We headed out of Prague today. We stopped in Becov and went into a castle that housed a very special reliquary of St. Maurus from the 13th century. This relic had gone through all sorts of difficulties such as broken ornamentation, buried, put in a bank box and stolen. It was about 5 ft long and 2 ft. tall and shaped sort of like a house. It was covered in gold and all sorts of engravings and jewels and various gems. Right now to see it, you are taken on a special tour and each door of the castle is opened just before you enter and locked as you leave as they explain all about it. The last door is more like a Brinks truck which is locked and with a long list of things not to do: No cameras, no video, cell phones must be turned off ( maybe no breathing). Therefore we don't have any photos.
We then went onto Karlovy Vary for a walking tour of this lovely spa town. They have all sorts of hot/warm mineral streams. The mineral water is considered to be healing whether ingesting it from their special cup or soaking in it. This spa town is where Casino Royale with James Bond was filmed. It has some famous scenes from the Grand Pupp Hotel. Now we will have to look at it again.
Fancy resort in the Karlovy Vary spa area
Mineral water that you can put in the special cup and drink
Here the mineral water springs up and makes this large room very warm
If the water is not to your liking you can try Becherovka which can be drunk straight or with tonic water and a lime or lemon. It might be better than the spa water.
There were all kinds of shops with Bohemian crystal and garnets which are noted from this area. Lots of neat little shops and the prices of things are not too terribly expensive.
Lovely views down in the valley of this spa area
We then drove our 2 hours back to Prague for dinner and then went to the opera Don Giovanni. This time the surtitles were in English so we had a better idea of the plot. There was someone on the bus that said he felt he was cultured out. We totally agree at this point. We have seen enough cold, damp castles and enough operas to satisfy us for awhile.
This is called the Dancing House-Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. This is modern architecture.
We saw how hops are grown in the area. They are on tall stakes similar to vineyards. They actually grow quite tall. The Czech Republic has an excellent crop of hops and therefore does a terrific job of brewing beer.
The hops grow quite tall on these stakes.
A few kegs
We are sitting in the lobby and it seems someone from our group is missing a passport and credit cards. Not sure if pickpockets were the problem or what. The couple is in their 80s so not good. That is the reason to travel overseas while you are young enough to do it. Not good at all.
Here is a photo from the opera.
Sorry that my photos are a little out of order but I am getting tired and want to get this out from yesterday.
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