A few weeks ago my brother went to Prague for holiday and bought me this beautiful magnet. It's actually a matchbox, made of wood and carved with Prague's famous astronomy clock. Another great addition to my fridge magnet collection. Then I remembered I've also been to Prague, many years ago.
In my quest to pin as many places to my Worldmappin map as possible, I'm rummaging through my files for the old photos of my trip. You'll be seeing a lot of me in this post. Those were still the days when I thought photos were about people and not views. Like this one, the younger me trying to look cool 🫣😂.
I have vague memories of my trip as it was a long time ago. I had to rely on Google to confirm I went to Prague Castle. The castle is located up on a hill and offers a fantastic view of Prague city at the foot of the hill.
I remember going to the town hall to see the famous astronomical clock. The clock dates back to 1410 and is a must-go for all visitors. We were standing outside for quite a long time watching the clock movements, waiting for the 12 apostles to make their hourly appearance. Snowpea would have loved it. They were added 300 years after the original clock, so are pretty new by comparison. I can't remember if I saw them or not, probably not otherwise I'm sure I would have taken a photo of them
On the penultimate day I went to Karlovy Vary and I remember this day trip very well. Karlovy Vary is a famous spa town about 120km away from Prague. I went by coach and made sure I remember where I got off so I know where to catch the return ride back to Prague. Those were the days before I had a smartphone, information wasn't as easily available on the tip of my finger like nowadays. Had to be well prepared.
Karlovy Vary is a lovely city and it was definitely worth the long coach ride. One of the unique features of the city are the colannades. These are buildings or structures that has outlets for one or more of the fifteen springs in the city. There are five colannades, the biggest and most famous one is Mill Colonnade, a beautiful building that dates back to the late 19th century.
There are five springs at Mill Colonnade, the temperature of this one is 65 degrees celsius. All the others in the city range from 30 to 75 degrees and have different healing properties. Of course you can't have a spa treatment in public here, but there is a valid reason why these colonnades were built.
When I arrived in the city, I noticed a lot of people tourists walking around with a very unusual looking ceramic mug. It looked like a normal decorative mug with a handle, except there was a spout at the top of the handle. These mugs are for people to sample the spring water. I think that is such a great idea, tourists get to see all these amazing colonnades and drink free healthy spring water at the same time. Not to mention it keeps you nice and warm in winter!
The other reason why Karlovy Vary is quite memorable for me is because I nearly got stranded there! When it was time to catch my coach back to Prague I turned up at the coach stop where I got off in the morning. I waited for a long time and the coach still hadn't appeared even after my scheduled departure time. Something wasn't right and I was starting to get very worried as I was due to fly out the next morning. I had to get back to Prague that night. It turns out the coach drop off and pick up points were different. The pickup point was further along the road. By the time I realised it and ran to the pickup point, the last coach was due to leave soon. Then I had another problem. I didn't have the funds to buy another ticket 😖 I can't remember which it was, either I didn't have enough cash and the bus driver didn't take credit card, or they didn't take cash and I didn't have a credit card. I explained my situation and showed the driver my ticket for the missed bus. Somehow that seemed to work, and he let me get on the bus. Phew!!! What a scare.
I hope you enjoyed my throwback post to the Czech Republic. And look!! See what I found!! A photo without me in it 😅
