A world-famous spa
By Mohinder Singh

WIDE walks on both sides of a clear warbling stream, pleasing parks and flowers all round. The spa, with its brilliant layout and beautiful buildings, stands surrounded by forested hills. And there’s the nice feel of fresh air.

The whole place stays unbelievably clean and quiet. Little motorised traffic is allowed in the spa. Inviting open-air cafes abound. But what’s most striking is the prominent location of numerous public fountains spouting forth spring waters. People walk about leisurely while sipping the healthful water through the nozzles of small porcelain pots. And there are nearby kiosks selling these porcelain pieces.

The Czech Republic has a great number of curative water springs. These mineral and thermal springs have given rise to the founding of some 40 spas. The beauty of the landscape and the quality of provided spa care have made them well known. Again the Czech spa regime is fairly flexible and, thereby, contributes to the pleasure of the treatment.

Karlovy Vary is the premier one, a world-famous spa. The Russian Czar, Peter the Great, stayed here twice. Goethe, the renowned German poet, came here 13 times. And it was frequented by Schiller, Chopin, Wagner and Beethoven. Its list of celebrities is indeed a long one, and that includes the former Indian President Shankar Dayal Sharma.

Till the middle of the 16th century, Karlovy Vary spa treatment consisted only of baths. Patients would spend hours immersed in mineral water. Then the doctors discovered the drinking cure. Treatment usually started with patients drinking up to 50 cups of mineral water a day and gradually reducing the intake over their stay of four weeks. Doctors stressed the drinking of mineral water at the springs than in bottled form far away.

In due course more spa procedures got added, such as the classical massage, underwater massages (massages by various streams of water, their pressure and temperature adopted to an individual’s condition while lying immersed in a tub of water), irrigation of the gums or the intestines, and swimming in mineral water pools.

Doctors have been recommending a regime of water treatment combined with light exercise. Long colonnades were built where people could walk up and down even in inclement weather. And so also spacious promenades. Walking paths were carved out in the surrounding hillsides. Other sports like tennis and golf have also come up.

Karlovy Vary has twelve mineral springs, each one with a different chemical composition, even different temperature. The Sprudel, the oldest spring in use, right since the 13th century, has a temperature of 73° C, While the Park Spring is the coolest at 39.6° C. Users have the option of drinking the Sprudel water at its original temperature or at a lowered one as supplied in certain spring vases after cooling.

Through an elaborate network of wells, pipes and pumps, water from various mineral springs flows out day and night at prominent public outlets. And over these outlets, imposing structures have been built up both for beautification and user comfort. Separately, sanatoriums and hotels offering water-treatment facilities, receive their share of supplies. The spa sports over two dozen major establishments of this type.

Thermal springs of Karlovy Vary rank among the most effective ones in the world for the drinking cure, having a high concentration of 32-35 liberated minerals. The biggest spring, the sprudel, gushes from a depth of 2,000 metres at 1,500 litres per minute. This water can boast ecological purity which today isn’t typical of surface water.

Rich experience from the past centuries as well as medical opinions from recent decades indicate excellent preventive and curative effects in the treatment of the digestive disorders, and complaints of liver and gall bladder. Large intake of the mineral-rich water helps to dissolve various toxic substances in the body. The drinking cure is also used in the treatment of diabetes, obesity, gout, and high blood cholesterol. Spa doctors will tell you how much water you should drink and which spring is the best for you.

Karlovy Vary is easily accessible, just a two-hour drive from Prague. Air-conditioned public buses ply over the route at amazingly low fares (return trip for the 132 km stretch costs only 132 crowns, around Rs 150). And you just don’t need your own transport in the spa itself. For anything beyond walking distance, there’s a good city bus service and easily available taxis, not to mention joy rides in horse-drawn carriages.

Hotel tariffs are appreciably lower than those prevailing in Prague. And there are a whole lot of satisfactory places to choose from.

People who want to undertake a regular water cure over a fortnight or so are advised to book in advance, especially for the facilities of massages and other procedures, as these often remain overbooked in the summer season.

The stay at the spa is inseparable from its rich cultural life. There is a large open-air theatre at Karlovy Vary and a locally-based symphony orchestra. Patients can attend lectures on medicine or visit concerts. You often have local bands playing in the parks. And the town has two full-fledged casinos.

Visitors to Karlovy Vary can be divided into two broad groups: those who come for regular treatment and stay longer; others who just want to savour the place for a few days. Even short visits can be quite rewarding. You drink as much mineral water as you care to and of the sort you relish most — you come to like the taste and flavour as you drink more of it. And you walk about in sylvan surroundings. A few days of this regime can bring down your stress level and tone up your body.

Anyway, a visit to Karlovy Vary can be very rewarding experience in itself. The place is delightfully scenic and peaceful.

The main upsurge in the spa took place during the second half of the last century and early part of the present one. It was then that the town gained the greater part of its unique architecture which has harmonised with the surrounding scenery up to this time. The town planners have taken particular care that the buildings coming up in the spa area are attractive and harmonious. Here is a town with all the modern facilities but without the hassles and noises of a city.

No wonder many people have made Karlovy Vary their home after retirement. The conditions of living for the elderly couldn’t be better, let alone the healthful waters and fresh air.

And the spa remains a popular destination for visitors, especially Germans who come in their thousands. Most locals can speak German, though English is getting increasingly understood by the younger ones. On the other hand, the impact of Russian language is waning. A statute of Soviet cosmonaut Gagarin, till recently gracing the Sprudel colonnade, also stands removed.

Karlovy Vary has rightly earned its reputation as a world-famous spa and seems determined to keep it like that. And it can easily be recommended as a very interesting place to visit as a tourist.