Karlovy Vary (initially Karlsbad) is very nice to read Milan Kundera in autumn.
His “Valčík na rozloučenou” (“Farewell Waltz”, 1972) starts in some unnamed health resort (but the prototype is easily guessed) where women who have no children hope to change the situation.
“…naklánějí se k pramenům. Jsou to ženy, které nemohou mít děti a doufají se, že nabudou plodnosti.”
“…they bend down to the springs. These are the women who can’t have children, but hope to gain fertility.”
As to the architecture, the town is a collection of Viennese Sezession, mostly thanks to Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Gottlieb Helmer.
First published in the Levinarium Telegram Channel (now closed and deleted)