Flashback to Moravia

 So it has been a while since my trip to Moravia actually happened, but I couldn’t let this blog go on before I wrote about it!

The Czech Republic is made up of two regions: Bohemia, which is where Prague is located, and Moravia. Even before my trip to Budapest, I went on an organized trip through AIFS to Moravia, where we drove through Brno, the second largest city behind Prague in the Czech Republic, and stayed in a family-run wine cellar after making several stops along the way and seeing a lot of beautiful churches and monasteries. We stopped in a town called Tišnov to visit a cloister with an amazing entrance named “Gate to Heaven”. Inside, some people from the group saw a group of rate with their heads chopped off. Our tour guide explained that once a year decapitated animals will mysteriously be found in the courtyard. I’m just glad that I didn’t see them for myself…

Inside the Cloister

We also stopped at Slavkov to see The Memorial of Peace on Prace Hill, the site of the battlefield where “The Battle of Three Emperors” took place. We watched a video and saw a presentation about the site, which apparently was referred to in the novel War and Peace. But due to the long bus ride and my inability to pay attention to anything history-related, this part of the trip would be better known as the part where Carly got lost in her day dreams…

In Brno, we saw the garden of Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, and a museum about his works. I had learned about Gregor Mendel in my biology class in 9^th grade, so I was pretty excited about it! However, we only got there about 7 minutes before the museum’s closing, so we rushed through most of it. But luckily it was a pretty small museum and I was still happy to see it!

Gregor Mendel's Peas

Gregor Mendel Statue

We were only in Brno for a quick tour of the center of town, and from there we went to the wine cellar where we ate a home cooked meal and participated in a wine tasting. Before and after the wine tasting we were given bottles and bottles of wine, so needless to say it was definitely a fun night! I bought a bottle from the wine cellar, but I had to refrain from drinking wine for a while after drinking so much of it that night!

 The next day was my favorite! We first went to a beautiful church nicknamed “The Pearl of Moravia,” which was beautiful. I do have to admit that all of these churches are starting to blend together in my head, but I can see why it got the nickname! 

Pearl of Moravia

Afterwards we went to a complex of underground caves, which was the most incredible thing I have ever seen! It was pretty cold in the caves, but it felt like I was on another planet. Things like this absolutely amaze me and make me wonder how something so beautiful could form entirely on its own. There was a moment when we walked from outside from the cave to see most beautiful thing I have ever seen. We were still several feet below ground, but we could look up to see the trees above us. I wasn’t able to take a picture that could capture its beauty and I can’t really describe it, but a lot of us were almost brought to tears from its beauty!

Finally, we went to Adamov, a town in Southern Moravia. It was a pretty small town with not much to see other than the beautiful wooden Gothic altarpiece in St. Barbara Church. The altarpiece is called Zwettl Altar and is incredibly intricate and beautiful. 

Zwettl Altar