Karlovy Vary

So I just got back from Karlovy Vary about 2 hours ago. The town is so beautiful! It's a quaint little place that seems right out of a fairy tale, minus the huge sprawling castle. It was a good relaxing and peaceful couple of days.

When we got there Thursday, Anna and I just walked around and tried to familiarize ourselves with the town and find some lunch, which seemed like an ordeal. I believe it's the off season for this little place so not a lot of people were around and so it was kind of empty. Eventually we did find a restaurant, an authentic Czech one that was really good. After that we went back out and to the building where they have the main geyser of a hot spring. It shoots up to about 12m and is really hot. While there we also bought a little cup that seems a must in this place so that we could try some of the cooler hot springs and drink some. We tried the 30 degrees Celsius one since it was the coolest and, let me tell you, I'll stick to my bottled water. It was rather salty tasting, but Anna and I sucked it up and drank a couple sips. So now we can always say that we had water from the famous Karlovy Vary springs. After that we went back to our hotel and took a nap and then took an excursion at 8 to find sosme dinner. The attempt to find food, again was rather hard, and we had to walk a while to find a little pizza place to eat at. It seems this town closes at 7 or 8pm which is crazy after everything being open really late in Prague.

Friday was our spa day at Zamecke Lazne, a world-renown spa. It was fabulous! Four hours of bliss! First we had out full body massage which, as my first experience, was a pretty good one. It felt so good! Then we had oxygen therapy, so we had tubes in our nose to give us some extra oxygen and stimulate our brain. Following the oxygen, we took a dip in the fancy thermomineral pool that is from a hot spring itself. It was really gorgeous inside the building, the pool was all blue and teal and green tiles and just amazing. And there were Corinthian columns and cute little alcoves and tables and just so fancy! After our dip, we had our other "procedure" some sort of hydroptherapy where we walked in hot water for a minute then cold for 30 seconds, and the cold was COLD and the hot was HOT. But after we got used to it, it wasn't too bad, we just couldn't wait to get into the hot water after our dip in the cold one. Apparently this helps circulation. Then we just chilled some more in the spa, listened to the relaxing music, saw them draw all the curtains so the place went dark and then played some storm soundtrack and had a bit of a light show then water from the spring topped off the water in the pool. After watching that it was time for our pearl bath which was basically sitting in warm water while jets massage you for 15 minutes. It was heaven. And that was our time in the spa. Definitely worth the trip to Karlovy Vary!

After the spa we went to Albert's the grocery store and bought crackers and cheese and salami and just had our own chill dinner so we wouldn't have to go on another hunt for a restaurant. And then we enjoyed buffet breakfast this morning, hopped on the bus and came back home.

So now we're back and relaxed and ready for the busyness of Prague. But the change of pace was definitely welcome. Amsterdam next weekend! But first another week of classes... until later, ciao!

I've included some of the pictures from Karlovy Vary, I hope you enjoy! =)


our lovely hotel room, much bigger than I expected
Church of Mary Magdelen, the building that houses the hot springs, road shot
Church of Mary Magdelene, a whomping-willow like tree, the river that goes through the town
The famous Grand Pupp Hotel, and a view from the bridge and one from up above
some of the fairytale-esque buildings
The main hot spring and me trying some of the nasty water
Anna takes a stab at it, and the springs where you can get water, the temps ranged from 30 Celsius to 70 Celsius
The typical drinking cup for the springs and some pretty buildings
a beautiful gazebo type promenade, a fun hat, and steps on the river
a famous hotel (I don't know the name), a Washington Monument look-a-like, and more fairytale buildings

more of Mary Magdelene Church, and from the inside; it was beautiful, and these are all illegal pictures =) a fountain outside our spa, an ad for our spa, and the front door of our spa (pictures werent allowed inside)
Leaving the city we found the Becherovka museum and these lovely ladies and I just couldn't resist