Why this ride
A 177 km round trip from Žďár nad Sázavou - roughly 3 h 17 in the saddle. It goes by way of The Jewish Cemetery, Historic Centre of Telč and back through The Jewish Cemetery.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at and Historic Centre of Telč starting at Žďár nad Sázavou
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 177 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 17
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at
On a low wooded rise called Zelená hora, Green Mountain, just outside Žďár nad Sázavou, stands one of the strangest and most beautiful churches in Central Europe. The architect was Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel, a Prague builder of Italian descent who loved to mix Gothic forms with Baroque drama, and here he built a pilgrimage church to St John of Nepomuk in the 1720s, shortly before the saint was even canonised. Everything in it plays on the number five: a star-shaped ground plan, five gates, five altars, five-pointed geometry repeated in the cloister around it. The reason is the legend that five stars appeared over the Vltava when John's body was thrown into the river in Prague, and the saint's tongue, said to have been found uncorrupted, is the other motif you will spot once you know to look for it. UNESCO listed it in 1994.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at is where the day begins. Next is The Jewish Cemetery.
2. The Jewish Cemetery
On a hillside above the Jihlava river in Třebíč, thousands of gravestones stand among trees, some upright, some leaning, some covered in ivy and moss, their Hebrew inscriptions weathered by centuries. The Jewish cemetery is one of the largest in the Czech Republic, founded in the seventeenth century and used until the Second World War, and it is part of the World Heritage listing of the Jewish quarter and St. Procopius' basilica in Třebíč, inscribed in 2003, the first Jewish monument outside Israel to be listed.
Read the complete The Jewish Cemetery write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Jewish Cemetery comes up about 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Centre of Telč.
3. Historic Centre of Telč
Ride into the main square of Telč for the first time and you may laugh out loud, because it looks too perfect to be real. A long, tapering square is lined on both sides by Renaissance and Baroque houses, each with a different gable, painted in soft pastels, cream, pink, green and yellow, with arcades running along the ground floor. After a fire in the sixteenth century, the town was rebuilt under its lord, Zachariáš of Hradec, who had travelled in Italy and brought back a taste for Renaissance style. His château, at the end of the square, has richly decorated halls and a garden. The historic centre was listed by UNESCO in 1992.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Telč write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic Centre of Telč. Next is back through The Jewish Cemetery.
4. back through The Jewish Cemetery
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Jewish Cemetery write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Jewish Cemetery, late in the day. Next is Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at.
5. Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at to The Jewish Cemetery
Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at → The Jewish Cemetery is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Jewish Cemetery to Historic Centre of Telč
The Jewish Cemetery → Historic Centre of Telč is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Telč to back through The Jewish Cemetery
Historic Centre of Telč → back through The Jewish Cemetery is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Jewish Cemetery to Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at
back through The Jewish Cemetery → Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.