We are not spa people but decided to visit Karlovy Vary as Ton’s research indicated that it had a great number of 19th century hotels and villas that had survived both wars intact. Despite not being spa people we visited Vichy a couple of years ago and had really enjoyed it, so we wondered if our second spa visit here would be as fun.
The hot springs at Karlovy Vary got their start in the 1400’s when King Charles IV soaked his injured leg in a hot spring here and was pleased with how it healed. He then built a lodge near the spring so he could enjoy the soaks on a regular basis.
In the 1800’s spa treatments were the rage among the beautiful people of Europe and Karlovy Vary (then known as Karlsbad) went thru a boom period as one of the hot places to visit. As a result hundreds of hotels and pensions sprung up to pamper the rich and famous of that time, and they are spectacular buildings.
If you like 19th century architecture then you will be in heaven in Karlovy Vary. The promenade along the Tepia River, and the hills surrounding the town are full of gorgeous and large 19th century buildings.
After the fall of communism there has been a great deal of investment in the town and the buildings have been wonderfully restored to their original grandeur.
We decided to punch above our weight socially and dropped into the coffee shop at the Grand Hotel Pupp which is a gigantic complex at the end of the promenade. It has always been the grandest place in town since its founding. They have a walk of fame of previous guests and we got a kick out of two names side by side on the walk, John Malkovich who stayed there in 2009, and Sigmund Freud who stayed there in 1912. There was a brick available between the two of them and we wondered if we got a room whether we could claim the brick.
Ton was very interested in sampling the waters. There are 15 springs that are located in cool buildings that you can drink from as you walk along. To make it easier you can purchase a decorated ceramic mug whose handle acts as a straw. After some careful shopping and much discussion about the size, shape, and decoration on our mug we were on our way.
In our walk we found about 10 of the springs without trying too hard. The temperature and the strength of the minerals varied quite a bit from spring to spring.
Most of the springs were nondescript pipes in the middle of large buildings, and we were a little surprised more people weren’t trying it. We enjoyed it, though after a while we were getting a little waterlogged.
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The promenade is over a mile long and with all of the buildings and springs it was great fun to walk. If you like 19th century architecture with a small dose of communist brutalist buildings mixed in for contrast you will be in heaven as we were.
We took a couple of turns up and down the promenade. There were enough people to make it interesting, but not enough that you felt crowded. Plus Ton was entranced, she said to me at one point, everywhere you point the camera there is a beautiful building.
We weren’t done walking after the colonnade. Ton wanted to check out the Orthodox Church here (a lot of the investment in Karlovy Vary after communism was Russian money) that is modeled on a famous cathedral in Moscow.
When I put it into google maps I asked Ton if she really wanted to go. Once again it was not how far it was, but how much we would have to climb. Karlovy Vary is built in a valley, and while the promenade follows the river, the town quickly climbs the hills.
The climb began by scaling about 120 steep steps, half way up Ton was questioning my routing. After the steps it was a steady climb for another 10 minutes. But when the church came into site Ton took off and left me in the dust. So in the end the climb was worth it.
In the last three days we have visited two of the prettiest cities I have seen. Both Ceske Krumlov, and Karlovy Vary were spectacular. The fact that I didn’t know either one of them existed even made it better for me. As we have traveled the last 6 weeks I have been thrilled to be exposed to several towns that were either vague places on the map, or places I didn’t know existed that have been wonderful.
Tomorrow we are going to leave Czechia behind as an airplane is now calling us. But I have to say that it has been a fantastic visit.
