Karlovy Vary Day Trip

140 km West of Prague is Karlovy Vary. The history like that of Jed Clampett started "one day" when Charles IV "was huntin' for some food(chamois).....when up through the ground came ...... hot mineral water". The town is famous for its health spas and its springs housed in colonnades along the Tepla River. It is fashionable to drink from the springs using the souvenir cups you can buy at one of the numerous tiny shops along the way. Each spring has a plark with the name and temperature of the water nearby - I tried Mlynska (The Mill) which I think was around 50deg - it had a taste reminiscent of .... best described as.. well ... you know when you've just been dumped by a wave and some of it's goes up your nose .... like that ... sea water warmed in your nostrils. I don't think I could expect any health benefits from the quantity I consumed!



We were invited out for a day in the country by Ansgar (McK) and Nadine. It made a nice change to go somewhere in a car. On the way back we stopped at the ruins of a ancient fortress built in 1405 on top of Angel(Andelys) Mountain (situated by the road from Prague to Karlovy Vary). We walked through the ruins following a tangle of paths which weaved in and out of the remaining standing structures until we reached the keep with magnificent 360deg views of the environs including the Krusne Hory Mountains.