Brno - we loved Prague but so glad we went to Czechia's second city

  1. The "tall horse" statue of Margrave Jošt of Luxembourg.

  2. View from Old Town Hall Tower

  3. View from Old Town Hall Tower

  4. Vegetable Market Square with its deckchairs - laidback atmosphere with live music in the evening

  5. Church of St James (Brno)

  6. Moravian Square - tree having a long rest

  7. Moravian Square by night with water features - another lovely place to hang for families

  8. View from Moravian Square back towards central Brno

  9. Brno Astronomical Clock - at 1100 every day the clocks chime and it drops a large glass marble down one of four chutes to the lucky or unlucky waiting hands. The guy in the blue jacket was the winner.

  10. Vegetable Market Square (Cabbage Market) in operation

  11. The underground tour of the Cabbage Market - old cellars were all linked up and you can tour - there's a couple of tours per day in English which I recommend, unless your Czech is up to speed.

  12. A wine cellar under the square. There are many industries represented.

  13. Mendel Square, named for Swiss monk Gregor Mendel who discovered the principles of genetics many years before scientists got into the whole area of study. I visited the museum as only a true student of biology would.

  14. Mendel was still there!

  15. The 10-Z Bunker (Kryt 10-Z) is a historic nuclear fallout shelter and museum located beneath Špilberk Hill at Husova Street in Brno.

  16. Very eerie place

  17. Probably my favourite thing in Brno, although there are many.

  18. Punkva Caves about 20km outside Brno, beautiful part of the world and the tour finishes with a boat ride (no photos on the boat ride part allowed).

  19. Gorgeous formations - a pity our tour was in Czech but I've toured so many caves I could probably do my own narration by now.

  20. Machocha Abyss which you pass inside the cave, a massive sinkhole. We also walked to the top of the ridge to look in. There was a cable car I think but we walked.

So there's a lot to see and some pretty good places to eat. We had four nights there and enjoyed it as much as Prague but with a much more local vibe rather than tourists. Not to say there weren't tourists but it was less crowded and the whole place seemed pretty friendly. Would recommend.

Author: imapassenger1