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Karlovy Vary is a spa town North West of Prague close to the German border. It's English name is Charles Bath, it has been long known for its spring water and the health benefits it can provide the drinker. We came across the town on the Michael Palin New Europe TV series and as it was only a short train journey out of Prague we thought it was worth checking out.
An observation we have made in the Czech Republic excluding Prague's main station is that they don't build the prettiest train stations. Karlovy Vary was no exception to this rule, in fact they are the worst we have experienced in Europe! We walked across the train tracks to exit the station with views looking onto dilapidated buildings. It seemed to be under going some short of renovation or maybe decoration for some post-apocalyptic film it was going to feature in. Either way we got out of there quickly!
The towns main sights are situated along the river, far away from the station, so we took a short walk ,from our apartment, along the river. You can tell Karlovy Vary is a spa town with its white washed buildings and posh shops. Along our walk we came across numerous outlets to drink the famous water, the water varies in temperature from around 30c° to 70c°. The water is drunk from a one piece ceramic cup with straw, which we think must be unique to the town. There are various designs on sales in the local shops. On much deliberation Nicole opted for a fish design, which had an open mouth were the water was poured. We sampled the water, which had a distinctive mineral taste. We then decided to sample some local beer in a restaurant that looked out onto the river. We preferred the latter! We also tucked into another local speciality, wafers, round circular wafers could be bought everywhere in lots of different flavours. Andy and Matt weren't too keen on the rich filling, but Nicole was all over them.
The town also featured in James Bond: Casino Royal, the architectural flamboyant Grand Royal Pupp hotel was used as the Montenegro casino where Bond played the high stakes poker game with the villain LeChiff. It was easy to see why the building was used. One thing we were sure of was that Bond would be glad he took the Aston rather than opting for the train, unless it was him that left the station in that state!
The second day was taken up visiting Loket a small village 13km away, with the main sight being its Medieval castle perched on a rocky outcrop high above a river that encompasses 3 sides of the castle. It was another location used in Casino Royal. It wasn't as simple as we thought, but we managed to get a train there in the end after passing through the desolate concrete stations of Czech Republic.
Loket is a idyllic medical village built on a small hill, surrounded by a picturesque river with cobbled meandering streets winding up to the top of the hill were there sits the castle. The colourful stone houses and shops follow the roads and pathways up to the castle. Unfortunately we realised upon arriving in Loket that the vast majority of shops and cafes were closed, with it being a Sunday. Although we did managed to find a traditional looking cafe that looked out onto the main village square for lunch and later a cute cafe antique shop with a blazing hot fire to relax by.
The castle on the top of the hill, obviously had lovely views over the village and countryside. It was a 12th century Gothic style castle equipped with banquet rooms, stables and of course a huge and daunting dungeon. Nicole wasn't much of a fan of the dark spooky dungeons spanning three levels under the castle with creepy torture models! It is one of the oldest castles in Czech Republic, built by a duke of Bohemia. For only £3 each for a day ticket we had no complaints!
Although the shops were not open, the temperature was at least 0° and we missed our first train back to Karlovy Vary. The village of Loket was beautiful to visit and more magical with less people around on a Sunday. Our time in the Czech Republic had come to an end and we departed the following day on a train bound for Berlin, Germany.
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