May in Brno = fireworks, but there is much more in the town to do:

5/4-21 Itch My Hahaha Festival @ Kabinet Múz

The popular Itch My Hahaha party presenting fresh sounds turns into a four-part festival:

• 4/5/2013 – R. STEVIE MOORE (US) http://www.facebook.com/events/367029323413016
• 9/5/2013 – YOUNG FATHERS (UK)
  http://www.facebook.com/events/152675178231539
• 16/5/2013 – PIOTR KUREK (PL) http://www.facebook.com/events/350179085083703
• 21/5/2013 – RETRO STEFSON (ISL)

  http://www.facebook.com/events/445290412218415

5/10 – Vlna vol 2. @ Vlněna

Last November, the first Vlna party was extremly refreshing: abandoned factory hall right in the middle of the town (1 Přízová st.), hundreds of young people, total chaos: just look at this gallery. This time, it could be even bigger.

Line up: Piča z hoven, To žluté co máte na kalhotkách, Gerda Blank, HERTZ DJs, T-Raidr.

5/10-12 – Špilberk Food Festival

Koishi, Il Mercato, Pavillon, Brabander and some other of the best restaurants of Brno will present their trademark dishes at Špilberk castle. Last year, the festival was a huge success among local foodies. Order your tickets online for a better price.

5/16 – Super Ego Kid; The Forks; Zucchini @ Fléda

Three noise bands playing in the middle of the crowd. That could be cool. CZK 100 is a no-risk ticket price.

5/18 – Museum Night

Probably the liveliest night in Brno. All museums will open their doors at 6 p.m. Until midnight, you can browse the expositions and enjoy various concerts. Some of the venues will charge small entrance fees. Check out the programme at the Brno Museum Night website.

5/24 – Night of Churches

Almost all churches in Brno (all Catholic, Hussite & Czech Brethren churches) will be open to general public from late afternoon to late night. What I like about this event is that you may enter many places closed for the rest of the year, esp. towers and crypts.

The list of churches joining the event in Brno is to be found at nockostelu.cz. No English version available.

5/24-6/16 – Ignis Brunensis Festival

Although the larger part of the bread’n'games publicly funded festival takes place in June, there are some events in May, too: Children’s Day at the airport (5/26), Vystec fest at the Exhibition Ground (5/25-26), and the opening firework show (5/25 at the Exhibition Ground). Explore the schedule of non-fireworks Ignis Brunensis events and the schedule of the firework shows.

It seems like winter doesn’t want to leave the town; at least there are many things that may cheer you up in April.

New restaurants and cafés

Two new burger bars open their doors on the first week of April: Giraffy Burger Bar at 35 Kounicova st. and East Village Bar & Diner at 2 Jaselská st.

Café Atlas opened next to the Bakala Hall at 6 Žerotínovo náměstí sq., which has been quite an unlucky place for café owners. I hope that the wonderful, encyclopedia-inspired interior designed by Martin Hrdina (Franz, Alfa café, Art café) will bring some luck to Ondřej “Čestmír” Pilát (also owner of Tungsram café).

Beer bar Na stojáka will launch at Jakubské náměstí on the second week of April. Cool concept: beer from cool breweries, cheaper than CZK 39/glass, you just have to drink it standing. I don’t mind that at all!

Jazz Fest Brno

various venues, jazzfestbrno.cz

After the wonderful concert of Chick Corea, the festival goes on with these concerts (check out the website for details):

• Martin Brunner Trio a Epoque Quartet – Morning Walks(CZ) & Craig Taborn Trio (USA) on 4/4
• Emil Viklický a Scott Robinson (CZ/USA) & Javier Girotto a Pigeon Saxophone Quartet (CZ/AG) on 4/8
• Pivec – Novák – Kováč & The Trio of OZ featuring Rachel Z and Omar Hakim (USA) on 4/10
• Free Tenors: Sokal-Štveráček-Wiesinger (CZ/AUT) on 4/11
• Nikolaj Nikitin Quartet featuring Patches Stewart (SK/USA) Rez Abbasi Trio + special Guest Rudresh Mahanthappa (IND/USA) on 4/19
• Dan Bárta a Robert Balzar Trio (CZ) & Gustav Brom Bigband feat. Roberta Gambarini_Pocta Günteru Kočímu (CZ/ITA/USA) on 4/21
• Kekko Fornarelli Trio (ITA) & Shai Maestro Trio (IL) on 4/23
• Luboš Soukup Quartet (CZ/SWE/DK) & Will Vinson Quartet (UK/USA) on 4/24
• Charette/Štveráček/Šoltis Super Trio (CZ/SK/USA) & Milo Suchomel Groove Sextet – Jazz in the City (SK) on 4/30

Bonjour Brno 2013 — The Days of French Culture

4/3—4/27, various venues, bonjourbrno.cz (Czech only)

Like every spring, Alliance Francaise is doing their best to promote French culture with various events – and to piss off people who don’t speak neither Czech nor French :)

My picks: the week of French cuisine in La Bouchée restaurant (4/15—4/21), 12 films of Chris Marker screened in Art cinema with Czech subtitles (4/11—4/14) and a pétanque tournament taking place in Lužánky park on Sunday, April 21, on 11 a.m.

Encounter 2013 — International Festival of Theatre Schools

4/16—4/20, various venues, encounter.cz (English website)

Bringing some punk to theatre — for the 23rd time already.

Recommended concerts & parties

• aus (JP) // CUUSHE (JP) // GURUN GURUN (CZ) @ Kabinet Múz, 4/6
• Tomáš Kočko & Orchestr @ Stará Pekárna, 4/8
• Bran @ Stará Pekárna, 4/11
• Limbo @ Stará Pekárna, 4/16
• ZS + SHIBUYA MOTORS @ Kabinet Múz, 4/23
• David Helbock Trio (Austria) @ Stará Pekárna, 4/25
• ASTRONAUTALIS & BAND // KYKLOS GALAKTIKOS @ Kabinet Múz, 4/28
• LECHEROUS GAZE (USA) + DANAVA (USA) @ Kabinet Múz, 4/30
• Sarah Tolar Quartet (USA/CZ) @ Stará Pekárna, 4/30

I decided to discontinue the calendar of events and reduce the noise by publishing monthly digests of the most interesting concerts, festivals and things to do in the town.

What’s going on in Brno in March 2013?

2/27—3/6: Cinema Mundi Film Festival @ various venues

The largest film festival taking place in Brno each year. According to its exceptional billingual site (heck, still not a rule!), the cinemeeting covers contemporary hits of established national cinemas as well as less known works from countries unfamiliar to the central-european audience. Check out the schedule.

Sat 3/2: Kid Koala (CAN) @ Fléda

8 p.m., 24 Štefánikova st., CZK 250 (pre-sale)/300

I saw the performance of this Canadian DJ and turntablist at Fléda back in 2005 and it was awesome. The tickets are unreasonably cheap!

Tue 3/5: Will Bernard Trio (USA/SK) @ Stará Pekárna

8 p.m., 8 Štefánikova st., CZK 150 (pre-sale)/190

A concert of souljazz & funkjazz trio of San Francisco Bay Area-based guitarist Will Bernard; part of Jazz Spring Festival.

Sun 3/10: Chick Corea and the Vigil @ Laser Show Hall Bobycentrum

7:30 p.m., 2a Sportovní st., CZK 390+

C.C. is an American jazz and fusion pianist, keyboardist, and composer. He has been nominated for 59 Grammy Awards out of which he has won 20. Part of Jazz Fest Brno.

Wed 3/13: Gerard Clark Blues Band (South Africa/CZ) @ Stará Pekárna

8 p.m., 8 Štefánikova st., CZK 120 (pre-sale)/150

African blues; part of Jazz Spring Festival.

Thu 3/14: Swans (USA) @ Fléda

8 p.m., 24 Štefánikova st., CZK 450 (pre-sale)/550, support: Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu

The legendary American noise/post-punk band is coming back to Brno after 27 (!) years, presenting their new album “The Seer”.

Tue 3/19: Paul Lieberman Quartet (USA) @ Stará Pekárna

8 p.m., 8 Štefánikova st., CZK 130 (pre-sale)/180

Modern jazz; part of Jazz Spring Festival.

2/18—3/26: One World Film Festival @ various venues

“International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival“, inspiring & connecting hipsters since 1999. Get the English version of the schedule.

Tue 3/19: Chinese National Circus @ Hala Vodova

7 p.m., 108 Vodova st., CZK 390+

Not my cup of tea but it definitely looks interesting:

Sat 3/23: Seed Night w Fantastikoi Hxoi (Greece) @ Kabinet Múz

9 p.m., 4 Sukova st., CZK 100 (pre-sale)/140

FANTASTIKOI HXOI is a re-edit project based in Athens that draws material mainly from obscure Greek psych and folk tunes, among other global music. Using samples from classic or totally forgotten tracks, FH creates a peculiar retro-futuristic sound through complete reconstruction or a drastic re-edit.

Mon 3/25 & Tue 3/26: “YAMATO – The Drummers Of Japan” @ Janáček Theatre

8 p.m. 1 Rooseveltova st., CZK 690+

“The best known drum orchestra in the world” celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Fri 3/29: MUAH! SPRING @ Kabinet Múz

9:30 p.m., 4 Sukova st., CZK 150 (pre-sale)/200

This volume of the party night popular among local hipsters presents MOD.CIVIL & STRANGELET & ELEKTRABEL & various DJs. Visit the event’s page to see the complete lineup.

Want to get cheaper tickets in pre-sales?

Try your luck in the respective venues, in Indies Store at 2 Poštovská st. (next to Alfa Café) or at Ticketportal.cz.

Curious about the best restaurants in Brno? Grand Restaurant Festival offers a budget-wise solution. From January 15 to February 28, chosen venues will offer special tasting menus.

The event is joined by Borgo Agnese, Holiday Inn Brno, Prominent, Koishi fish & sushi, La Bouchée, Noem Arch, Pavillon and Valoria.

One-course tasting menus cost CZK 250, two-course menus CZK 500, three-course menus CZK 600 (the latter two incl. a glass of wine). The vouchers need to be booked at the website of the festival, where you can also learn more about the specific offers.

This is handy esp. if you want to have a nice dinner. If you are just curious, check out the lunch offers. Even Koishi, the best Czech restaurant according to Mauer guide, will feed you for only CZK 225 (€ 9) over lunch. Seriously, forget about fried fast food junk meals!

In a desperate attempt to save CZK 50 million, the town council makes some huge changes to the public transit system in Brno. This is what changes on January 1, 2013:

• Tram line 7 gets cancelled, partially replaced by line # 5.
• Tram line # 13 (Juliánov – Technologický park) gets cancelled too. It will be partially replaced by line 9, now going between Juliánov and Lesná.
• More lines to be aborted: # 29 (serving Kohoutovice) and # 45 (serving Juliánov and Líšeň).
• Tram line 11 now has a different route: Lesná – Bystrc-Rakovecká.
• One in two trams on line # 6 will finish its route at Švermova station and one in two trams on line 8 will go only to Novolíšeňská station. In the peak times, all trams will go to the proper terminal stations.
• No night buses will depart from the main station at 2:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m.

There will be more changes taking place in January but they won’t affect as much people as the one I listed.

It is quite easy to comment the news: the council fails to provide one of the basic services it is supposed to provide. This means more cars in the streets, more traffic jams, more people having trouble travelling to work (especially from the Eastern suburbs), while the politicians invest public funds to fireworks festival and motorbike races. At least the price of the fare stays the same. Also, thanks to a petition, a stupid idea that people would need two tickets to take a night bus (one proper, one special for the night lines) was abandoned.

Curious about the Christmas markets, New Year’s Eve and helping people in need? There go the answers!

Where can I enjoy the Christmas markets — and when?

The three largest markets in Brno take place at the biggest downtown squares: Náměstí svobody sq., Moravské náměstí sq. and Zelný trh sq. I like especially the last one for the live jazz music (most of the time) and some great food and beverage stands.

All the markets are open daily and close at December 23.

Extra tip: Festival of Open Wine Cellars takes place beneath the streets of downtown Brno on December 8 and 9.

I want to travel to Brno for the New Year’s Eve, is there anything going on?

As far as I know, nothing special is planned. All the popular clubs, such is Fléda, Metro, Kabinet Múz or Stará Pekárna host parties but their lineups are quite ordinary. See the Brno Now calendar for more updates.

Every year, many people celebrate the New Year’s Eve in the streets of downtown Brno. I consider the place to be too wild for my taste:

A professional firework display will be fired above Špilberk castle in the evening of January 1. Again, see the calendar for specific time which is not known yet.

I would like to do something good for people and animals in need. Any tips?

Glad you asked! You can…

• Put some money in the box next to the Christmas tree at Náměstí svobody sq. For many years, Red Cross has been using the donations to help kids and elderly people abandoned by their families.
• Get rid of the clothes you don’t wear at charity spot Baltazar (58 Bratislavská st.) that would pass them on to the poor people who may use it.
• Send some money to the fund established by the Catholic church to support people in need both in this region and abroad. Their bank account number is 1583741621/0100.
• Take an abandoned dog from the police-run shelter.

After selling out the cinemas in Prague last week, the popular gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender film festival Mezipatra moves to Brno for the 13th time. It will take place in Art cinema and Stadec club from November 16 to November 22.

“The topic of this year’s Mezipatra is power, manipulation, and madness,” says Aleš Rumpel, the president of the festival. The catalogue doesn’t mention genres but I am afraid there aren’t many comedies indeed.

The event has a nice English-language website with detailed schedule (scroll down to the screenings held in Brno). The film Keep The Lights On by Ira Sachs, which won the festival competition in Prague, will be screened at Stadec on Saturday evening.

(The still taken from Cloudburst.)

Fléda crew pre-opens new downtown club “Eleven”. It will host a warming party on Friday (11/9) night and then open again – and for good – next spring. 11 Dominikánská st. is the place to go if you want to see the concert of Xiu Xiu (USA) and My Dead Cat. I’m quite curious about hte place.

Itch My Hahaha party is back! If you loved these hipster nights in Fléda club, now you can enjoy promising new bands being loud in Kabinet múz (4 Sukova st.). The party takes place both on Friday and Saturday evenings this weekend and sadly, you can’t buy a single-night ticket separately. At least the line-up is diverse and promising anyway.

On Saturday, November 10, the talented photographer Carlos Lopez organizes a “photo walk” through downtown Brno. You don’t need a professional camera to join, so if you just like taking pictures and are looking for some new friends (or maybe for an expert advice?), show up in Lužánky park at 10 a.m.

Sunday is the St. Martin’s day, so the young moravian wine gets unbottled. You can have a glass right at the central square “Náměstí svobody” since 11 a.m. (well, that is too early even for me!) or get it almost any restaurant together with the traditional meal for this weekend – which is a roast goose with cabbage.

And finally: one of my favorite Czech film comedies, Four Murders Are Enough, Darling, will be screened with English subtitles in The House of Arts on Sunday at 6 p.m. (Part of the Signals from the Unknown exhibition.)

Updated on Thursday night: I totally forgot about…

…the Factory Fashion Market in “Stadion” venue at 22 Kounicova st. Indie apparel from dozens of labels and some good DJs – don’t miss it! (Fr: 2 p.m.-10 p.m., Sat: 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.).

Good boys “Rychlé šípy“, cartoon animals “Čtyřlístek“, works of Kája Soudek and other celebrated artifacts of Czech popular culture have been finally given the honor they deserve: the exhibition called Signals from the Unknown.

Tomáš Prokůpek and Pavel Kořínek have curated 300 items from several institutions and private collections. There are various affiliated events (Czech list only). Most interestingly, a popular Czech comedy Four Murders Are Enough, Darling will be screened with English subtitles in the House of Arts at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 7.

You can attend the exhibition Signals from the Unknown in the Brno House of Arts at Malinovského náměstí sq. until January 13, 2013. The gallery is open from Wednesday to Sunday; tickets cost CZK 100/50/200 (full price/students/families).

I finally went to see the 25th International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno. If you appreciate good design and typography, you have only three more weeks to do it too. You definitely should!

The exhibitions take place in three buildings of Moravian Gallery. You can buy separate tickets for CZK 80 each, tickets for all three venues for CZK 160 (you can visit them in three consecutive days but none can be re-entered) and an unlimited ticket for CZK 300.

I loved the exhibition of poster, magazine and book design in the Museum of Applied Arts (14 Husova st.). It takes at least 2-3 hours to “absorb” the entire show, so make sure you have enough time.

My visit to the Pražák Palace (18 Husova st.) was shorter – the two exhibitions there are smaller but still interesting. One covers media published by the Dutch Provo movement in the 1960s; the other one presents some California-based designers and artists.

I was not particulary amused by what I saw in Governor´s Palace (1 Moravské náměstí sq.). “Husák did not smoke dope” presents Czech concert posters from 1960s to 2010s; it just a big collection that lacks any curation. A pity – but definitely not a tragedy.

Not only you can buy a CZK 300 catalogue of the Biennial in any of the buildings – you may also get a beautiful tote bag for only CZK 50 and various other souvenirs.

The exhibitions will close on October 28. Great to have an event like this one in Brno!

Lots of news from the Brno food scene since April!

Prohibition!

Before looking at all the great new spots, let’s start with the hottest nation-wide topic:

The Czech Republic has prohibited the sale of hard liquor after 19 people died and dozens were poisoned by methanol-laced bootleg vodka and rum.
The ban, issued by the Health Ministry on Friday, covers the sale of any drink containing more than 20 percent alcohol. The prohibition is temporary, but no indication was given when it might end.

Right now it seems that the prohibition will last at least for two more weeks; probably much longer. Funny thing is that trading of liquors is still allowed between companies, so if you have a Czech business licence, you may get a pack of your favorite bottles in the nearest cash and carry.

Bars in Brno now offer special „prohibition drinks“ based on cinzano, flavored vodkas and wine.

Some more bad news: three bistros at the Vietnamese market damaged by fire

On Sunday, September 9, a fire destroyed the building that was a home to three excellent Vietnamese bistros in the market at Olomoucká st.

Luckily, nobody got hurt. I just hope they will re-open any time soon, so we can enjoy all the phở bò and bún ốc again.

New spots

Let’s now finally talk about something more cheerful:

• U Kastelána, probably the best restaurant in Brno for the past 20 years, moved to the beautiful Zemanova kavárna building located in Koliště park and changed its name to Pavillon in August. You can see its interior on the picture above and many more in the original gallery at Pavillon’s Facebook page.

• Il Mercato at Zelný trh sq. is now the place to go for delicious pasta, fishes and other flagships of Italian cuisine. Expensive but still worth the money.

• The beer scene is blooming. My new favorite place is Hluchá zmije, a non-smoking pub at Veveří st. offering products of small breweries (Polička, Dudák and Sklepák, Krakonoš, Harrach etc.). Dalešice brewery just opened their new beer bar Pivárium Zelená kočka at Dvořákova st., close to another new pub U Všech čertů, offering Oslavany beer.

• Indian restaurant Everest at Veveří st. offers a lunch menu with great price/taste ratio.

• Haven’t tried yet: patisserie Preclík at Gorkého st. (between Falk café and Rosebud flower shop).

What to do now and what to look forward to?

It’s burčák season! You can get "federweisser", very young wine, at dozens of spots all around Brno for about CZK 20 for a glass. I am having at least one every day. It’s very refreshing and it has less alcohol than regular, mature wine.

Coffee week is going to hit the town on October 1.

Festival series "In the middle" taking place at the central square (Náměstí svobody) has an enormous success with its beer event last weekend. Now we can look forward to "Food festival" (9/20-9/23), "Wine festival" (9/28-10/5) and "Folklore festival" (10/8-10/14).

Bar, který neexistuje – "A bar that does not exist" – is an abitious attempt to open a really good bar in Brno, with top-quality liqors, flawless burgers etc. They should be opening some time soon – let’s hope the prohibition won’t stand in their way.

Buch Ta, my favorite "punk baker", making delicious pastries for several cafés at Veveří st., will open her own patisserie Tři ocásci café in late 2012 at Gorkého st. She is one of the few people in Brno who’s able to bake a really good gluten-and-lactose-free cake, so keep an eye on her.

Yet another pub focused on the best Czech beers from craft breweries will open at Pekárenská st at Veveří district (replacing the closed Rock café).

Staying in Brno over summer? Well, the calendar of events is rather poor, isn’t it? Despite closed clubs and empty streets, there definitely are some cool things to do in July and August.

First, if you are coming to Brno this summer, download my ebook about the town right now – it will help you find great cafés, beer gardens and other coll places and things to do. (Sorry for the self-promotion, but the book really is improving people’s lives!)

Second, what do we have going on here?

The popular open air cinema at Dobrák swimming pool screens 66 movies in 66 days

Tickets cost CZK 90 each – or CZK 450 for 6 films, CZK 690 for 10 films or CZK 1590 for all the 66 films.

In June and July, screenings start at 9.30 p.m. In August they start earlier, at 9 p.m. You can reach the pool by tram lines no. 12 and 13 (29 Dobrovského St).

I did not listed Czech movies, which are screened without English subtitles – but for most of the evenings you may enjoy undabbed foreign language films:

• 6/27 – Soul Kitchen, a German comedy with Czech AND English subtitles

• 6/29 – Jane Eyre

• 7/1 – Kunsten at græde i kor, a Danish drama (Czech subt. only – the same holds for the rest of the list)

• 7/3 – I Hired a Contract Killer

• 7/5 – Anonymous (2010)

• 7/7 – Control

• 7/8 – You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

• 7/10 – Na putu (a Bosnian drama)

• 7/11 – Midnight in Paris

• 7/12 – Breakfast on Pluto

• 7/13 – Les Amours imaginaires

• 7/14 – Dom za vesanje (Yugoslavia, 1988)

• 7/15 – Habemus Papam (Italian comedy)

• 7/16 – Melancholia (Lars von Trier)

• 7/17 – The Doors – When You’re Strange

• 7/18 – Drive

• 7/19 – American Pie: Reunion

• 7/20 – Burn After Reading

• 7/21 – L’ apollonide

• 7/22 – Drei (Tom Tykwer)

• 7/25 – Los abrazos rotos

• 7/26 – L’ Arnacoeur

• 7/27 – Inglourious Basterds

• 7/28 – Shi gan (South Korean drama)

• 7/29 – Hævnen (Danish drama)

• 7/30 – The Iron Lady

• 7/31 – Whatever Works

• 8/1 – Lollipop Monster (German drama)

• 8/2 – Shame (2011)

• 8/4 – Efter brylluppet (Danish drama)

• 8/5 – Kunsten å tenke negativt

• 8/6 – Halt auf freier Strecke

• 8/7 – Fish Tank

• 8/8 – Animal Farm (the animated 1954 version!)

• 8/9 – Mies vailla menneisyyttä (Finnish drama)

• 8/10 – Le Scaphandre et le papillon

• 8/11 – Mah nakorn (Thailand)

• 8/12 – Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Iranian drama)

• 8/13 – We Need to Talk About Kevin

• 8/15 – Du levande (Swedish drama)

• 8/16 – Laitakaupungin valot (Finnish drama)

• 8/17 – Happy, Happy

• 8/18 – De Fem benspænd (Danish drama)

• 8/19 – Harold and Maude

• 8/20 – Havana Blues

• 8/21 – Psycho

• 8/22 – The Dictator

• 8/23 – Buster Keaton slapsticks with live music

• 8/24 – Direktøren for det hele

• 8/25 – Le Gamin au vélo

• 8/26 – Manderlay

• 8/27 – Hysteria

• 8/28 – Requiem for a Dream

• 8/29 – Kekexili (Chinese drama)

• 8/30 – Brødre

More at www.kinonadobraku.cz.

Do you prefer swimming to watching films?

I would suggest Kraví Hora pool (open air pool opened daily until 7 p.m.) or Zábrdovice pool (beautiful old complex in the functionalist style). For more tips, visit this page.

Music festival taking place around Brno

Boskovice 2012 (7/5-8) – music/arts festival supporting the Jewish quarter in the town of Boskovice, located 40 km north of Brno. Great atmosphere, lots of bands – and a good comfort for families with kids, as the festival takes place in a town, not in a middle of nowhere (which is the case of Beseda u Bigbítu).

Muah Fest (7/21) – Probably the only proper festival taking place in Brno, at Medlánky airport. A must-go event for local hipsters.

Beseda u Bigbítu (8/3-4) – Tasov is some 100 kms far from Brno but it’s worth the trip. I am definitely coming this year – for the atmosphere and the diverse music. My picks: Hidden Orchestra (UK) and Floex (CZ).

České hrady: Veveří (8/10-11) – A festival of mainstream-to-indie Czech music taking place at the beautiful castle of Veveří near Brno-Bystrc.

Slow Food Festival "Jídlo z blízka"

If you are interested in the slow food moment and local ingredients, you will love Jídlo z blízka fest, taking place in thirteen restaurants of Brno between July 9 and 29. You may enjoy special degustation menus based only on what is local, seasonal and fresh.

The event has a nice promotional English page but the reservation system offers a Czech interface only. I suggest having the menus machine-translated and then contacting the very restaurants, asking for more instructions.

Brno Biennal

Behold, fans of design and typography – Brno Biennal is back! I will write more about it in a separate post but actually, simple "don’t miss this" is enough. Learn more.

The Brno ossuary opened in June. Be among the first to visit it

I’ve been there already. The place is very interesting – despite extremly poor service. They don’t provide tours in English, actually they don’t provide tours at all, they just let you in for CZK 140. Shame! But it you read some of the articles listed in my recent post about the ossuary, it will be a very interesting time down there.

Motorsport fans?

Well, you probably already know about the races taking place at Brno Circuit.

Share your tips in the comments

I am leaving for several weeks now. If I forgot about something, please, share your tips with others in the comments bellow. Thanks and have a great summer in Brno! Oh and don’t forget about the guide.

Photo by Cyklista Dalibor @ Flickr.