*The legends of Votice nature trail (with a visit to the Starý Svět restaurant): 9 km*
- Votice is a small, historic town in the Benešov region of Central Bohemia. The town was probably founded in the middle of the 12th century along an ancient trade route leading south from Prague into Austria (which is now the D3 highway!) Highlights of the town include the pretty main square and the early Baroque Franciscan monastery which was opened in 1627.
- For walkers, there is an interesting 9 km nature trail which takes a loop though the hills to the south of the town and visits various places associated with the history of the local area, including the chapel of St Adelbert (built on Větrov hill in 1680 to give thanks for protection against the Plague). There is a super panoramic view from the hill top.
- The trail passes below the hill which used to be topped by the town gallows (and now has a lovely sole maple tree – featured in the header photo). Throughout the trail there are various information boards illustrating the history and legends – but only in Czech.
- One landmark not featuring on the nature trail (but just a couple of hundred meters off the route) is the country pub/pension, Starý Svět, which has a nice (children friendly) garden area and excellent food. It is worth a stop on the way round (map point 6).
- The numbering of the boards suggests the trail should be taken in a clockwise direction, but it is probably nicer to take the route anticlockwise. This gives the best views of the lone maple tree on the ascent out of town and also means the restaurant is visited towards the end of the route. The trail is not difficult, but it is quite hilly terrain (the hills in this area go above 700m, so it can be quite snowy in winter). There is 270m of height to ascend-descend on the route.
Note: click ‘Show on map’ above to go to a full screen version directly on the mapy.cz site. This can be used for online navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file
Directions
- Votice has good bus connections with other regional centers, including direct connections to Prague. There are various parking areas in town (including paid parking on the main square)
- From the main square, join the YELLOW hiking trail heading southwards (with the first junction being V Půli)
- The whole nature trail follows the YELLOW hiking path and loops back to town after 9 km
- Watch out for the turning to the left to the Starý Svět restaurant after 7 km
