Mlýnská kolonáda (Mill Colonnade)

If cities could sigh, Karlovy Vary would exhale steam. Nestled in a forested bowl of Bohemia, this spa town was practically built to simmer. And at the center of it all, like a stone-laced stage set for a very slow-moving opera, stands the Mlýnská kolonáda.

With its 124 Corinthian columns and ceiling of carved allegories, the Mill Colonnade isn’t just a place to sip warm mineral water, it’s a place to do it dramatically. Built in the late 19th century during a golden age of European wellness obsession, the colonnade was designed by architect Josef Zítek (of Prague’s National Theatre fame) to provide elegant shelter for spa guests as they strolled from spring to spring, tiny porcelain cup in hand, curing everything from melancholy to gout.

Karlovy Vary itself has been luring emperors, composers, and eccentrics since the 14th century, when Charles IV allegedly discovered its first hot spring while hunting deer. Since then, Goethe walked here. Beethoven brooded here. And at one point, so did Peter the Great—though likely with less daintiness than the others. The Mlýnská kolonáda, with its five mineral springs flowing gently beneath those classical columns, remains the city’s slow-beating heart. People come to drink, to wander, and maybe, just maybe, to be healed. Whether from ailments or from life itself, Karlovy Vary doesn’t ask. It just offers hot water, and time.