Litomerice

Litomerice sits where the Ohre joins the Elbe below the volcanic hills, in the warmest and driest corner of Bohemia, which is why it has been a wine and fruit town since the Middle Ages and why the annual Garden of Bohemia horticultural fair is held here. The market square is one of the largest in the country and carries the house known as Kalich, the Chalice: built in the 1560s for a merchant who had the top storey shaped as an enormous wooden chalice, the Hussite symbol, and it is still there, now the town hall. Cathedral hill above holds the baroque cathedral of St Stephen and the bishop's palace. Under the town runs a system of medieval cellars, several hundred metres of which are walked. Karel Hynek Macha, the Romantic poet, died here in 1836 and is remembered in a museum and a monument.

What you actually see

• The Chalice house - a top storey built as a giant wooden chalice in the 1560s.
• One of the largest squares - the market place with its Renaissance frontages.
• Cathedral hill - the baroque cathedral and bishop's palace above the town.
• Medieval cellars - several hundred metres walked beneath the streets.

When to go

April to October; September for the horticultural fair. A day.

Honest expectations

The cellar route is guided, cool and low. The cathedral keeps limited hours. The fair fills the town in September. Wine here is light and priced above its international equivalents.

Nearby

Porta Bohemica is downstream; Ploskovice and Hazmburk are close.