Moravia: How to Discover It in a Single Day?
Would you like to visit Moravia but you are pressed for time? We will recommend you places you can visit in a single day. We will present you the cities of Brno, Olomouc and Ostrava, we will visit the Vysočina region and recommend you several UNESCO sights. So pack your things and let’s head off – we have only one day
Brno: a City with the Dragon Emblem
Although Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, you will manage to see the historic centre in a couple of hours with some time left to explore interesting places around it. Brno has a dragon as its emblem, which is displayed in the Old Town Hall. Two dominant places are worth visiting in Brno – they are St. Peter and St. Paul's Cathedral, situated on Petrov hill, and Špilberk Castle, with expositions of the Brno City Museum. A deserved attraction is the city casemates, in particular: the underground tunnels with an exposition of baroque fortification architecture and prisons constructed under the reign of Joseph II.
Historic rarities that are visited quite frequently include a picturesque Renaissance St. Jacob's Church, Capuchin Tomb, with mummified bodies of local monks and other personalities, the cellar in the House of the Masters of the Mint and the medieval underground. On the other hand, modern times are represented by a bullet-shaped "horologe", located in Náměstí Svobody (Freedom Square) and Villa Tugendhat, built by renowned architect Ludwig Miese van der Rohe and included in UNESCO’s List of World Cultural Heritage. Families with children will surely enjoy the prehistoric museum in Anthropos Hall, a visit to the Technical Museum with an interactive games room or a boat cruise on Brno Reservoir in summer.
Just a few dozen kilometres from Brno lies the Moravian Karst with Macocha Abyss and a number of accessible stalactite caves. The most attractive places include Kateřinská Cave and Punkva Caves where you will conduct part of your tour on board a boat cruising the underground River Punkva.
In addition, as South Moravia is a renowned region for its good wine, those of you who love wine should definitely not miss a wine-tasting exposition at the Wine Salon of the Czech Republic, taking place under Valtice chateau, a viticultural exposition of the Regional Museum in the town of Mikulov with a unique giant barrel or a trip to the Šobes Vineyard near the town of Znojmo, ranked by viticulturists among the ten highest quality vineyard locations in Europe.
Olomouc: the City of Fountains and the Holy Trinity Column
A visit to the city of Olomouc can be made in a couple of hours. However, if you want, you can make it a whole day – it is up to you! The crown jewel of Olomouc is the 32-metre baroque Holy Trinity Column, included in UNESCO’s List of World Cultural Heritage and decorating the Upper Square (“Horní náměstí”) for more than 250 years. You will find a gothic town hall with later Renaissance adjustments near the square, which has a scenic tower and an astronomical clock. You can watch it in action at noon every day.
Wherever you go in the historic centre, you can feast your eyes on a group of fountains, inspired by classical mythology. Three of these fountains are situated in the Upper Square: the fountain of Olomouc’s legendary founder Caesar, Hercules Fountain and modern Arion Fountain. The Lower Square is decorated with Jupiter Fountain and the oldest fountain in Olomouc, constructed in 1683 – Neptune Fountain. Mercury Fountain can be found in “8. května” street, whereas Republic Square (“Náměstí Republiky”) features Tritons Fountain.
Religious sights include St. Maurice's Church with a scenic tower, St. Michael’s Church, but mainly St. Wenceslas' Cathedral, which is part of the national cultural monument Premyslid Castle. Visit the nearby Archdiocese Museum, which includes a precious Romanesque Bishop’s Palace, associated with the beginnings of the Olomouc bishopric in the 11th century.
When passing through Olomouc you will notice still existing military forts in many places, that were part of a unique fortification even during the 19th century; there is the Museum of the Olomouc Fortifications you can visit at Fort XVII. Vast parks in Olomouc offer pleasant places for relaxing: you can visit tropical and subtropical greenhouses in Smetana Gardens or a botanical garden with a rosarium near Bezruč Gardens.
In close proximity to Olomouc is the Premonstratensian monastery Hradisko and The Virgin Mary's Church of Pilgrimage on Svatý Kopeček (“Holy Mount”), with a nearby popular zoo.
Have you managed to see everything in Olomouc quicker than you had planned? Then you can make the most of your trip and head off to the town of Kroměříž. There are a number of places worth visiting: the Archbishop’s Palace with a famous picture gallery, the Bishop’s Mint and two gardens called Podzámecká and Květná, also featuring on UNESCO’s List of World Cultural Heritage.
Technical Sights and Other Interesting Places in Ostrava
Ostrava, too, has a lot to offer and you will definitely not be bored there. The magnet for the city’s visitors are technical sights. One of them is the Miner's Museum with a possibility to go down a pit. When visiting "Michal" mine you will follow in the footsteps of miners, from the gate to the entrance of an original skip. A striking dominant sight of the city of Ostrava is the lower part of Vítkovice, a complex consisting of a mine called Hlubina, blast furnaces and a coking plant of Vítkovice ironworks, featured on the list of European Cultural Heritage in view of its outstanding character.
A slag heap called Ema and the New Town Hall scenic tower with a gallery in the height of 73 metres offer a unique view of the city as well as the nearby Beskydy range. The exhibition ground called Černá louka features the "Miniuni" World of Miniatures with models of important European cities on display, the Fairytale Cellar with Ghosts and the Marine World of Animals, where you can admire seawater and freshwater fauna. TheThe Ostravar Brewery with a Brewery Museum will introduce you to the Ostrava brand’s brewing processes and history with a pleasant highlight in the form of local beer tasting. A venue where many exhibitions, events, historic fairs and festivals take place is the Slezskoostravský Castle. On the other hand, you can experience purely modern, contemporary Ostrava in Stodolní Street, well-known even outside the Czech Republic. You can choose from some sixty clubs, bars and restaurants with entertainment. Among the popular destinations is also the Zoo in Ostrava-Michálkovice and the DinoPark, featuring models of prehistoric animals.
You can combine your trip to Ostrava with a visit to the Wallachian Open-Air Museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, the oldest and largest museum of folk architecture in Central Europe, or to the town of Kopřivnice with the Tatra Technical Museum.
Vysočina and its UNESCO Sights
Vysočina is not only a region with wooded hills and meadows, many tourist paths and cycle routes but also a great destination for art and history lovers. How come? You will find there three of the twelve places included in UNESCO’s List of Cultural and Natural Heritage. They form an imaginary triangle with a 40km distance between them and can easily be visited in a single day.
The town of Telč, rightly considered one of the most beautiful towns in the Czech Republic, is known for its Zachariáš z Hradce Square fringed by burgher houses with Renaissance gables and arcades. The historic centre of Telč is also a UNESCO sight, together with its Renaissance chateau. Its Renaissance garden and interiors with illusive paintings, coffered ceilings and stucco decorations are very precious, too.
{0>Bazilika sv. Prokopa v Třebíči, postavená v románském slohu s gotickými prvky, patří ke skvostům středověkého stavitelství.<}0{>St. Prokop's Basilica in Třebíč, built in the Romanesque style with gothic elements, is one of the jewels of medieval architecture. It is included in UNESCO’s list of sights, together with the Jewish Quarter in Třebíč, synagogue and the Jewish Cemetery. Another stop is the baroque pilgrimage St. John of Nepomuk Church on the Zelená hora near Žďár nad Sázavou, built in 1719-1722 under a project by architect J. B. Santini. The church itself is surrounded by a cemetery and it is fringed by pilgrimage cloisters in the shape of a ten-pointed star.
In case you have enough time and energy you can combine the trips in the Vysočina region with a visit to the Litomyšl Renaissance chateau. It is listed as a UNESCO sight as an example of a Renaissance aristocratic residence with picturesque sgraffito decoration. A long square lined with arcades and a modern complex of Monastery gardens are both worth visiting.
We have already presented you Prague and Bohemia in other articles; more tips for trips and holiday in the Czech Republic are available at www.tipsfortrips.cz.
Bara Ticoalu
Assistent
CzechTourism Scandinavia
Villagatan 21, Box 26 156
100 41 Stockholm
Sweden
T: 46 8 44 04 221
F: 46 8 41 12 855
