If you're a lover of wine, then forgot about the Napa Valley and Bordeaux, but instead head to Moravia, located in the southern part of the Czech Republic.

By all means visit the wine museum in the castle, but then head into town to enjoy a few glasses of the local wine sitting out in the main square. Then get yourself a couple bottles to crack open in your hotel room or sat outside somewhere.

There are some wine tasting opportunities and I took advantage of one, which was the most unique wine tasting that I have ever taken part in.

At a small restaurant attached to part of the giant rocks and cliffs (though small cliffs) away from the town center, we were led into the "cave" by the owner of the restaurant and one of the wine makers. His round body suggested that he was a decent chef and his long beard in a pony tail suggested that he was something of a bohemian.

The first order from him (in Czech. I had a Slovak to translate for me) was that his family have been making wine for generations and he will not be insulted by having people spitting it out!

Needless to say, going through probably 20 different wines and then a few grappas, I wasn't able to enjoy the surroundings to the fullest the next day.

I did make some friends though - one was a Prague policeman and another a pilot for Czech Airlines. The drink of the vine brings total strangers together!