#8 Taking the Waters

Okay, so how cool is this? Czech state health insurance will pay for a stay at a spa if the doctor orders it. In the Czech Republic, there are more than thirty spa places, each with curative waters and treatments for a variety of ailments. Some of them, like Karlovy Vary and Marienbad, are large and quite famous, while a few are still frequented by mostly Czechs. Different spas tend to specialize in the treatment of specific disorders. Some offer help for digestive, respiratory, circulatory or nervous systems, while others are better for the treatment of arthritis, problems with the immune system, or oncological, or skin disorders.

We spent a restful, soothing weekend at Luhacovice, about two hours (about twenty dollars round trip for the three of us) from Brno. We went to this particular spa town because it is one which is largely unused by foreigners, and my friend’s parents have come here nearly every year since their honeymoon almost fifty years ago.
Luhacovice is also one of the oldest spa towns in Moravia where you can partake of the mineral water drinking cure, inhalation therapies, applications of various mineral salts and clays, mineral baths, as well as massage therapy.

Since this was our first trip, we took advantage of the mineral waters and the fresh air and soothing atmosphere. There are twelve to fifteen mineral springs at Luhacovice. We took the waters from five of them. All of the fountains are fairly simple, with the water running in a constant flow and at a constant temperature from a brass spigot-like pipe.

The first order of business, once you are checked into your room, is to buy the proper vessel for taking and drinking the mineral water. It is acceptable to use any kind of drinking vessel to take the waters at the springs, but since you can buy the proper sort for around one hundred Czech crowns (about six US dollars), and the cups come in such an interesting and beautiful variety of sizes, shapes, colors and china types, I recommend buying one.
The proper vessel looks a bit like a grease separator with a curved spout that functions as the handle. The cup appears slightly flattened, so that when you look down on the top of it, the rim is elliptical rather than round. It is possible to get a slightly potbellied version. The handle, which is also the drinking spout, extends along the bottom of the cup so that when you drink, you take the water from the bottom first.
I’m afraid that my friend laughed at the face I made at my first sips of these curative waters, though after trying five different springs, I soon found that I rather liked the taste. They aren’t sweet, like the artesian well water we drank as children in south Georgia, but these all taste vaguely salty and mildly metallic or sulphuric, depending on the mineral content.

You take the water, and well, you drink it as you stand around the fountain, sit on a bench nearby or while you walk along winding gravel-lined paths along the stream or through the green areas with trees and brightly painted early nineteenth century gingerbread hotels designed by Dusan Jurkovic.
We spent time sitting on benches in the colonnade, enjoying the cool, clean air, and after each day of a strict regimen of walking around and drinking spring water, I got some of the best sleep I have ever had. I can only imagine how it would well one could sleep after a day of mineral earth wraps and baths and massages and an evening of classical music concerts.