DAY 3: Jachymov and Karlovy Vary

Monday, 1 SEPTEMBER 2014 [Full day Tour: Jáchymov and Karlovy Vary]

Still sleep deprived (4 hours total in 3 days..) but full of enthusiasm for the trips to come, I had no trouble getting ready for the day tour outside of Praha. The very personable and knowledgeable guide Nina and, David would again be my company for the day.

Jáchymov

Located at an altitude of 2,405ft near the border with Germany and, 2 hours 30 minutes drive west of Praha, this used to be a silver mining town and later a uranium mining area under the Communists. Today, it is a sleepy town with just 8,000 inhabitants and has many dilapidated buildings. So why come here?? Well, for a finance guy interested in origins of money, this place is a pilgrimage site of sorts. The first Joachimsthaler (silver coins) were minted here and the name was later shortened to Thaler and, many nations adopted a version of the name - DOLLAR (sounds like Thaler) for their currencies. This term is now used in the world's main medium of exchange the U.S. Dollar. In short, the term Dollar can be said to have originated from this humble town, and the museum we see below is where the coins were first minted in the 16th century.

Currently a museum, once the site of a mint

The town has some interesting history and would be a nice place to visit if buildings were repaired and given a new coat of paint with some events held here to spur visitor arrivals.

Radium Palace - a radon spa centre/hotel. Spa used under expert supervision I presume...

Main street

Having satisfied my 'religious' obligations, we left this town with some nice memories (apart from the post office being closed for lunch at 11am..). + A big thank you to my guide Nina and her husband David for agreeing to do this detour which 9/10 tour guides probably would not even consider !

Karlovy Vary (KV)

About 1.5-2.0 hours drive west of Praha and 20 minutes from Jáchymov and not far from the border with Germany, this is one of the most frequently visited places outside of Praha and definitely the most popular of the spa towns in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 1370AD by the great king Charles IV whom we were introduced to in the previous day's tour. KV is renown for its spas, mineral springs, Moser glass factory, herbal liquor called Becherovka, a special wafer called Oplatky and get this... there is an international film festival held here every year with attendance by Hollywood figures.  

Our first destination in KV was the Becherplatz, a 170 year old former distillery for producing Becherovka, and where we could get some shopping done before touring the town. Purchases of Becherovka, fridge magnets, souvenirs and postcards were made. For the curious, Becherovka is an aperetif/alcoholic drink made of herbs (and perhaps some spices?) with an alcoholic content of 38% and produced in Karlovy Vary. This drink was invented in the late 18th century by one Josef Vitus Becher with production later taken over by his son Johann "Jan" Nepomuk Becher. According to their website, today, only 2 people know the secret ingredients of this drink. Check out their very nice website here.

That's no bottle

Store in Becherplatz specialising in Becherovka and other aperetifs



Next stop was the Česká pošta (post office) to send some postcards. I nearly lost my videocam here but a good samaritan must have spotted it lying about and handed it to the post office personnel, who handed it to me when I asked if they had seen it, big plus point to the Czech people!

Main post office

Before the videocam incident, I was introduced to a snack food called Oplatky, i.e. a circular wafer, rather sweet and with a unique flavour. Thought this would definitely be a winner with folks at home, so bought a few packs to take back.

Snack store

Oplatka

To cover more ground, I suggested to Nina that we simply drive around the town to take in the street sights, and to alight only when we had reached a certain key destination.

After driving about the picturesque streets for 20 minutes, we arrived at a beautiful colonnade (Park Colonnade), where I was greeted by a shocking sight.....!

 

WHERE WERE THE CROWDS?? The place was almost empty! Summer and early autumn is usually when there are throngs of visitors. Granted, the skies were threatening with a heavy downpour but this was just unnatural. One explanation for the sparsity of people could be that Russians who make up a significant visitor population were cutting down their visits to European Union (EU) countries including KV, as a retaliatory measure against current EU (of which Czech is a part of) sanctions against Russian interests. According to Nina, if this continued, the survival of numerous hotels, shops and restaurants in this town would be in doubt. Just another example of when bureaucrats far removed and sheltered from the realities of life play their hit or miss political games, many have to suffer the consequences..

Park Colonnade, virtually empty!  

From the Park Colonnade, I had the option of (1)going for a quick spa treatment or (2)going for a tour of the Moser glass factory which makes beautiful glassware. Spa treatments were/are not for me and I decided at the time that I would rather sightsee than witness the making of glass...so on we went, to the Mill Colonnade. 

The Mill Colonnade is where most of the thermal taps/springs can be found and visitors would have a porcelain drinking vassal in hand, fill those vassals with a little liquid from the springs and having a taste. I can give you some adjectives for whether the waters taste good ... metallic, saltish, tangy, earthy...you get the idea. Nonetheless, did quaff a little of the liquid from one spring and spent some time wandering from one to another.

Over a dozen thermal springs available - each with a different name & temperature and even varied taste

Megaspring - sorry can't recall it's proper name

After thermal spring overload, wandered about the area a bit more to look at the unique or interesting architecture.

Art Nouveau adornments on a building

Grandhotel Pupp - grandest hotel in town. Some tinseltown stars stay here during the annual International Film Festival held in Karlovy Vary

Stará Louka - pedestrians only street with upmarket shops

And then on to the funicular which would take us to a lookout point with a good overview of the town and the surrounding countryside. The spot is called Diana Rohzledna.

View of a section of Karlovy Vary

And to end the day, a ride on the horse carriage.....errr...., a visit to the cafe where Robert De Niro could have once been sitting where I sat, as if that mattered. 

 

Classy interior of Cafe Pupp

Cafe Pupp: Very nice - spent some time here

Took a final look at this beautiful spa town before getting into the car for the 2 hour journey back to Praha. Would love to revisit Karlovy Vary, but there are so many other places to visit ... maybe one day.

Farewell Karlovy Vary

NEXT: Day 4, Accommodation Transfer & Praha Tour