Karlovy Vary aka Karlsbad or Carlsbad

Karlovy Vary is a beautiful little spa town in western Czech Republic.  A place where the rich and famous used to go to take the waters for their health, though today they apparently let in anybody with money, especially Russians who are buying up the city. 

The city was founded in the 14th century by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia. According to legend he saw a deer wounded by wolves or dogs drink the water from one of the many hot springs and be miraculously healed.  (Somewhat similar to the claims made for the water at Truskavets where Tanya and I went three years ago.  My blog posts about that adventure start here.)

Thursday 12th was cold and rainy.  Our first stop was the Krusovice brewery.  Not bad beer as Czech's made a variety of very good beers but just not a day for a cold brew.  We had several hours to spend wandering Karlovy Vary and Tanya got some good pictures.  (My knees, hips, legs were giving me so much trouble that day, I could hardly keep up.  Need more practice walking I guess.  By Sunday I was doing very well.  Just needed to keep at it).  The town is lovely, all hotels and shops and geared totally to the tourist trade.

Lots of ducks on the river

Built by the Soviets in the Brezhnev era.  Fit the architectural style?