Ahoj Karlovy Vary

The Teplá River flowing through the middle of Karlovy Vary. With fountains.

And so, today, we say "ahoj," or "good-bye" to Prague. (Traveling by bus.) (Like I was a character in some country song.) (A Czech country song, if there is such a thing.)

And we say "ahoj," which is pronounced "ahoy," as in "ship ahoy," to Karlovy Vary. Czechs are kind of like Hawaiians in that way, using the same greeting to mean "hello" and "good-bye."

Karlovy Vary is a beautiful, historic spa time that managed to survive the years of communist oppression and destruction nicely enough.

I walked along the banks of the Teplá River from where the bus dropped me off to my hotel. It was probably more than a mile of bag-rolling to get there.

But the sights along the way!

The tourist infestation level is moderate. Even with me in town.

The cold water might have something to do with. But, then again, given that the town is built on thermal springs -- literally as well as figuratively -- you would think the unseasonably cold spring would bring out us tourist hordes.

This is the Tržní kolonáda. Don't ask me to pronounce it. It translates to "Market colonnade." I can pronounce that.

This is the Karlovy Vary City Theater:

Karlovarské městské divadlo, o.p.s., if you want to keep things in Czech.

Huh huh. I made a punny.

And then, there it was. The Grandhotel Pupp.

Mr. Pupp was the founder of the hotel. His name is pronounced with the "oo" sound and not the short "u," as in "food," or "school." You're going to have to sound it out yourself.

This hotel was one of the inspirations for the hotel in the only decent movie of this decade: Grand Budapest Hotel, which, weirdly enough, in Czech was called "Grandhotel Budapest."

My room is on the first floor, which by European floor numbering conventions means it is the floor above the lobby and ground floor.  This is the view:

The hotel is most accurately described as "lavish":

This is the hotel bar:

And the coffee shop:

Even the staircases are magnificent:

It is definitely from a different era. After using the swimming pool, which was a little cooler than I would've expected a pool heated by thermal springs to be, it was time for this intercity bus rider to eat some grub at the hotel restaurant.

This being the Czech Republic, no matter how upscale the hotel and restaurant, so the meal began with a beer. Czech beer, Pilsner Urquell,

The appetizer course was the carpaccio of marinated salmon trout and pikeperch, lemon puree, dried marinated carrot, dill oil.

But of course you can tell from the picture. It was very light and fresh.

I was in a fishy mood, so the main course was baked pikeperch steak, black quinoa, caramelized cauliflower, and bouillabaisse:

The restaurant, appropriately so, was named the Grandrestaurant Pupp. Two fish courses was insufficiently filling, so I had dessert:

Matcha Tea cake with Lemon Cream, Yoghurt foam, Raspberry and Hibiscus Sorbet. Here is a view of the dessert and the dining room.

This was a much fancier meal than I ordinarily eat, even when traveling. But I was staying at a lavish, luxurious hotel from a different era.

Ahoj, Grandhotel Pupp.