Karlovy Vary is a small and cozy Czech city near the German border. It's a very touristic city, famos for being a "spa city", for the film festival it hosts, but mostly for a certain liqueur (or medicine, if you ask the employed there) that is made there, the Becherovka. And since it is not far from Prague (roughly 2h with a bus), it seemed like a good destination for a trip.
The idea for it fell rather suddenly on a boring Saturday afternoon, and the following Sunday morning we all gathered at the reception. The expedition consisted of Jovita, Tomas and Donek from Lithuania, Magda from Poland and Darjan and myself. It wasn't a particularly nice day, but at least it wasn't raining.
The complications started soon, though. At the Florenc bus station we were informed that we can only buy tickets to Karlovy Vary and not back to Prague as well, as all of the buses scheduled for the day were already full. There is a train station in Karlovy Vary, though, so we decided to rely on our luck for a change and bought the tickets anyway.
The ride there was smooth. The student's agency has really good buses: it has big and comfortable leather seats, there were 8 screens for a movie they were rolling (unfortunately it was dubbed in Czech), everyone got headphones and could listen to 7 different radio stations, they handed out newspapers and magazines, and you can even buy some refreshments. Most of us, however, slept.
Sleeping on the way there ...
... and on the way back.
The city itself is nothing exceptional, just a regular tourist city, and one can see everything there is to see in one day. The centre drags along both banks of the river, and there's only hotels, spas, restaurants and shops there. There's also a really nice park on one side, but since it's winter it wasn't as interesting as it would have been in a warmer period of the year. Also, along the route we took, there are countless springs of thermal water you can drink from. We saw number 65, but Wikipedia suggests there's 15 large springs and over 300 smaller ones. We tried some of the water, supposedly it's good for digestion and metabolism, but it tastes awful.
The city, the park, the dinner (?)
The day was turning out really nice, and in between, even some clouds cleared the way for some sunshine to come though. But the days are short here, we still didn't have tickets to Prague and there was still the museum to see.
The museum is located in a building that was once the main factory for the production of Becherovka. Some of it is still made there, but the majority of the operation is now located in another factory nearby. The entrance fee for the museum is 50 Crowns with an ISIC card, and for that you get a tour of the factory, some background and history, a rough description of the process (the recipe is a secret, only 2 people in the world know it) and a video. The best part of it is the video, during which you also get to try 3 different kinds of Becherovka. The first one is a classic Becherovka, found in every shop in Czech Republic. The second one is Aperitiv KV 14, and it's completely without sugar. The third one, Cordial, has some added sugar (it is 35% alcohol and 40% sugar). You drink Becherovka cold, Aperitiv is especially nice for mixing cocktails because it has no sugar and you can mix Cordial with warm drinks like tea.
The museum took a good 40 min. and after that we really had to race to catch the train back to Prague. There was another one leaving later, but the ride back to Prague takes 3,5 hours with a train. We were lucky enough to catch it on time, and soon we were on the way to Hostivař.
When we were back, half of the group decided to go back to the dorm, but Tomas, Donek and me were really hungry. We decided to seek out a restaurant near Náměstí Míru. After a while of searching I decided to just go and eat at home, and just as my luck goes, they found the place 5 minutes after I left for Hostivař. Still, it was a great day and visiting Karlovy Vary is something I recommend to anyone that wasn't there yet and has a day off. It's just the right size and interesting enough for a one day trip.
Goofing around in Karlovy Vary.
We all tried some thermal water. The expressions on the faces say it all (some people are just better at hiding it as others).
