December 2013, November 2017
I needed to certify documents in Russian. In Prague this is problematic, waiting list is a month, so I decided to go to Karlovy Vary.
Interestingly, I'd already been to Vary in 2014 for the same reason. Back then I called the consulate in Prague, got through on the 3rd day of attempts, to find out that you can sign up in 2 months. Good thing Ilya from podebrady.ru advised trying consulates in Brno or Karlovy Vary. I used the chance and signed up in Vary by phone, then everything went well.
Unfortunately didn't find photos from that trip (will add later if I find them). Back then I didn't photograph every step :)
On the appointed day I went in the morning by bus. Bus is double-decker, new. Weather's not great :(
Ride is 2 hours, plus about 20 minutes on foot to the consulate. I.e. you can calmly sign up 2.5 hours before departure.
At the consulate itself everything went great - managed in about 20 minutes :) Well done, of course, in my case the whole process went quickly and pleasantly, so can't help but praise.
I didn't buy a return ticket right away, since I didn't know how long the process would take, so I used the chance and walked around Vary more carefully.
Karlovy Vary is a town with perhaps one of the coolest terrains I've seen.
Town of stairs.
Sometimes you can wander "the wrong way"
Town's a bit beaten up, but overall all's OK
Few people on the streets. By the way, unlike many other Czech towns traffic is calm, but there's a minus - pedestrian crossings either aren't there or in wrong places. Overall, walking is pleasant.
Also Vary is known for having many Russians living there. Yes, overall there are many of us here, but 4 years ago Russian speech was everywhere, now - no more than in other towns.
Infrastructure basically is still often tailored to the Russian person (I see nothing wrong with this). What's not very cool - you don't see integration, i.e. often signs are only in Russian (without Czech), which looks "wrong" - we don't need isolation.
On the other hand, it seems to me Karlovy Vary is an interesting town for those who want to see how Russians live abroad. I.e. it should be most interesting for those same Czechs and Germans, because the town differs from all the rest.
I liked the town, but there's no point going here more than once for tourism purposes.
By the way, I had lunch at restaurant Becherplatz - food's OK, beer's their own, tasty, but expensive - almost 50 crowns for 0.4
I didn't go home right away, stopped at castle Loket, located nearby.
I recommend watching the video from the article about sirens in Czechia - there I'm walking right through Karlovy Vary center.
September 2021
This time I came to Vary (that's what local Russians call it) for the first time just to hang out
First thing a tourist from Prague needs to know - almost all stores are closed by eight. At half past eight only Lidl on the town outskirts was open, so had to walk about 20 minutes from the station in the dark.
Legends say we walked through the "gypsy district", but throughout the whole way there were no people at all - Vary dies out exactly at eight
The main thing the town has is its terrain. There's almost nothing else like this in Czechia
One of the main minuses - parking.
Difference in photos - one day
An unprepared tourist from Russia might immediately think - so it's because Russians live here.
Unfortunately, not everything's so simple. Uncontrolled parking is city authorities' impotence.
When you can be an asshole, a person will be an asshole, regardless of in which country in the world, Czechia or Russia, his dad fucked his mom
Never saw such - entrance is located on the zero floor, but it's not the lowest. There's also -1, -2
Precisely in Vary the Czech floor numbering system (start from zero, not first) has clear meaning
Romance of such a house ends exactly when you enter an apartment on the lower floor. There's almost no light and noticeably colder.
Here it was about +16, though at my place in Prague it was about +21: both weren't heated, since it was early autumn.
Pool is being built (much more beautiful at night)
What Vary has no problems with is views
Even a river flows through the middle of town
Narrow, so it only decorates the town and completely doesn't interfere with life - compare with the wide Danube that divides Budapest
There are Orthodox churches in town (but for some reason there are many of them throughout the whole region)
You can see this only in Vary
Oh yeah, the last main difference of Vary - boomers (left) and gold (everywhere)
The whole center is dotted with hotels and mineral water springs
People under 50 will be bored from the first minutes
The rest are fine
And we from Vary went out to the town Cheb
Two minutes from the center, and you're approaching the station.
From the station and further the town looks like a horrible bum dump, no matter how hard hipsters try
