Medicus April 2016

T R A V E L

Karlovy Vary, the world’s most picturesque town, will mesmerise even the fussiest traveller as Robert Reid discovers K arlovy Vary is a small town in the Czech Republic, about 140km from the nation’s capital, Prague. Hundreds of thousands of visitors go there every Prettier than a picture: Karlovy Vary is a spa town like no other.

that if the water didn’t cure you then the food, generously flowing wine and gambling tables would at least make the time go quickly and enjoyably. You can’t visit the town without at least a sip of the (extremely) mineral tasting waters from the common stainless steel or enamel mugs and cups attached to walls with water flowing continuously. Or take a disposable cup from the wall, fill it to the brim, and promenade along the incredible colonnades. But it is not just the waters that offers a cup of good health. This is a healthy town – or at least it is a town offering every known and tested (and many untested) treatments to make you healthier, and hopefully extend your life. That is indeed why many people come here. For me however, it was a visit generated by two movies, although there have been others filmed here and every year Karlovy Vary puts on one of Europe’s biggest film festivals. My two favourite movies were filmed in and around the magnificent wedding cake of a structure, Grandhotel Pupp (pronounced ‘Poop’), where Bond, (as in James, not

year to “take the restorative waters” in an attempt to extend their lives. The town has also been featured in a variety of European and Hollywood movies. It has – rightly – also earned for itself the title of the “most picturesque town on earth”. Originally called Carlsbad, Karlovy Vary is on the meeting point of the rivers Ohře and Tepl and since its foundation more than 700 years ago, has become known for its hot

around town are 13 main springs and about 300 smaller springs all offering endless amounts of mineralised water.

In fact, it was these health promises that drove the Karlovy Vary economy through its seven centuries. Like a queue outside a General Practitioner’s clinic, the good and the famous headed for Karlovy Vary – Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Sir Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin among others. It became fashionable to spend summer taking the waters, confident

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