THERAPY
Wellness facilities
n Hotel Nové Lázně , Czech Republic
www.marienbad.cz n Fra Mare Thalasso Spa, Estonia
www.framare.ee n Gellért Thermal Bath, Hungary
www.gellertbath.hu n Széchenyi Thermal Bath, Hungary
www.szechenyibath.hu n Jaunķemeri Health Resort, Latvia
www.jaunkemeri.lv n Health Resort Druskininkai, Lithuania
www.gydykla.lt n Wielka Pieniawa Spa, Poland
www.uzdrowiska-pgu.pl n Irma Spa @ Health Spa Piešt’any, Slovakia
www.spapiestany.sk
www.piestany.danubiushotels.com n Life Class Hotels and Spa, Portorož, Slovenia
www.lifeclass.net
In the spa town of Druskininkai in Lithuania, the water’s calcium-magnesium ratio is 2:1 and doctors at Spa Vilnius (see SB13/1 p68) claim that drinking just one glass provides an ample supplement of these minerals for a whole week. They say it’s even more effective if drunk on an empty stomach. Heavy drinking of some waters can, however, result in vomiting and diarrhoea because they’re so strong. Inhaling mineral water vapour helps
clear the respiratory tract. The vapour takes the form of a fine spray released from a nozzle in front the face. Many of the health resorts built during the Soviet era still use inhalation apparatus designed and built in the 1950s. Bathing completes the healing trilogy
of balneotherapy. In some places such as Mariánské Lázně in Czech Republic, guests take two or three baths a day to relieve kidney, urinary and nervous- system disorders. In Latvia’s Jaunķemeri Health Resort, on the other hand, the high levels of hydrogen sulphate mean baths are prescribed only every other day. The mineral load creates a big job for organs that need time to process change. Many, but not all, of the swimming
pools at resorts across the region are filled with local mineral water that’s more suitable for general bathing. Examples include the famous Gellért Baths or Széchenyi Baths in Budapest, or Spa Wojciech in Ladek Zdrój, Poland.
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Many pools in central and eastern Europe, such as this one at Spa Wojciech in Poland, are filled with local mineral water
Glorious mud In central and eastern Europe mud is used therapeutically in a very different way to what we’re accustomed to in the western spa industry. Rather than being used in a beauty mask or in a thin layer smeared over the body in a wrap, mud here is commonly used by the bucketload for slapping over joints (see p64). It’s often mixed with mineral water in a bath, or even wrapped around the gums in a gauze tube or inserted vaginally to stimulate fertility. One of the most unusual ways to experience mud is at Irma Spa at Health Spa Piešt’any, Slovakia, where it carpets one of the most elegant spa pools in Europe. Guests cover themselves in fistfuls of soft, silky mud, that they’ve scooped up from beneath their feet. As is the case with mineral water, it’s
the mineral breakdown of each mud deposit which determines its precise curative capabilities and this varies from
source to source. Some mud comes from thousands of years of rotting vegetation to form a type of peat. Other mud is mined from deep below ground and prescribed for inflammatory disorders, such as in Budapest’s spas. Mud is also harvested from the sea bed in Haapsalu, Estonia on the Baltic coast and in the coastal town of Portorož, Slovenia on the Adriatic sea. In Portorož, salty clay is used in facilities such as the Life Class Hotel Spa, primarily to treat locomotive issues. As with mineral water, mud has a great
capacity to help with a disparate range of afflictions: rheumatic, digestive, circula- tory, locomotive or gynaecological. It’s even proven to slow down – and in some cases reverse – degenerative deterioration. This is just a glimpse into therapeutic
properties of mineral waters and muds, the two most ubiquitous natural resources in the region with the greatest range of influence on our wellbeing.
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spabusiness.com / digital Spa Business 4 2014 ©Cybertrek 2014
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