Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
STROLLING THE COLONNADES
As you'll soon discover, there's not much to do in Karlovy Vary except to walk
and gawk (and that's not such a bad thing). So make like a local and buy a little
ceramic sipping cup (sold everywhere along the main colonnade) and enjoy a
relaxing stroll. You can fill your cup for free at spa points along the way, but
watch how much you sip, since too much 'health' has been known to cause to
occasional gastric distress.
The spa proper begins at the northern end of the resort area, near the
Poštovní Bridge
, where late 19th- and early 20th-century mansions face-off
with the rather blockish, communist-era (1976)
Hotel Thermal
sanatorium
across the river.
The 13th spring is the most famous, but there are 15 springs housed in or
near five colonnades
(kolonády)
along the Teplá. The first is the whitewashed
and wrought-iron
Park Spring Colonnade
(Sadová kolonáda).
Further on is the biggest and most popular, the neo-Renaissance
Mill Colon-
nade
(Mlýnská kolonáda; 1881). Here you'll find five different springs, a small
bandstand and even rooftop statues depicting the months of the year. Petra
Restaurant, opposite, is the spot (but not the original building) where Peter the
Great allegedly stayed in 1711.
Straight up Lázeňská is a gorgeous art-nouveau building called
dům Za-
wojski
(1901). It's been reopened as a classy boutique hotel. Nearby you can
do some very upmarket window shopping along Lázeňská and Tržiště, including
tures a range of tableware and gift items. The Moser company opened its first
shop in Karlovy Vary in 1857, and by 1893 had established a glassworks in the
town. Less than a decade later Moser became the official supplier to the Imperi-
al Court of Franz Josef I, who obviously put in a good word to his English friend
King Edward VII, as Moser also became the official supplier of glass to British
royalty in 1907.
