Brno - the Moravian capital

Did you know that while the official language of the Czech republic is Czech, there is an area where you may hear a langugae completely different from most czech dialects. Welcome to the city of "hantec", a weird unique slang language inspired by Czech, German and Jiddish. And also, welcome to the Czech second most populous city and a metropolis of Moravia, the eastern half of the Republic. Long live Brno.

So what is so interesting about this city? Let's take a look at some of the most popular tourist attractions:

Špilberk castle
This old medieval castle and fortress form one of the most noticeable landmarks of Brno. Built in the 13th century it had served as the seat of the Margrave of Moravia for centuries. Later it got revamped into a military base, fortress, later prison and most recently barracks for Austro-Hungarian military. Today it houses a land museum and you can also visit underground casemates.

Petrov cathedral
No panorama skyline of Brno would be complete without the two neo gothic towers of the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul on Petrov. This masterpiece of Gothic-Revival architecture is to my opinion one of the most beautiful in the Czech republic.

Veveří castle
The second castle standing in the outskirts of the city was built in the 11th century as the seat for the late Duke of Bohemia. Later it had remained the primary fortified royal residence in the southern Moravia  for centuries. When it was given to the private hands of the aristocracy centuries later, it changed hands quickly and it kinda remained so till the 20th century when it was sold to the Czechoslovak republic and remained open for public ever since. There are two guided tours on the castle, one for 120 and the other for 180 CZK.
In order to get to the castle, you need to take a bus 303 from the city center, or ride a tram to Bystrc and then take a short romantic boat trip across the Brno water reservoir.

The Old town hall
First you can find here the tourist information center which will server as the great base camp for your city exploration. But the building is quite interesting by itself. It no longer houses the city administration, now it was changed into a museum. You can climb up the main tower and enjoy great panoramatic view of the city. Also, do not miss the famous "Brno dragon", a stuffed crocodile that, apparently, used to roam city's sewers until it was caught and killed.

Getting there
While there is quite a modern intenrational airport in the city, Brno Tuřany, there is unfortunatelly a very small number of flights that operate here. The other closest airports would be Bratislava, Vienna or Prague. Ostrava and Pardubice are also quite close, but their size is comparable with the Brno's.
The city lies in the middle of the main highway and railway connection between Prague and the east of the republic. There are multiple daily connections to Prague, Ostrava, Bratislava, Vienna and Budapest by both bus and train. Just avoid the area of the main railway station at night.

Getting around
With the population of almost 500 thousand, the city has quite and advanced network of day and night public transportation. There are several tramway lines in the city center (but spanning even further outside the city limits in some cases), supported by a network of buses and trolleys. There are two types of tickets, short one (15 min, 20 CZK) and long one (60 min, 25 CZK). And don't worry, almost all signs and signals are in three languages, Czech, English and German. Kinda cool for the Czech republic, right?

Some times when people think of the Czech republic, they picture Prague and that's where it ends. I hope I gave you at least a little sneak peak of how this may not be the case. There is always a lot to explore. Let's go always on :)

Love, Lex