frantiskovy lazne = franzensbad, CZ

real winter in frantiskovy lazne aka franzensbad in the northwest part of the czech republic .... nice ... i could visit an old buddy in quite nearby vysoka pec / chomutov, too ... my craziest impression? i guess, there were 3/4 of all hotels & restaurants & shops & spa facilities closed. why? i'm not 100% sure, but as i asked at our hotel's reception, i've learned that the elderly guests are still worried due to 2 years of corona plandemy. who knows? or is just early december not the real season in this (cold) healing water spa near the mountains? anyway, for me it was a really nice mobile work environment in the harvey spa hotel from 1918 as our hotel room was huge and the internet connection very good. btw, the hotel was named after william harvey, who first described blood circulation in the 17th century. the hotel was already a ruin, than became renovated by an investors group. the restaurant & spa are not really good, a lobby bar will be established in a year or two, if fundable ... anyway, for our purposes of mobile work, walking in the snowy parks and change of scenes fair enough 😄

the healing springs from franzensbad were well known for centuries. in 1700 has the water from medical springs from franzensbad [then called egerwasser (i.e. eger water) after the nearby city of eger (cheb)] covered more than 50% of that market in germany, i.e. franzensbad sold more water than all other spas in germany together.

in 1792 was the spa area founded by austrian emperor franz I or often also franz II/I. huuuuh? i.e. franz II, emperor of the holy roman reich (roman empire) and franz I, emperor of austria.

emperor kaiser franz I in front of the closed hotel/spa kaiserbad

btw, why didnt we go to the more famous spas karlsbad (karlovy vary) or marienbad (marianske lazne) instead? thats a really easy question, my dears. 

a) all of that 3 north bohemian spas became unesco heritage in 2021. 

b) we know karlsbad a little bit from our half day trip 'a century' ago. at least it was well before i've started to write my blog in 2008.

c) we have spent 3 or 4 days in marienbad in 2015 already.

d) the prizes for hotels in karlsbad were approx double the prices in franzenbad.

a) - d) => we've visited franzensbad for the very 1st time and cannot regret much ... just the food at (all?) lunches + dinners was not any special this time. part of the problem was also a bad decision taking proces while studying the corresponding restaurant menus, the other part was the bad food itself, even at our hotel buffet 😇

so what abt this unesco awarded place itself? there are beautiful parks and beautiful old hotel buildings, e.g. hotel savoy, imperial, erika, kaiserbad, bristol, ... and there is the erlebnisbad waterpark aquaforum (the modern bath for all visitors, not only for hotel guests) in hotel pawlik => enjoy few pictures from this yellow-white spa city and imagine, you would try some water from one of the many healing springs in frantiskovylazne: franzensquelle; glauber I, II, II, IV; lucni; solny; ... one of them was really yellow in color ... and all the glaubers were of ugly taste, if you asked me 😏

main spa road. empty.

hotel bristol. closed.

our hotel harvey. not closed.

my mobile work paradise for 2 or 3 days ...

the view from my mobile office's balcony.

some villas out there

an orthodox catolic church

hotel savoy. not closed.

the savoy dragon guards the hotel + its guests? 🐉

many nice parks everywhere

healing spring glauber I. closed.

yellow (!?!) medical spring franzensquelle from 1793. not closed during the day.

the sphynx guards the closed gas spa? hmmmm ...

closed.

healing springs glauber II, III and IV. not closed during the day.

got it? II, III and IV

hotel imperial. not closed.

healing spring 'solny' since 1816

closed. photographed through a metal grid.

hotel kaiserbad (cisarske lazne). closed.

waterpark aquaforum in hotel pawlik. not closed.

the ghost streets were mostly empty ...

casino? closed.

there was an interesting historical cafe in this ruin like building.

unfortunatelly, the food was not really our favorite taste ...

... at least the drinks and the posters were fine.

parks, parks, parks ...

kreuzerhöhungskirche church from 1819

evangelic church st. peter und paul from 1880

a real spa for men? beer spa 🍺. closed. 😱

let's warm up trees!

coal mine (grohmann-schächte) in bartelsdorf, CZ

three of us in vysoka pec (hohenofen) close to chomutov (komotau) as the bartelsdorf village fell a victim to the open pit brown coal mine, the socialist czechoslovakia installed despite all people living there ... like the hambacher forst and surrounding villages in west germany today 😡

picture painted by the famous czech popstar karel gott

few more pictures here.