Marianske Lazne (Marienbad) Czech

 My friend and I went away last weekend to a famous European Spa town in the Bohemian Region of Czech Republic. Marienske Lazne is the name of the town in Czech, but in German it is called Marienbad (Whenever you have "bad" in the name of a German town it means "bath" and is known for the Natural Springs there.  Marienbad is famous for its healing waters and many famous people have visited over the years (including King Edward VII, Nicholas II (the Russian Czar), Mark Twain etc.). It is an adorable little city with a population of about 15,000. It was Communist up until the wall came down, and it still seems like it is a city stuck in time - such a neat experience (for ex. maybe a little bit like Cuba). You can almost picture the streets filled with old cars and ladies in fur coats and Russian Hats. It is also near the area where the Headquarters of General Pattons 3rd Army was during World War II).

One great thing too is that it is only a little over an hour from our house and is amazingly inexpensive for a spa town. Almost every building in the town is a hotel/spa and they offer packages with food, pool, steam room, saunas, and spa services. They give Spa Robes and slippers and most everyone in the Hotel just walks around in a robe (so funny). The city itself has 7 different types of springs with totally different types of water. The different waters contain different minerals (hence the healing part). They have a Pavilion where you can test the different waters for free. The locals come and fill up their water bottles too (which for me was quite comforting because smelling and tasting some of the different waters made you question the safety of it - but to see the locals drinking it gave much comfort :-). As usual, the weather was less than stellar (we did see a little sun though on the last day), Still a great time! 

All of the Hotels looked similar - this one reminded me of Schonbrunn in Vienna.

Here is the same building as above - Gorgeous!

The small city/town is built around a beautiful park.

It is famous for this giant wafer called Oplatky. We tried some at a cafe one day - warmed, with coffee (it was delicious!)

the sun peaked out a little... Not too much though

In the park was a small monument dedicated to General Patton and his Army 

Beautiful old architecture

This is the Pavilion where you can test the different healing waters...

This was filled with bubbling water - straight from the Spring..

You could buy these fancy cups for testing or just bring a water bottle of your own...

Each sink had warm and cold water from the different springs. There was one that had sulfur (not sure if you have ever smelled sulfur, but it is not the best smelling thing in the world. It was funny to see people's reactions after testing the sulfer water :-).   

An old Russian Orthodox Church (we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it so much different than the Catholic Churches here...

This is a monument representing each of the 7 types of spring water and their mineral benefits...

They had horse and carriages and also an outdoor skating rink (although it was too warm to skate)

And a nice memorial for the Paris Victims...

This was really funny -we went for a run one morning and there was no snow to be seen. When we got to the top of the kill and turned a corner, there was a small little ski resort !

It was small, but had 3 lifts - perfect for kids!!!

The Spa Robes waiting for us!

 

I thought this building was kind of neat. It looks as though it hasn't been quite renovated up to par yet (that is what I meant by a city stuck in time - although most of the Spas were very modern)