And on to Brno

There are several places for a visitor to Vienna to take a day trip. Sopron in Hungary is less than 90 minutes away by train. The same goes for Bratislava in Slovakia and Brno in the Czech Republic. I had been on a trip to Brno before, and I knew what to expect. I therefore chose to revisit the Moravian city.

I like to travel by train, and taking the train to Brno from Vienna was no problem at all. There are several trains a day, and the one I took was an express train to Prague that had Brno as one of its stops.

There are several train stations in Vienna. My Prague bound train went from the Meidling station. On the way through the city, the train passed the site of the old Südbahnhof. The Austrians are building a new main railway station for Vienna there, and right now it is nothing but a large construction site.

The hilly landscape between Vienna and the Czech border is beautiful. You see several small villages, and there is also some farm land.

Across the border the train stopped at Břeclav. I decided to walk into the station building to see if there was any beer available. One of the newsagents' was open, but for some reason it did not sell beer. The other was closed, but of course I could see through the window that various beer cans were available. I went back to the train without beer.

After a short while, the train arrived at Brno. Brno's railway station is a beautiful building. The same can be said about the city itself. It has a compact city centre, and it is easy to walk from the train station to many sights.

One of the most known buildings in Brno is the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. The church can be found on the Czech 10 korona coins, and it can be seen from more or less everywhere in the city centre.


Náměstí Svobody is the main square of Brno. It is a short walk from the railway station, but lazy beer tourists can of course take the tram. The trams are the only traffic in the square, as it otherwise is a pedestrian area. That is great, as the square is a nice place without cars and buses.

One of the newest sights on Náměstí Svobody is Brnensky Orloj. This is a clock, believe it or not. From what I heard during my stay in Brno, the work is called the Brno dildo by locals.

When I got to Náměstí Svobody I was thirsty. I knew where to go. Černohorský sklep is based on the square, and it is possible to drink the very good beers from the Černá Hora brewery. It was sunny and warm weather, so a beer in the sun was a must.

I sat down and ordered a Moravské Sklepní pale lager. This is an unfiltered lager beer that I have enjoyed several times earlier. It went down quickly, and I enjoyed every drop of it. Then I had a glass of Kvasar. Kvasar is Černá Hora's honey beer. This is another lovely beer, but in the end it became sweeter than I preferred. I should have chosen another glass of Moravské Sklepní.

I then chose to go inside. The whole line-up of Černá Hora beers were available, and I found out that I would try the dark lager, Granát.

Granát was a nearly black beer with a large, solid head and a minimum of carbonation. There was a touch of coffee in the nose, while the taste was dominated by cold coffee and a touch of sweetness before a semi bitter finish. Once again I had found a lovely beer from Černá Hora, and I knew that there would be more possibilities to try more from the Moravian brewery during the next 24 hours.