*A visit to the the South Moravian town of Bučovice, with its superb Renaissance chateau: 5 km*

• Bučovice chateau is a jewel of the European late Renaissance. Unlike most other Czech Renaissance chateaux, Bučovice is not a conversion of an earlier Gothic castle, but was built from scratch by the wealthy Moravian noble, John Šembera Černohorský at the end of the 16th century. The resulting four-winged chateau has an almost austere external appearance (due its dual fortress/palace function), but the inner courtyard and interior has typical sumptuous late Renaissance character. The chateau is normally open for tours from April to October. Note the excellent new exhibition – ‘The Moravian Aristocrat in the Labyrinth of the World’ which should not be missed.
• Another highlight of a visit to Bučovice is the chateau’s brilliant Renaissance garden, created in the 1570’s with rectangular lines of trimmed boxwood, shaped hornbeams and fruit trees. The garden was reconstructed in the 1960’s and is definitely worth exploring.
• There are good views over the town center and chateau complex from the low hill to the north of the town, where the original Gothic fortress stood (the ramparts are still visible). The town has developed the forested hill into an interesting park area (a Lesopark) and it is worthwhile extending the trip with a walk in this park. The popular Black Bakery café (map point 6 – a Hejlík recommendation) is also located on the edge of this park. This is a good spot for some refreshments.
• The suggested 5 km route involves just 60m of height to ascend/descend, but a few of the short cut paths in the Lesopark could be a struggle with a stroller – there are gravel paths, however, for most of the park area.

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

• From the train station, the chateau and Lesopark can be reached by following the GREEN hiking trail
• Various short cut trails are available once in the Lesopark. There is signage in the park to the old fortress, but if deviating from the main trail it is best to follow the route on the the mapy.com application