Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

I think one of the most important parts of studying abroad is really getting to know the country you are living in.

When will you ever get the chance to live in The Czech Republic for 5 months of your life again? One mistake I think a lot of people make when going abroad is not traveling enough in their home country. People go every weekend to all of the glamorous cities of Europe, but don't have a chance to really understand where they are studying. When you travel later in life, you probably won't travel to Europe and put the smaller towns in The Czech Republic on your week itinerary.

One of my goals this semester was to do Trip Advisor's top 10 day trips from Prague, which we completed with Karlovy Vary!

This list is as follows:

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

Pilsen, Czech Republic

Karlstein, Czech Republic

Konipiste, Czech Republic

Bohemia Switzerland, Czech Republic and Germany (mountain chain)

Terezin Concentration Camp, Czech Republic

Dresden, Germany

Vienna, Austria

Karlovy Vary is known as the spa town of The Czech Republic! The town is on natural hot springs, and visitors drink the water every year since the minerals are good for the body.

Quite a few movies were filmed in Karlovy Vary including

The Last Holiday - Queen Latifah

Casino Royale - James Bond

and my favorite movie of all time:

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL - directed by the glorious Wes Anderson

(This is a really long intro but it was a very eventful day so it's okay I think)

Brittney and I headed out to Cafe Savoy for breakfast before our two hour bus ride from Prague! Cafe Savoy is world famous and it is really hard to get a table on weekends. We stood in a long line and ended up striking up a conversation with the two girls in front of us. The waiter came over to us and said we could get a table if the four of us chose to sat together, so we said yes!

The two girls were studying abroad too, and we loved getting to hear about all of their travels! One was studying in the Netherlands and the other was studying in Leipzig, Germany! Who knew we would make new friends and get breakfast with them within a span of 15 minutes? Life is so cool.

Our new friends!

Why the wait is ALWAYS worth it...

After an amazing breakfast, we headed off to the bus station and got on the road to Karlovy Vary!

We weren't dressed very cute or anything because we thought we might do some hiking, and definitely stood out in such a glamorous place.

Backpacker life

Funny looking back at our first fashionable trip in Milan to now...

Nothing like walking through a beautiful spa garden to start out your day!

The architecture of this town was unlike anything I had ever seen in The Czech Republic.

We didn't really have much of a plan so just started walking! We ended up coming across the breathtaking Orthodox Church of Saints Peter and Paul!

The gold shone in the sunlight! We went inside but weren't allowed to take pictures since they were in the middle of a service!

We followed a random road and somehow came across the hotel Wes Anderson based "The Grand Budapest Hotel" off of!!!

I was freaking out, definitely one of my favorite movies of all time!

Palace Bristol Hotel

After asking directions to about 6 non-English speakers, we finally found someone who helped us get to the main strip of Karlovy Vary!

We made our way to the colorful canal front, and went out to try the "healing" waters!

In Karlovy Vary, it is custom to drink the springs in a special type of glass cup. The handle of the cup is actually a straw!

You can fill up the cup at any water source in the town. River, fountain, or spicket!

We found a fountain to fill up our cups with the hot spring waters!

Drinking out of the straw handle

It honestly just tasted like hot water to me, but here's to hoping we live forever!

We walked along the canal until we arrived at the Grand Hotel Pupp! We realized that one of the reasons no one could help us get to this area was that we were pronouncing Pupp like "puppy" and it is actually pronounced Grand Hotel "poop." It is the most glamorous and elite spa in the city, with the most unfortunate name.

Grandhotel Pupp was where Queen Latifah took her holiday in the movie...drumroll please..The Last Holiday!

Scene from the movie, where she stood on the same bridge we took the picture from!

In "The Last Holiday," the main character realizes she only has three weeks left to live, so treats herself to a once-in a lifetime vacation!

She stays at the spa hotel, eats 5 star dining, shops in the most posh stores, and lives her life to the fullest!

We loved exploring downtown, and noticed they had xylophone-like tiles on the streets! Kids were jumping on them to make music, and this sister-brother pair kept fighting over who got to jump! This photo made me laugh so hard!

Found some more lace-like architecture downtown!

Giant sand castle sculpture

Spa hotel, Hotel Ontario! The only palm trees we saw in The Czech Republic were in Karlovy Vary!

A scene from Casino Royale was filmed in front of this location!

Today, there was a Polish acapella group performing here! They sang mostly English covers, but threw in some Polish songs as well!

Karlovy Vary is also the home of Czech wafers and the liquor Becherovka! We only tried the wafers in our stay in the city!

We wish we had so much more time in the city, it was amazing! If I ever win the lottery, I am going to stay in one of those spa hotels one night!

What a beautiful town!

We made it back to Prague to catch sunset over Charles Bridge!

I took Brittney back to the restaurant my mom and I discovered, at the end of the smallest street in Europe!

Waiting for the light to change to green, only one person can fit in the street at a time!

Cheers to an amazing last day trip from Prague, and to the last few days here! (Coming soon)