Royal Treatment in the Royal Spa Towns Part 1: Mariánské Lázně

With only 3 more week-ends left, we are packing a full programme of activities while the folks are here. This week-end, we headed off to the Royal Spa Towns of the Czech Republic, close to the northern German border.

Mariánské Lázně was the chosen destination, not only because it is motherdux's namesake (Marion's Spa - or something like that), but also because it is the Spa town that we had not yet visited and it has received rave reviews. We booked apartments in the town for the Saturday night and planned an early start on Saturday morning.

The route planned, being only an hour from Plzen, allowed time for exploration. We had a castle earmarked to explore near Mariánské Lázně, although I was poorly prepared and had not written down either it's name or location, but had hoped to see signs once near enough to ML to trigger my memory. Well, the signs did appear, but it triggered a very wrong memory and we found our way half way to Karlovy Vary chasing a very different castle, before I halted the operation and decided to check my laptop.

Course reset, and an additional 50km added to the journey, we found ourselves winding through some incredible country roads. If the detour took us back home without even the sighting of the royal spas let alone the castle, the country roads were well worth the drive.

Including a very picturesque tree-lined lake:

Our accommodation in ML was just perfect (Apartment Barbara). We had 2 studio apartments with kitchen on the top landing - and the only 2 units on the floor. It was definitely the best private accommodation we have stayed in thus far in the CZ. This is the garden:

After dropping our gear and checking in, we set off immediately to explore the town. The first sight to greet us, was immaculate and lush gardens; fountains; and the very typical 19th century styled buildings of the period.

We didn't waste any time venturing into the garden and were almost immediately drawn to the sound of Mozart wafting down from somewhere higher up. It turned out to be the musical fountain just finishing it's grand finale and so we vowed to return in the evening for one of the later performances.

Inside the colonnade, behind the fountain, is an info centre which gave us details of the various spas as well as the musical programme for the fountain. The inside of the colonnade was really impressive, with beautiful arches and frescoed ceiling.

Next stop, the 2nd colonnade near the fountain:

Here, the first sampling of spa water took place - the first expression is always priceless!

While strolling back to the main street through the gardens, we spied some horses & carriages.

Now, we usually don't give in to demands of horse rides, but these ones were surprisingly cheap, so I had secretly decided to treat the girls to a ride after lunch, but first stop, was definitely lunch! Pretty much directly opposite the horses, was a charming cafe.

The photo below had us recovering from near hysterics as the first attempt at a timed photo took the prize shot of a lady's behind as she squeezed past the camera at the precise count of 10, silhouetted by the perfectly timed flash.

Horsie Carriage rides were then promised and the expedition set off led by 2 very eager horsie fanatics, whose long-time dreams were about to come true.

For the rest of the afternoon, we strolled the gardens and tasted the water from the springs, and then found our way back to the musical fountain to await the 7pm performance

Last stop: Pizzas for Supper!!

Sunday's first order of events was a lazy Sunday swim in the hot mineral springs at a traditional spa bath. The spa is complete with massage beds, still pools, whirl pools, Jacuzzis, saunas, steam rooms, Scottish showers, you name it! Well, things were going well (even though the only costume I could lend my mother was my skimpy blue bikini), until we put our big toe into the pool.... and discovered it was cold!

Mom & I decided that the money we had paid was way more than we would like for a cold swim, so decked in bikinis and all we marched into the main info reception and exclaimed that it was just not on! Well, don't ever say that it doesn't pay to complain, because we received apologies and all our money back - and then on top of it we went back into the pool and still enjoyed our swim.

2nd stop: BRUNCH!!!! We had all worked up quite significant appetites, and it was nearly lunch already, after all! We had seen on the local map, that there was a building at the top of the hill overlooking the town, called Panorama. This seemed like the perfect ending to our stay in ML and the ideal location for brunch. Unfortunately though, it became apparent very quickly that it was not to be, when we arrived at the said location and found a very ruined and dilapidated chateaux. Fortunately though, about a km down the road we found another hotel where we had a slap-up meal and called it Lunch. Next to our hotel/restaurant was another dilapidated chateaux... we were seeing a trend...

After lunch, Karlovy Vary!

(Part 2: Karlovy Vary)