Pardubice: Not just gingerbread, horses and Semtex

Pardubice is a substantial industrial town of about 90,000, roughly an hour's train ride east from Prague. It doesn't feature on many visitor itineraries, and when it does, gingerbread, horses and Semtex are mentioned prominently. But while these are indeed a feature of the place, there's much more to enjoy. It's well worth a couple of days' visit.

The gingerbread is, well, gingerbread; the horses I'll deal with in another post; and Semtex you won't have any need for, at least I hope not. But in this post I'll talk about some of Pardubice's other attractions. Such as the elegant historic main square, a bit empty in the off season of my visit, but lively with pavement cafes and bars in summer.

A short walk away is the castle, definitely worth seeing. Even if you don't go inside to enjoy watching the audiovisuals, dressing up in a suit of armour or playing with marbles, do stroll round the ramparts. They're very impressive. Then amble through the adjacent park, green and quiet, along with other locals. In summer it's a super place for a picnic.

Pardubice has a fine complement of cafes, bars and restaurants too. The Galerie Cafe, overlooking the park, is a stylish and bright place to eat. I met a couple of expats (one British, one US) who live in Pardubice; they find it a very liveable place, near enough to Prague, big enough to have everything (including prominent football and ice hockey teams) but small enough to feel manageable.

It's also a decent place to cycle around (unlike cobbly Prague, for instance) with a good complement of bike paths and even a Bike Tower Park by the station. (The station and the area in front of it is a hideous building site of redevelopment right now, but in a year or two should be finished.) For culture and events there's the arts complex in the Automatic Mills, whatever an automatic mill is or was.

There's the river too, along which you can stroll, paddle or cycle to Kunětická a few miles upstream, with its fairytale hilltop castle and choice of ice-cream providers - not actually necessary on the cold March evening of my visit!

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