"A day in Brno" a Brno Travel Page by jo104

I went to this city on a day trip with my friend from her village in Bilovec with the nearest town Ostrava.

Brno lies between the junction of the south Moravian plain & Czech-Maravian highlands. This town is the second largest town in Czaech republic and is the economic & cultural centre of the wine producing south Moravia. It is known as predominantly being a student town.

The town is fairly compact & it is easy to walk although they are trams running. The main square is filled by a market place & here you can find the baroque Paranas fountain 1690-95.

It is a bit of a steep walk up to the Hrad a Pevnost Spilberk (castle & fortress) but there is plenty to see when you make it to the top including a great view from the tower. The castle was founded in the late 13C, during the 30 years war it was rebuilt as a Baroque fortress with large barracks and prisons. When French army under Napoleon Bonaparte destroyed important parts of the fortifications it lost its military usefulness & was coverted to a civil prison. It soon became known as “the prison of nations” it was one of the cruellest prisons with various torture methods.

When we went to view the prison it was easy to see why many men did not survive long, it was freezing cold and pitch dark.

There is a large art gallery which will take you a while to go through. Also there is a tower which you can climb and get a great view of the city like I did.

In the Stara Radnice (Old Town Hall) passage to the courtyard the famous symbols of Brno of the dragon and the wheel. The building and the tower were founded before the mid-13th centuary.

We also visited the catacombs which were very interesting but not for the squeamish they hold naturally preserved bodies some complete with hair & teeth. The inscription in a mass grave is “what we are now – you will be”

I can't remember where we went but its a place where they found remains of the mamoths. We climbed up a hill although could not get into this tower as it was closed but got a great view of this village.

I love the different colour roof tops

I stayed with my friend in the small town of Bilovec & I was very suprised that the local people immediatley started gossiping as to how her family must have money to have an English guest over. I found this to be pretty narrow minded and found people to be watching my every move. My friends family were so hospitable and fed me every Czech meal under the sun - thus me picking up weight. I felt treated like one of the family we even celebrated a traditional easter painted eggs and the boys beat the girls (lightly) with sticks & they must give them an egg.

It was a wonderful opportunity for me to experience genuine Czech cultural outside of Prague. Transport in Bilovec run only a few times a day miss it & you've got a problem.