Casinos, curvy garden gnomes and a roadside David: what the Czech-German border really looks like

Ever since Czechia joined the Schengen zone, drivers have been able to cross the Czech-German border without stopping for years now. Yet the roadside scenery on the Czech side still looks frozen in the 1990s, judging by the countless signs and stalls clearly aimed at German tourists and passers-through.

Right along the shoulder of the road, travelers are greeted by replicas of Michelangelo's David — and there's no shortage of them, with plenty to choose from. Nearby, vendors sell garden birdhouses, jerry cans and all sorts of household odds and ends familiar to anyone who's ever driven these roads.

Nightlife and garden statues, side by side

A little further along the highway, you'll find nightclubs and other establishments of a similar nature — just as much a fixture of the landscape here as the souvenir stands. Right next door stand little figurines of garden gnomes with exaggeratedly voluptuous curves — another instantly recognizable symbol of border-town kitsch that has been catching the eyes of passing Germans for years.

This peculiar mix of casinos, nightclubs and endearingly naive garden ornaments has long been the trademark of the Czech-German borderlands. Despite open borders and free movement across the EU, this quirky roadside business shows no sign of disappearing, still running on a formula perfected over decades — one built specifically with German visitors in mind.

Source: novinky.cz