Country 11 - Czech Republic [Part 1]

The Czech Republic is another hidden gem within Europe... and much more accessible than my other favorite, Estonia.

Because we’re on a tight schedule to get to Paris this weekend, the Czech Republic is the only country we are staying in 2 cities on this trip, not just the capital city. We opted to stay in Brno as well as Prague because BRNO is a 40 minute drive from the Punkevny Caves (Punka Caves). The Czech Republic has some of the best caverns in all of Europe, and even an underground river to boat down. This seemed like a great detour.

The Czech highways are on par with Poland as being modern with higher speed limits. The drive is also much nicer as you’re driving through rolling hills and forest with low mountains on the sides. This was all fine, but the country roads to the caverns were even more scenic. Beautiful and near-perfect ribbons of asphalt that wind through incredible hills and valleys with small towns punctuating the way. Long sweeping curves with the occasional hairpin followed by straights bounding over hill-tops and through green valley floors. The caverns were very cool, but the driving was equally awesome (for the driver…).

When we got to the caves, there was one guy who spoke English. He was shocked to see us and stuttered a bit when he heard we were from California. During our entire ~5 hours of walking and floating through amazing caverns and exploring the Czech countryside, we saw no other English-speaking tourists. It was almost entirely Czechs. This seemed to be the hidden secret known only to the Czechs. I feel a little guilty writing about it here for fear it will be spoiled if too many people find it!

After touring the Punkevny Caves, we did a bit more exploring of the Czech countryside and toured another of the caverns in the area. The small towns were equally cool to drive through and occasional stop to check out.

For those like me who never would have stopped in Brno otherwise, it’s a very cool city. Yes… yet another “Old Town”… The city has a cool history, but nearly everything is punctuated with humor. You kind of need a local to show you as not everything is immediately apparent. Also of note is that ~65k of the ~400k residence are students. As a result, the town has a very cool energy, and some of the best beer in Europe. Surprisingly (maybe because of the young population) this is one of the cheaper cities to stay in for lodging, food, etc.

We also spent a lot of time talking with our local guide about life in The Czech Republic, both before and after the fall of the Soviet Union. She was genuinely excited to tell us all about her family history living under the Soviet Union, and then after. The abridged version is that her grandfather worked for a Czechoslovakian government official, taking care of his horses. That was enough for the KGB to thrown him in jail for many years. She talked about how during the Soviet occupation, entrepreneurship was forbidden. Only the state could start a business. At the fall of the Soviet Union, there were many who immediately started businesses… including her grandfather, who started a now international company that produces industrial water cleaning equipment.

She also talked about how at the end of the Soviet Union, life became one giant party. Under Soviet rule, people were forbidden from doing so many things that when the Soviets left, so did all the rules. The people kinda went wild. Drinking, dancing and partying became the norm. As well, traveling during Soviet times required a permit that you earned by being a good communist. People were forbidden to travel without one of these permits. During communism, Croatia was the most exotic place you could visit. After communism, the world grew exponentially for the Czechs and others.

She then explained with passion about why the ex-Soviet states are so upset about Russia invading Ukraine. In her mind, it would be an unimaginable fate to once again be forced into living under Soviet control. Her family has two Ukrainian families who fled the war living with them now.

Equally interesting was her telling us that there is a segment of the population that wants to once again live under Russian control. She referred to them as the MAGAs of Czechia. Stripping away her political commentary… the gist of it is that these people like the idea of Putin the nationalist strongman.

And if this were not enough to call our stay in Brno a win, we happened to also stay during the largest Brazilian celebration in all of The Czech Republic. No. I did not just make that up. The whole city goes nuts with drumming, dancing and drinking. Lots of colorful costumes. The whole city comes out and dances to the Brazilian rhythms. Kinda weird to be dancing with ~400k Czechs on a cobble stone street in The Czech Republic … to Brazilian rhythm drumming.

And finally, the cherry on top… We took an early morning hike up to the Brno castle. We had the castle mostly to ourselves other than a couple runners who ran up and down the steep path to the castle.