't have done so. That changed howevere, when Middlesbrough were drawn against Banik Ostrava in their very first UEFA Cup game. Once the draw was made, most Middlesbrough supporters booked flights to Prague. I'd already carried out my research and straight after the draw I called my brother in Warsaw. My route turned out to be much cheaper as the low cost airlines soon put up their prices to Prague.

The game ended up marred by some hooligans fighting but it will stick in my memory for the late goal by one of your youngsters who came on and scored the equaliser.