So where is Brno?

The second largest city in the Czech Republic is located about 200km southeast of Prague in Moravia. The city is 'famous' for both its trade fairs and for its motorcycling Grand Prix. It is also a student town with many Colleges and Universities including Masaryk University. It's small but functional international airport receives a daily Ryanair flight from Stansted but the city is also well served by both rail and bus.

Location map for Brno

Getting around Brno is easy using the excellent tram and trolleybus services. A ticket with a 10 minute travel limit is 8Kc and for a 40 minute travel limit, its just 12Kc.

The city center is small and compact. Of particular interest are the churches, the castle (Spilbirk) and architectural styles of the buildings downtown.

Street map of Brno

Entering the city, one is immediately struck by two prominent hills on which Spilbirk Castle and the Petrov Church stand overlooking the city and surrounding countryside.

Other than for the week of the Brno Motorcycle grand prix the city is fairly quiet from a tourist perspective and lacks the distractions of roaming drunken stag partiers so often seen in Prague.

The area surrounding Brno is also beautiful and replete with prospective activities for the visitor. My next few entries will continue to discuss Brno and the surrounding area.

You can learn more about Brno at its official website - www.brno.cz - and on wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brno.