The next day we jumped back in the car and made our way to Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.
Well this isn't confusing at all… Which way do we go?
We make it to the small spa town of Karlovy Vary, apparently where parts of James Bond Casino Royal was filmed. It is also home to a hot spring, which people come from all over to heal their ailments and drink the “magical” water. Note to self, our hotel is up on a hill from the main part of town… and its not just some small hill… its 700 steps from the bottom to the top (don’t worry I counted). Here are some pictures from around town.
We grab dinner right along the water. I must say that Czech beer is fantastic!
Look closely at the trees in this picture and you can see the steam coming off the water.
Walking around town, we can’t help but notice that every person we see has an ornate mug and is drinking from the straw that comes right out the side. They were everywhere!! What could this be? Ray and I felt like we had missed the memo about something. Ray comments that it looks like a small bong. We keep walking and then we see a bunch of street vendors with tons of the mugs hanging all over the place. Alright, we found where to get a mug, but still we wonder what were they drinking. Coffee, tea, liquor? Hmmm… we keep walking and finally see a row of small wells with water coming out. Aha! This has to be it. We see a man walk up to the spring and fill up his mug. Since I fortunately I had already bought a small mug (to add to my shot glass collection), I decide, well more like Ray encourages me, to try the water.
Walking around town, we can’t help but notice that every person we see has an ornate mug and is drinking from the straw that comes right out the side. They were everywhere!! What could this be? Ray and I felt like we had missed the memo about something. Ray comments that it looks like a small bong. We keep walking and then we see a bunch of street vendors with tons of the mugs hanging all over the place. Alright, we found where to get a mug, but still we wonder what were they drinking. Coffee, tea, liquor? Hmmm… we keep walking and finally see a row of small wells with water coming out. Aha! This has to be it. We see a man walk up to the spring and fill up his mug. Since I fortunately I had already bought a small mug (to add to my shot glass collection), I decide, well more like Ray encourages me, to try the water.
First sip and I thought I was drinking salt water… Later come to realize its just chalk full of minerals which is why it tastes so. We head into the main building in town and see the geyser and let Ray have a chance to taste the special water. I give him fair warning about the taste…
Yep, same face I had. Good thing our mug was tiny, but it still took awhile to finish it. Bottom line, at least we can say we tried it. Oh and we also had to try the famous First Thermal Karlovy Vary Wafers. They were delicious!
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