Τuesday 19.8.2008
After the slack waking up of the previous day, we returned to the rhythms awakening of the trip, with breakfast in a hurry, carrying and loading ... We left Prague and followed the signs to Karlovy Vary. After 130 km of beautiful route on a rural road in fairly good road, we reached the famous Czech spa.
Initially we found the hotel * we had booked, and after we received the room unload the bike and went to the centre of the city, which abstained about 10 minutes. Once we arrived I realized that the parking issue was general in the Czech Republic and it is not confined to tourist Prague, as I asked the police officers who was passing by, if I could park, I was told to go to the parking lot that was against...
After we climbed the stairs of the underground parking lot, we sat at the first restaurant we found to eat something. The black beer was once again a pleasure! Then we started our walk in the beautiful city! Two major pedestrian streets, left and right of Tebla River that runs through the centre, is paved for walking, watching the very impressive colourful neoclassical buildings!
One could say that the description of Karlovy Vary with colourful houses and the river passing through the city, resembles with Cesky Krumlov, but if you visit these two cities, you will have a completely different picture of the character and atmosphere of each. The Cesky Krumlov pulled another authentication combining the houses with the natural environment pulling a wild beauty of the village, in the opposite Karlovy Vary gave the sense that the entire (beautiful) scene has been set up for purely tourist reasons, coupled with the exploitation of resources, to provide a more complete package...
Continuing our walk, we reached at a building in the form of an ancient temple in which there was an orchestra playing classical music. From that point we met constantly faucet through which ran the sources. Beneath each tap there was a tag which informed about the kind of water and temperature. Tourists equipped with special glasses that fill them and drunk! Many of them do not hesitate to fill and entire bottle! So we went to a souvenir shop and having provided with a glass for us, we went again to the faucet to try! Most sources were making from warm to very hot water with salty taste. Once I drank 3-4 glasses I realized that was too heavy! I felt heavy from the water, I can say that apparently it was responsible for some intestinal disorders that followed...
Then we decided to take a bath in the thermal pool of water sources. Although we had to get the bike from the parking lot to go back to the hotel to get bathing suits and go back, I can say that it was worth it! To get at the thermal pool we had to climb into a walking path through nature, to climb up on a hillside. Among others, the pool offered a unique view of the city and on the edge of the area was glazed to allow you to see underneath all the buildings! The dive was refreshing!
Leaving we made a stop at a pizzeria because the bath made us hungry and after we did one last walk by taking the last pictures of the Czech spa town, we took the road to our hotel. It was our last night in the Czech Republic after five days, and the next morning we departed for Saltsburg...
* Eurohotel: Ten minutes away from downtown, with parking, well groomed, with costs 70 euros for a double. Maybe a hotel with a parking lot near the center would be a better solution given the problem of the parking...
