Brno Walls Walk and Castle Visit

Well, we did shut the windows! At 3 a.m. Sarah woke me up because she couldn’t sleep due to the noise from the bars downstairs. At least for me it had been an OK night up until then. It was hot when I woke at 6 a.m., but not too bad.

It was quite a pleasant temperature outside when we set off to explore the city. We walked to the market square first and then into the courtyard of the Old Town Hall. Hanging there is a crocodile that is apparently the “Brno Dragon.” Looks more like a crocodile to us. The history of the dragon/crocodile is steeped in mystery.

Our next stop was the start of a walking circuit around the old city walls and fortifications. There was a geocache that highlighted this, but Sarah had also read about it and added it to our Google Map. The city is famous for the fact that in 1645, 1,000 soldiers and 2,000 citizens defended the city from an invading Swedish army of 28,000 soldiers. That’s a very impressive defensive effort, so we assume the walls were instrumental in that battle. There isn’t that much of them left these days, but the walk does highlight a few remnants.

Mid-walk, we arrived at the bottom of Špilberk Hill Park, atop which sits Špilberk Castle. We headed up the hill and explored inside and outside the castle walls. You can walk around much of the area for free, but there are also paid tours of certain indoor sections, which don’t open until later in the morning. At the back of the castle walls, we looked down on what appeared to be a medieval reenactment camp. Tents were set up and people were dressed in medieval costumes. It looked like they were getting ready for something. Later, we saw signs with “1645” printed on them, and some Googling back at the apartment revealed this was day two of a three-day annual festival celebrating the famous defense of the city in 1645. We’ll keep an eye out for further displays, though we couldn’t find a specific timetable for the events.

Back down from the castle hill, we continued following the old city walls trail, but the rest of it doesn’t seem to have any remaining physical landmarks. We ended up at a square with a very tall horse and rider sculpture, which we later learned is the Equestrian Statue of Margrave Jobst of Luxembourg. This square is also not far from a park we visited yesterday with an amazing fountain. It’s part of Moravian Square Park. (Moravia is the region of the Czech Republic we’re in now, as opposed to the Bohemian region where Český Krumlov is located.) Anyway, the fountain drops water droplets in such a way that it writes words, the date, and the current time in the air. Hard to explain. We will see if we can capture a video of it. 

Our last stop for the morning was the Astronomical Clock in a square near our apartment. This clock is nothing like the one in Prague. In fact, it looks rather unusual — some say it resembles a clock missing a letter! I’ll let you be the judge. Either way, it certainly draws attention. At 11 a.m. every day, it drops a glass ball, and people wait to grab it. (Note: I didn’t write any of this with a straight face. 😂)

In all seriousness, there are four possible spots where the glass ball can drop, and people wait at them all morning, hoping to catch it. 11 a.m. is significant because of the Battle of Brno in 1645.

Astronomical Timepiece

After last night’s terrible sleep, Sarah needed an afternoon nap but only managed about 45 minutes. Poor effort! We’d been promised rain today, which would have been nice to cool the city and our apartment, but all we got was some cloud (not cooling at all) and the sound of very loud thunder on the edge of the city.

We didn’t feel like cooking tonight or going out, so we just had crackers, cheese, and hummus while watching some TV. A nice way to spend the evening. Off to church tomorrow—maybe we’ll see some lightning to go with the thunder we heard today. 😉