Jičín owes its looks to one very ambitious man. Albrecht von Wallenstein, the general who made a fortune in the Thirty Years' War, took over the estate in the 1620s and set out to turn a modest market town into the capital of his own duchy. He built a palace, a church, a grand arcaded square and a gate, and brought in Italian architects to do it, so the centre of Jičín today has an unexpectedly Renaissance and early baroque air for a town in the middle of northern Bohemia. The great square, Valdštejnovo náměstí, is lined with arcades and pastel house fronts, and the Valdice Gate, a tall tower with a narrow arch, still marks the way out toward the north.
Wallenstein did not live to enjoy it for long; he was murdered in Cheb in 1634. His body was taken to the Carthusian monastery he had founded at Valdice, a few kilometres from town, which later became a prison, and the old monastery buildings can still be seen from the road. Locals have a gentler hero in Rumcajs, the good-natured robber of a Czech children's tale by Václav Čtvrtek, who lived in the forest near here with his wife and son, and the town celebrates him with statues, shops and an annual festival.
Jičín is known as the gateway to the Bohemian Paradise, the Český ráj, a protected landscape of sandstone towers, deep forests and castle ruins perched on rocky crags. The rock formations stand in green woods in all kinds of odd shapes, and the roads between them wind and climb in a way that suits a motorbike. They are narrow and often patched, with farm traffic and cyclists, so keep to a modest pace and expect surprises around the blind corners. Spring and autumn are good times, when the forest is bright and the crowds thin.
The town, with about sixteen thousand people, is a full service stop, with petrol stations, supermarkets and a good choice of cafés and pubs around the square. Czech pub food is hearty, with roast pork, dumplings, and a very decent pilsner. Regional specialities include the sweet Jičín cakes and the fruit orchards that surround the town, and in late summer the plums and cherries are sold at roadside stalls. It is an excellent place to finish a day, and the arcades give shelter if it rains, which in Bohemia it often does.