Pardubice

Pardubice was rebuilt in the sixteenth century by the Pernstejn family after a fire, and the result is Pernstynske namesti: a square of Renaissance houses with gables and sgraffito, entered through the Green Gate tower of 1507, which is climbable. The chateau beside it is a Renaissance residence inside a bastioned earthwork of the same period, one of the earlier examples of that kind of fortification north of the Alps, and it holds the regional museum and a gallery. The town is known nationally for two things. Pernik - gingerbread - has been made here since the Middle Ages and Pardubice gingerbread is the standard version, with a museum in a nearby chateau. And the Velka pardubicka steeplechase, run since 1874 over about six and a half kilometres with the Taxis ditch among its obstacles, is the most demanding race of its kind in continental Europe and a matter of national argument about horse welfare.

What you actually see

• A Renaissance square - gabled sgraffito houses through the Green Gate of 1507.
• A chateau in earthworks - an early bastioned fortification round the residence.
• Gingerbread - the Pardubice tradition, with a museum nearby.
• The Velka pardubicka - run since 1874, the hardest steeplechase on the continent.

When to go

April to October; the race is the second Sunday in October. A day.

Honest expectations

Race day fills the city. The steeplechase is genuinely dangerous for horses and has drawn sustained criticism, which visitors should know before buying a ticket. Museums close on Mondays.

Nearby

Kuneticka hora is east; Hradec Kralove is north.