Josefstadt

In planning for the Brno part of the trip, I have been flying somewhat solo regarding the planning. Rick Steves doesn't cover Brno at all although he covers some of the areas to the south and east which included the two Chateaus that we had visited. In my research for the trip I came across something known as the Punkva Caves and the Machocha abyss. It certainly sounded tantalizing. I have never been to an abyss before. The TripAdvisor's reviews were favorable but they were mainly written by locals and local guides. An occasional review said there was nothing special compared to other European caves the writer had been in. I had bought the tickets in advance and I was concerned that perhaps I was on to another dud just like Bunker Z. Of course when I did buy the tickets more than a month ago, all but the noon time was sold out which was a good sign. The caves were about an hour north west of Brno. Thank goodness for Google maps. I had read a review of someone who had used public transit but it must have taken them all day. When we arrived we had to pay for parking of course but it wasn't totally clear to me where the caves were. The tourist office indicated to us to walk up this road which seemed quite deserted but then we started seeing glum looking Czechs either walking down or being driven down on a shuttle bus that looked like a train. Czechs always look a little glum though and aren't great smilers. After a half hour walk we arrived in good time and waited for the tour to start. There were 40 of us on the tour. I had warned my Alberta group to come prepared for cooler weather so of course we were dressed for subzero temps. When the tour started and we reached the first cave, it was spectacular. Stalactites mites and nants. Small reflective pools of water. Formations that looked like rippling sheets and angels. The tunnel system just went on and on. It was all beautifully lit. At one point we walked up and down 50 metres of stairs. It was the most spectacular cave system I had been in. The caves had been carved out of limestone by the Punkva river. At one point where the limestone had collapsed we came into the bottom of the Machocha abyss. It was 134 metres deep. After the abyss we went back into the caves where we were picked up by a boat and taken on a boat ride on the Punkva river. The closest thing I had done to this was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland but this was in a real cave and longer. Jada and Madeline saw a bat and had video of it to back up their claim. I had taken a separate boat than the others but when I arrived Jada and Madeline were waiting with huge smiles on their faces as I think they had enjoyed the experience even more than I had. They said it was a highlight of their trip.

We drove back to Brno and dropped the girls off at the accommodation before taking the car back to the airport. It was great having the car for three days but I was happy to return it unscathed full of gas to the airport. We all really enjoyed the caves and it's not every day one can say that they have been to the abyss and back.Read more