Kroměříž is a small, handsome town on the Morava in the Haná country, the flat and fertile middle of Moravia, and its Pleasure Garden, the Květná zahrada, is a surprise to anyone who arrives expecting a quiet agricultural place. It was laid out in the seventeenth century for a prince-bishop of Olomouc, Karl Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, who wanted a formal Baroque garden with clipped hedges, parterres and a long colonnade, and the pattern has been preserved with unusual faithfulness. The garden is on the World Heritage list together with the castle.
What you notice first is the geometry. Paths run straight to a rotunda and the colonnade, which closes the garden like a long screen of arches, and the whole design is meant to be seen from a particular angle, with the eye drawn down the central axis. The planting has been restored, with lawn and flower beds, and in summer the roses and the neat order give it a calm, slightly theatrical feel. It is a good place to sit for half an hour and watch the town go about its day.
The roads into Kroměříž are very pleasant for a relaxed ride. They cross gently rolling farmland with fruit orchards and wheat fields, then run through villages with a church tower at the centre, and the surface is generally good. Corners are easy and traffic is moderate outside the rush hours. If you come from Lednice and Valtice, as this ride does, you cross a good stretch of Moravian wine and farm country and can reflect on how much of this land belonged to a few aristocratic families.
Kroměříž is large enough, with almost thirty thousand people, to have all the fuel, food and beds you need, and you will not struggle to find a good lunch. Czech cooking is generous, with pork, dumplings and cabbage, and the local beer is more than respectable. Park near the old town and walk, because the centre is compact.
Spring and early autumn are the best times to visit, when the garden is in flower or the leaves are turning, and the light across the Haná plain softens. Midsummer is warm but still fine, and the crowds remain modest compared with Prague.