Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Czech Republic Trip Report

With Cesky Krumlov benind us, we turned out sites to Karlovy Vary. The countryside was getting more hilly, but the route we chose afforded good roads. We opted not to stop in Pilsen at it seemed like a rather large city with not much to hold our interest. We stopped for lunch at one of the many `Motor Rest` restaurants on the way and had a very nice meal of breaded pork cutlet with buttered potatoes. By now the countryside was getting what a Floridian would consider mountainous. Not having been to Germany, nonetheless the views reminded me of the German mountains seen in postcards, etc. Many pine trees and sweeping vallies.

As we reached Karlovy Vary, we were afforded a view of the town from very high up on a bluff. It was just beautiful. Finding our hotel was quite another story. After trying to find the hotel from the Via Michelin route that I had printed before we left on our trip, I finally had to call the hotel and ask for directions. Hotel Nike is very hard to find and it took 2 phone calls before we finally found it. The hotel reception was very nice and she said we did very well in finding them since almost everyone gets lost.

Let me give you some background on Karlovy Vary. I couldn’t figure out why almost everywhere we looked there was Russian writing. It turns out that during the communst era the elite from Russia came to Karlovy Vary to take the waters and treatment that the town offers. Sadly, in true communist fashion they came to the town and pretty much used it up. Since there was no money to keep these old 14th and 15th century buildings in good repair, the town began to crumble. There is evidence everywhere that the town is being restored one building at a time. Hotel Nike has seen better days but the room was at least clean and very large; it was actually a suite but the carpet needed to be replaced and the overstuffed chairs in the sitting room looked like leftovers from the cold war. The best thing I can say about Hotel Nike is that they had actual brewed coffee at breakfast which was included in the room rate.

The location of Hotel Nike to the downtown area could not have been better. It was a short walk downhill to the Centrum and the main fountain and geyser. The main street in the Centrum as well as the Colonade buildings and the pyramidy shaped building which houses the Geyser were well restored and very pretty. When you go there, everyone has Karlovy Vary cups which is like a tea cup with the handle being a straw. You can go into any Colonade building and the hot therapeutic waters are coming out of spigots; just put your cup in and enjoy very hot `iron water`. We walked the main street and stopped in at Hotel Pup. This is where the movie stars stay when they come into town, which I understand is frequently. It’s a beautifully restored building and is set up against one of the towns cliffs. We took the funicular up to to Diana Tower which is like Petrin Tower in Prague (except this one has an elevator, thank God) and we were afforded stunning views from the top. There is also a restaurant at the top and a lame petting zoo with a couple of animals.

The town symbol is the mountain goat and I can see why. One day we took one of the many foot paths up the side of the mountain. It was a good hike with beautiful views, but it would have been better if we, too, were mountain goats!

We also visited the Orthodox church and were stunned by the elegance of it. Gold turrets, and stiking blue exteriors and frescoes. There is also an Anglican church there that I believe is the first church in that town probably dating to 1300’s.

The town was beautiful so long as you don’t look at all of the reconstruction going on around you. I’m sure that in another 10 years, the town will be back to it’s grand splendor.

We left Karlovy Vary a day early since we wanted to go back to Prague to see Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral. As we were driving back, we started to come into this small town and just at the edge of town there was...a police car...well it seems that I had not slowed the car down to the requisite 50kpg (about 30 mph) before we hit the edge of town. Once we got on the other side of this small town, there were police cars and policemen pulling people over, and what a surprise, they asked me to pull over. My daughter, being the optomist said, maybe they just want to look at the car. I said, no, I think we’re going to get a speeding ticket. I asked if the officer spoke English and he said no and motioned for another officer to come over. This one spoke only marginal English, but he was able to tell me that I was going 72 in a 50 and that he was going to give me a ticket. The fine was 1000Kc and I would have to pay it at any post office in Prague. He asked for our passport and international driving license (lucky thing I got one at AAA before I left, because I sure needed it). He said the fine would have to be paid within 15 days and all I could think of was that we were leaving the next day to fly home and what if they were to hold our passports.

My plan was to return the rental car and take the metro back into town, so we drove to our hotel, Comfort Hotel close to the airport and dropped off our luggage. The Comfort Hotel is part of the Choice Hotel brand so it’s really a budget hotel. The room was small but clean and the shower had plenty of hot water. The location is kind of strange because it’s nestled in an apartment complex with probably 30-40 buildings. I chose it because it was close to the airport and for the price (about $65.00 per night) The staff was very helpful and although the room was unavailable because we got to the hotel around noon, she let us store the luggage in the luggage closet and we just retrieved it when we got back. She also noted that we would be leaving the hotel by 6:30 am to catch our flight home so she had 2 – to go bags ready for us to take with us since we would be missing the free breakfast. They packed 2 sandwiches, 2 pieces of fruit, a juice box and a candy bar for each of us. While this is close to the airport, it took about 20 minutes to get to ther terminal by cab.

Anyway, we dropped the luggage and drove to the airport and dropped off the rental car and I also asked if the airport had a post office. They told me it did so we went there to pay my traffic ticket. While waiting in line, there was a man in front of us who was also paying traffic tickets. He had a fistful of them and the total amount of the tickets was about $580 USD. In typical Czech fashion, he just said `well, that’s life`. We paid our fine and then caught the but into town so we could see Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral. After all of the chasing around, we did’nt get into town until almost 2:00 so we had a short time to see everything. We rented the audio short tour and headed for the cathedral. We were fascinated by the sheer size of this cathedral and of the lightness of the building’s architecture. We have been to Westminster Abbey in London and I think St. Vitus is even larger. It was beautifully ornate and the stained glass was awesome. We also saw St. Georges Bascilica and after having just seen St. Vitus it seemed diminished. Since we didn’t really have time to see the insides of the castle, we spent most of our time in the churches. We were going to walk on the Golden Lane, but somehow missed the turn to go there and by then we were tired and we still wanted to go back to Old Town Square for our last night’s dinner.

The weather finally cleared and we were able to sit outside on the square and enjoyed our last meal in the fabulous country and city. My daughter had roasted pork and dumplings and I opted for fruit dumplings. For those of you unfamiliar with Czech cooking, this is a seasonal favorite. These dumplings were even better than my own and were made with plums. The dumpling doug is typically made from farina and made into a dough with flour and eggs. The restaurant dumpling seemed to be made from potato and was incredibly light and served with cottage cheese.

Our overall impression of the Czech Republic is that the people are very nice and take everything in stride. The country is beautiful as in prague, but our most favorite place was Cesky Krumlov. It has all of the old world charm that we were looking for and it was a slower pace than you feel in Prague.

I hope everyone has enjoyed my ramblings and that I have enticed some of you to visit there.