Not sure of what to do in Brno, my friend and I attempted to charter a tour to the Moravian Karst (Moravsky Kase in Czech).
Brno is a natural preserve containing a series of deep-water caves and lots of stalagmites and stalactites. We did not know how to actually arrive there and no real tours existed to help us.
We ended up with Pavel, a Czech native who had studied film direction in school and has lived in Brno for the last eight years. This would serve as Paval’s first tour to the caves as well and I think he enjoyed it as much as we did. In addition to his company and his ability to enlighten us about the local Czech lifestyle, it paid to have someone with us who spoke the language.
We arrived in the small town of Blansko around ten forty-five and took a fifty-cent bus ride up to the caverns. Our first cave tour took us on a meandering path through a variety of rooms filled with eerie rock formations that had been formed over millions of years ago. Apparently, the stalagmites only grow one millimeter every ten years. Since some of these things were thirty feet tall, you really start to realize how long this amazing natural phenomenon took to create!
After the walking tour, we ended up at a boat dock where the Czech tour guide led us through the underground river tunnels. Imagine Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. Parts of the ride required everyone to duck or lean in order to avoid losing a head. Most of the river was only about a meter deep, but certain pools dropped down to forty meters in depth. Naturally formed underwater bridges of rock sat above these depths creating allusions to the legendary underwater city of Atlantis.
In dire need of some form of nourishment, we hiked to the top of the mountain to find the only restaurant in the area. On our descent, Paval started telling me about climbing in Moravsky Kase and Cesky Raj. As we walked down, I took a closer look at the rock walls and I noticed that someone had already set a few routes! Climbing would have to wait until a later date, but our conversations with Paval continued as we exchanged stories about our homes. Speaking with a true local really made the trip more enriching and interesting. I’ve found this a common thread throughout my travels: If you really want a taste of local culture, you have to branch out and make friends with people you would never even think of approaching.
