Apr 17/08 - Took the early morning bus (about 1 hour half journey) from Florenc to Karlovy Vary, the famous spa town. Dropped off at the bus stop which is just at the edge of the main shopping street. (Note - the return bus does not pick up from this bus stop, the bus station is about 500 m away).
Bought some Czech waffles (flat and round with cream in the center) - tasted so good fresh from the shop. Hiked up the hill behind the Thermal Spa for a good view of the town. The open air swimming pool looked so inviting that we returned later for a swim.
Bought the special cups from the souvenir stands near Spa Colonnade and tried out almost all off the hot springs curative water. Of all, we loved the Becherovka (an alcoholic tonic, not hot spring water). There are 12 springs for drinking and they are all free of charge. Some of the water tasted like hot salt water whereas some had too much sulphur and tasted like water from rusted plumbing. Nevertheless, we tasted all, had more of those great tasting ones. The one at the Mill Colonade near the Becherovka shop must be the most famous ones - very long line of people, all waiting to take their turn to collect the water.
Becherovka is a brand of bitters prepared since 1805 from 19 herbs in accordance with a traditional recipe drawn up by the Imperial Count's personal Physician, Dr. Frobzig. We don't know if it did any good for us but it sure warmed us up against the cold.
The town is quite pretty, elegant pastel multi-coloured buildings along the bank of the Tepla river. The most elegant of these buildings must be the Grand Hotel Pupp. Fans of James Bond will recognize this building from Casino Royale. No time and money for bohemian spa treatment, we returned to Prague in the evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment