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Sunday 16 October: Castle visit and lunch cruise on the Vltava riverOn Sunday 16 October, an optional excursion isavailable for all participants.After registering for the Conference, the group willleave in the late morning from the Congress Centrefor a short visit to the world famous castle, set highon a hillside overlooking the Vltava river. The castlewas built in the 9th century, and expanded in the12th and 13th centuries. Today the castle complex resemblesa small city, with three courtyards, severalstreets, a convent, a cathedral and a basilica, as wellas the Palace. There will be a brief conducted tour ofthe most important buildings (St Vitrus Cathedral,the Golden Gate, St George’s Basilica and the RoyalPalace).The group will then walk down through part of theold town to the Charles Bridge, and will have arelaxing lunch cruise along the Vltava river. This willprovide a splendid opportunity to view many of themonuments and famous buildings of the city.The return to the Congress Centre will be around16.30 hrs.Tour A: Lovosice Pistany and St˘rekovsmall hydro plantsDay 1The group will leave Prague at 07.30 hrs by coach,and will travel towards Usti nad Labem, and then onto the nearby Lovosice Pistany project (see photoabove) for the first technical visit.Located on the Elbe river, the 3 MW Lovosice schemehas a net head of 1.9 m and a total discharge of 160m 3 /s. It was commissioned in September 2010 and isowned by RenoEnergie. It is equipped with fourhorizontal double-regulated Kaplan pit turbines, eachwith three 3000 mm-diameter runner blades.From here, coaches will continue towards the Střekovproject (see photo below, left). This multipurposescheme provides hydropower and a 19.5 km-longnavigable reservoir which links Labe in the CzechRepublic with Magdeburg in Germany. Construction ofthe project began in 1921, and a completereconstruction was completed in 2001, including theupgrading of the three 5 MW Kaplan turbines.Lunch is planned in the town of Usti nad Labem,in a mountainous district, after which there will by ashort transfer to Karlovy Vary where participants willhave a chance for sightseeing and shopping in theafternoon.This will be followed by dinner and an overnight stayat the Thermal Hotel. The hotel has an outdoorswimming pool with a winter temperature of 30ºC.The14th Century City of Karlovy Vary is a spa townat the confluence of the rivers Ohre and Tepla, inwestern Bohemia (see photo above). It was foundedby Charles IV, after whom the city was named. It hasa rich history and is well known for its internationalfilm festival and local specialities such as Becherovkaliquor, candied plums and glass products.Day 2The day will start with a visit to the 12th Century townof Loket (see photo above), with its imposing 800year old gothic castle. Loket means ‘elbow’: the townis surrounded on three sides by the Ohre river, theshape of the river being similar to that of an elbow.The town centre is preserved as a nationalmonument, and is therefore protected from moderndevelopment. The return trip to Prague will include astop in Pilsen, with lunch at the famous Na Spilcerestaurant within the grounds of the Pilsner brewery,where beer has been produced since 1842. The groupwill have a chance to visit the museum and to have a‘beer tasting’. Arrival in Prague around 18.00 hrs.