I’ve been living in Czechia for 2.5 years now and I realised earlier this year that it is about time I started to explore the country a little more. I’ve seen a lot of the city, but not much of the country. 2015 is the year to start putting this right.

Karlovy Vary is one of the most popular places in Czechia, after Prague. Many of my foreign friends had heard about it and most of them knew that it was a spa town too. I booked an early morning train ticket figuring that I should spend as much time as possible there, but I didn’t think I would need more than 1 day because I didn’t plan on using any of the spas.

When I spoke to people, they all agreed that it is quite scenic and there’s plenty to do – “A day is more than enough, that’s true. It will be fun!” they encouraged me.

I started to look forward to the trip and continued to make plans, armed with one or two recommendations.

My Czech friends were a little more pragmatic. “It’s full of Russians!” whispered one of them over a beer in a pub, one night. “Why do you want to go there? Prague is much nicer.”

I tried to explain that the point of travelling is not just about seeing the best of something but to experience the whole thing. He was unsatisfied with my explanation and rolled his eyes at me before drowning more of his sorrows in his Staropramen.

I wondered what I was going to find.

The journey there was uneventful, if perhaps a little long, and I only had one quick change of trains before I arrived in a train station that’s seen better days. The sun was shining on this wintry morning, and I set off down the hill towards the river and the town centre. From there, I headed up a route I had chosen to see the Orthodox Church of St Peter and St Paul.

The town is hilly and I was short of breath by the time I got there. It is a beautiful building but there was a service going on so I did not trespass and see what it was like inside. I got a glimpse and the decor – bold colours, icons, high ceilings, natural light – impressed me.

I then headed down to the banks of the River Tepla in an attempt to find the Mill Colonnade. Heated springs are piped through this bold structure and you can freely open a tap and drink it direct from the source. It is a foul sulphur-scented water that, it is claimed, can cure multiple ailments and can do you lots of good.

Which is the same thing my Mum used to tell me about my greens when I was a kid.

She may have been right, but they tasted disgusting.

And so did this water.

And that was about it.

If you’re not keen on trying out any of the spas and the numerous treatments that they provide, there really is nothing else to see in Karlovy Vary. Sure, you can roam the countryside around the town or walk along the river but that’s something you can do in many parts of the country and I couldn’t see what was so special about the place itself.

If you want to tour spectacular countryside, try the Falcon’s nest which is north of Prague.

I was expecting there to be a few more things for a traveller to see and do – people must want a change from the spas at some point, no? – but it wasn’t to be.

Cesky Krumlov, my friends assure me, is much nicer.

We’ll see …

What other parts of Czechia have you explored?