Plze?sk? Prazdroj brewery is a barrier-free tourist destination in the Plze? region. It is not just coincidence that the launch of Miroslav Valina?s book, ?Where to Without Barriers ? Plze? Region?, which recommends and maps out handicapped-friendly locations, took place here. In one of the chapters of his book, the author mentions the barrier-free environment of Plze?sk? Prazdroj, and especially the visitors? tour of Pilsner Urquell brewery.
Seven wheelchair-bound visitors were present at the launch of the new book in the Plze?sk? Prazdroj Visitors Centre. They also tried the visitors? tour to test its barrier-free character. Pilsen Major Martin Baxa, Petr Bal?? of the Albatros publishing house, and Vesselin Barliev of Plze?sk? Prazdroj spoke at the event. The director of the 700 Years of Town of Pilsen Foundation wished the author and his book many happy readers.
The Plze?sk? Prazdroj brewery tour is accessible to all handicapped visitors. Guides are trained and equipped to ensure a pleasant experience to visitors with hearing, sight, physical, and other impairments, so all visitors may enjoy this rich source of information about the history of the brewery and the materials and procedures used to produce Pilsner Urquell beer. ?After the major technical improvements in 2008, the Pilsner Urquell visitors? tour is fully accessible to our handicapped visitors, and that includes our historic brewery cellars. Thanks to making our brewery barrier-free, hundreds of handicapped visitors have come to see our brewery,? said Jind?i?ka Eli??kov?, Manager of Tourism and Visitors? Services of Plze?sk? Prazdroj.
Visitors with sight impairments receive their guide in the Braille alphabet. Besides the opportunity to feel a bottle or a can, there are many other artifacts and materials that allow them to engage their sense of touch and other senses along the way. The materials exhibition gives everybody a truly enjoyable opportunity to taste hops and barley malt. Movement along the tour is made possible thanks to barrier-free entrances and lifts in the bottling room and the brewing house.
Hearing-impaired visitors will receive a printed version of the tour guide and thus will receive exactly the same information as everybody else.
For those with physical impairments, the tour offers barrier-free entrance and movement throughout, as well as in the gift shop, convention centre ?Secese,? and in ?Na Spilce? restaurant. All passageways and doors along the tour are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, and so are the lifts. The bus used to transport our visitors is also equipped with a lift. All restrooms in the Visitors Centre and in the bottling room are also barrier-free.
Miroslav Valina?s book ?Where to Without Barriers ? Plze? region? is published by CPress Publishing. The volume is intended as the first of the new series of travel guides for seniors, families with small children, but mainly for citizens with any kind of impairment. Readers will find information about historic monuments, natural wonders, cultural institutions, buildings, amusement parks, and other interesting destinations in the Plze? region. They will also learn about the construction and natural barriers to watch out for, and they will learn about transportation possibilities and other barrier-free facilities (accommodation, fast food, restrooms, etc.)