Radio România Internațional

Tag: thermal

  • Herculane SPA in south-western Romania

    Herculane SPA in south-western Romania

    We’re heading to south-western Romania, today. Our stopover is one of Europe’s oldest balneal resorts. In Herculane Spa, Baile Herculane, in Romanian, we can find a wide range of treatment procedures based on the healing properties of the waters. Also, the resort can very well be the departure point for other fascinating tourist assets nearby. Not the least, in 2025, an event will be staged in Baile Herculane, with the participation of all Europe’s major balneal resorts, ‘The General Assembly of Europe’s Historical Thermal Cities Association’”.

    Herculane is a spa with an impressive history. It was first documented in the year 153 AD. In the meantime, the spa has gathered quite a few legends and tales that today make Herculane Spa a cultural destination in its own right, and not just a destination with a breath-taking scenery. With details on that, here is the PR Manager of the Pro Tourism Herculane Association, Laura Patru:

    “The spa saw its heyday in two major eras. The Roman period of time was the such first era. And that, because it played host to a large number of Rome’s noblemen of that time. To this day, in Herculane, we have preserved archaeological evidence of that particular era. The Roman hallmark is still visible in Herculane. The second era was the Austrian one. Ever since, all its buildings still stand, which we consider iconic for the resort, they were built in the Romantic style, and that earned the spa its fame, a reason why it was known as the Pearl of Europe.”

    All that and the cure factors contributed to Herculane Spa’s renown. Actually, the waters’ healing properties are mentioned in the legends:

    „Hercules, while he was performing his labours, or at least that’s what the local legend says, being completely exhausted, bathed in the Herculane thermal springs. So he regained his strength and that helped him to carry his labours through. And here we are, today, still using those thermal springs so we can regain our strength and restore our health. Herculane benefits from more than 17 thermal springs, each of them with their own properties. So we have water for the external cure, which we use to cure rheumatic and skin conditions.

    It is a factor helping us a lot to treat post-traumatic, physical conditions. Yet we also have springs for internal cure, like those used in the treatment of stomach conditions. We also have external cure for eye conditions, yet all that is, of course, supported by the modern technology, which is available in the treatment centres across the resort and which helps us do everything much more efficiently. Also, here the air has a strong negative ions concentration.

    Even though, in Herculane, we are less than 160 meters above sea level, the body feels the air just like in the Swiss Alps. It is very strong, while all these elements put together help us create, for all our guests in the resort, a new state of well-being. “

    Fortunately, in recent years, Herculane SPA has enjoyed the significant contribution of several investors. Quite a few of the resort’s iconic hotels have been completely refurbished, revamped and brought to modern standards. Therefore, tourists who reach the resort enjoy accommodation and treatment services at European level. With details on that, here is here is the PR Manager of the Pro Tourism Herculane Association, Laura Patru:

    “Today we blend balneal culture into the SPA-type facilities, as people discover, more and more often, how important prevention is. We do not only follow a treatment facility at the time when our condition is unbearable, we come to have our treatment well in advance, we make prevention. Then, the SPA culture, at European level but also with us, is more and more sought-after.

    People are stressed out because of their jobs, they need to relax, to enjoy natural factors, while Herculane has all the facilities for that, both through its big hotels, built there from the beginning, and through the natural factors, added to which are these additional spa services. They create a complete product, tailored for the entire family. “

    Romanian tourists will come to pursue a treatment plan with a referral from their family doctor. For the foreign ones, it is recommended to have a medical referral from their countries of origin proving they are eligible for treatment in Herculane. Furthermore, everybody benefits from a medical check-up from the treatment facility’s balneology specialist. physician. It is recommended for the stays including a balneal cure to have a minimum of five days so the balneal effects can be felt, enabling us to have enough time to take trips to the surroundings.

    “The offer of the region is very generous, to that end. Herculane now has, for the horse lovers, an equestrian centre. At a mere half an hours’ drive we have the spectacular scenery of the Danube Gorges, where you can have boat rides and where you can see Decebalus’s face carved in stone. It is Europe’s greatest rock-carved sculpture. Also close by you can have the Iron Gates Museum, while I’m dead positive guests can find out a lot of impressive things, all the more so as there also is a section dedicated to the Ada Kaleh submerged island.

    Also close by, tourists can visit the water mills in Rudaria, included on the UNESCO heritage list. It is a group of mills whose working principle is the same as 300 years ago, and where the locals bring their grains. The place is close to nature and to traditions. Also at a short distance from Herculane, for those who are into doing a little bit of physical exercise, there are the Inelet hamlets. It is a village you can reach only by climbing wooden stairs fixed in stone. Yet once you get there, the scenery is absolutely breath-taking, and life there is preserved just like 100 years ago. Technology has not reached the place, just as it reached other places, and it is a true experience. “

    The landscape in Herculane provides a wonderful background for the winter holidays and the resort is packed with tourists, each year, for the winter holidays. Here is the PR Manager of the Pro Tourism Herculane Association, Laura Pătru, once again, this time extending an invitation for the end of the year.

    “There are, in the spa, packages for the December 1st holiday, Christmas or the New Year’s Eve. The New Year’s Eve packages have three- or four-day stays on offer, while the big hotels, but also the smaller units go at all lengths to bring to their guests everything they want. You can find live music, yummy dishes in the hotels where the service is more complex, programs for the little ones, or the New Year’s Eve Party for children. As for Christmas, it is as traditional as it can be, as, if they come to us, we want our guests to mirror themselves in the magic of childhood. We are, of course, being visited by Santa each year, while the little ones have a lot of activities and workshops that can make their holiday more beautiful, as well as facilities especially dedicated for them. We have swimming pools for children, salt mines, so winter in Herculane is a mix of tradition and relaxation.”

    So here we are, this week, with a family destination, a destination for all seasons! ,

  • Famous central-European spas of the 19th century

    Famous central-European spas of the 19th century


    The idea of having a vacation
    or leisure time, the idea of spending a one-week or a two-week holiday somewhere is
    rather recent in history. Beginning with the 19th century, once the collective
    rights emerged, tourism became affordable for the social classes other than the
    elites. As for the tourist resorts, they were also quick to appear. Resorts would mostly develop nearby areas that
    had been previously known for the benefits the waters, of the air, or other
    environmental qualities had upon the human organism. One of Europe’s most renowned
    balneal spas was Karlsbad, today known as Karlovy Vary, located in The Czech Republic,
    on the country’s western border with Germany. Known ever since the Middle Ages
    for its thermal waters with healing properties had healing effects for a number
    of conditions, the resort enjoyed an impressive inflow of tourists. Among the famous
    names who visited the Karlsbad Spa were those of Russian Emperor Peter the Great, Turkey’s first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, German writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe or German composer Ludwig van Beethoven.


    But there were also
    Romanians who visited Karlsbad. Historian Radu Marza, in his volume Romanian Travelers
    and patients in Karlsbad provided an account of Romanians’ presence in that
    posh resort.


    Radu Marza:

    The history
    of Karlsbad as a balneal resort begins with the Medieval age, in the 14th
    century. Yet the history of Karlsbad as we all know it, with the resonance its
    name it has today, begins in the 18th century, or thereabouts. Also
    mentioned and documented several are names of individuals hailing from the
    Romanian space. The first character about whom we even know very many things is
    a boyar named Barbu Stirbey, an Oltenian boyar who travelled to Karlsbad in
    late 18th century.


    Scientific studies confirmed
    the resort’s beneficial action on the health condition of the human body and on
    regaining the individual’s work capacity. As for the physicians, they are doing
    their job and recommend the resort. Also thanks to the thermal waters, the breathtaking
    natural landscape made Karlsbad one of Europe’s top five spas. Added to that
    was the architecture of the buildings erected there. Just like the other
    tourists, the Romanian tourists also arrived there drawn by the lake’s miraculous
    properties of the place and the beauty of the surroundings.

    Historian
    Radu Marza:


    We discovered
    those Romanian visitors or travelers going there were in no way different from
    visitors coming from elsewhere. Which means they perfectly fit in with that, let’s
    just say, that trend of going to the spa. And it was not just the trend of going
    to Karlsbad, there were also many other spas in the European space, but also spas
    of the Romanian space. By all means, those in the Romanian space have a scope,
    a prestige and significantly less capabilities than Karlsbad. But the
    phenomenon is the same.


    Who are the Romanian celebrities
    who paid a visit to the Czech spa? According to Radu Marza, there were politicians’
    names on the list, yet there was also info on other names, more or less.

    Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
    was a physician there and he is a personality as such, it is not only as a
    physician that his figure is worth remembering. There were, for instance, Ionel
    Brătianu, Queen Marie, various prime ministers, that including Iuliu Maniu,
    Nicolae Titulescu also dropped by, Constantin Argetoianu or other public
    figures. And there are also several sources about some of the personalities,
    there was a string of pieces of documentary information, other such people might have
    dropped by as well, but they were rather low-profile, if I may say so. And then we don’t know many accurate things about their
    presence, yet the presence of other such people is a very well documented one.


    However, going to the spa in Karlsbad
    also acquired a social dimension, and not only a healing one.

    Historian Radu
    Mârza:


    Karlsbad enjoyed that kind of fame in the
    Romanian space as well. And we even came cross, once, over a very interesting
    source of the 1920s, a little article published in a Romania magazine, dwelling
    on the fact that it was a matter of bad taste, wondering, in the summer or in
    early summer, where should you spend the summer season? Because it was obvious
    you would go to Karlsbad. It somehow
    was a social call, not going there was out of the question. You did not get any validation, socially speaking, if you didn’t go to Karlsbad. It was obvious that such a truth
    did not apply entirely, that kind of opinion was not a widely-accepted tenet, yet
    very many people had that kind of mindset. That is why Karlsbad was a place for
    you to go to spend your vacation, to follow this or that medical procedure, but
    you also went there to make yourself visible and see other people, to meet certain
    people of your entourage.


    However, the balneal resort
    of Karlsbad was beyond reach for the lower classes, yet it was affordable for
    the Romanian middle class. Teachers, civil servants, banking people, petty tradesmen
    spent their vacation in Karlsbad. After 1945, after the communist regime was
    instated and nationalization was forcefully implemented in both Romania and
    Czechoslovakia, part of the working and the peasants’ class could
    afford visiting Karlsbad. But even so, going to Karlsbad did not become a mass phenomenon
    either, because of the strong borders and the grassroots’ low income. (EN)


  • Herculane-les-Bains, ancienne station éternellement jeune

    Herculane-les-Bains, ancienne station éternellement jeune

    Aujourd’hui, chers amis, nous faisons une halte dans le sud-ouest de la Roumanie, à une altitude de 168 mètres, et à 25 km seulement de la frontière avec la Serbie. C’est là, entre les montagnes Cernei et le Massif de Mehedinţi, que se trouve Herculane-les-Bains — soit les Bains d’Hercule — station datant d’il y a deux mille ans. Si, au début, elle accueillait des dignitaires ou de simples soldats romains qui recherchaient ses eaux minérales bénéfiques pour la santé, plus tard, des personnalités célèbres, comme l’empereur François Joseph Ier et l’impératrice Elisabeth — Sissi — allaient séjourner à Herculane-les-Bains, où ils disposaient de maisons et de bains spécialement aménagés pour eux.



    La station garde encore des vestiges de son passé. On peut y visiter des bains romains, situés au rez-de-chaussée d’un des hôtels. Un de ces bains est encore en usage, après deux millénaires. A Herculane-les-Bains on peut également voir le premier pont en courbe construit en Europe ainsi qu’une statue en bronze d’Hercule, qui veille sur le vieux centre-ville. On peut également admirer le casino ouvert en 1850, où des têtes couronnées passaient jadis leurs soirées. Dans le parc du casino pousse un séquoia géant, planté il y a deux siècles.



    De nos jours, Herculane-les-Bains fait des efforts pour redevenir, lentement mais sûrement, ce qu’elle était jadis. Laura Pătru, responsable des relations publiques d’un des ensembles hôteliers de la station, nous incite à faire un séjour à Herculane-les-Bains, arguments à l’appui : « Herculane-les-Bains offre beaucoup aux touristes, de tous les points de vue. La nature y est généreuse, l’air pur et très riche en ions négatifs — environ 2 mille au cm3. C’est comme si nous nous trouvions à 2 mille mètres d’altitude, dans les Alpes Suisses, par exemple. Dans la vallée de la rivière Cerna, les paysages sont spectaculaires. Plus de 2 mille espèces de papillons ajoutent du charme à ce décor. Et puis, il ne faut pas oublier les richesses de l’histoire. Aussi bien les Romains que les Austro-hongrois venaient y chercher leur guérison. Les eaux aux vertus curatives sont les mêmes, seulement, de nos jours, les conditions sont tout à fait différentes, nous utilisons une technologie moderne et l’expérience d’une cure est beaucoup plus attrayante. »



    Dora Miuţi, qui gère un des établissements de cure, nous en présente l’offre : « Les procédures sont très diversifiées : magnétothérapie, thermothérapie à haute fréquence, Solux et infrarouges, ultrasonothérapie, électrothérapie, très efficace pour soulager les douleurs, électro-hydrothérapie, aérosols pour traiter les maladies pulmonaires, les sinusites et les allergies, drainage lymphatique et kinésithérapie. Pour la remise en forme, l’offre est également diversifiée : massages, sauna, chaleur sèche à 80°, piscine intérieure et extérieure. »



    Laura Pătru ajoute : « Nous disposons des technologies les plus modernes utilisées actuellement en Europe. Les services de bien-être se sont beaucoup développés et diversifiés. Si jadis Herculane-les-Bains était surtout connue comme station de cure, à présent elle commence à se faire connaître grâce aux nouveautés les plus séduisantes: actuellement on peut y prendre un bain au lait et au miel, un bain de plantes ou bénéficier d’un massage au chocolat ou au caviar.



    Malgré la lenteur des travaux de réhabilitation, la station garde ses atouts et, selon Laura Pătru, les arguments en faveur d’un séjour à Herculane-les-Bains ne manquent pas : « Herculane-les-Bains est un excellent point de départ pour des itinéraires dans la région. On peut se rendre, par exemple, à Ineleţ, un petit village isolé. Pour l’atteindre il faut monter des escaliers verticaux en bois. Etant si difficile d’accès, Ineleţ est resté presque inchangé depuis un siècle. Depuis Herculane-les-Bains, on peut facilement se rendre au défilé du Danube entre les Carpates, les fameuses Chaudières, ou aller admirer le portrait géant du roi dace Décébale sculpté à même la pierre et haut de 40 mètres. Ou bien, on peut visiter la Grotte aux vapeurs, qui est un sauna naturel, le belvédère de l’impératrice Sissi et le Casino où jadis se rencontraient les rois. S’y ajoute une multitude de sites s’égrenant le long de la Vallée de la rivière Cerna. »



    Laura Pătru lance une dernière invitation: « Si pour ceux qui souhaitent se reposer et se remettre en forme, un week-end à Herculane-les-Bains peut suffire pour se détendre et bénéficier de quelques procédures thérapeutiques, ceux qui viennent pour la cure doivent prévoir un séjour d’au moins 5 jours. Les traitements que nous offrons utilisent l’eau thermale, or, les effets d’une telle cure ne se font sentir qu’au-delà de 5 jours. Nous souhaitons partager avec vous toutes les richesses de la station. Herculane-les-Bains est à vous. »



    Depuis les services spa à la gym Pilates, en passant par des promenades reposantes à travers une ville connue depuis l’an 153 ou des randonnées de plusieurs heures, voilà les atouts d’une station qui garde son attractivité, même après 2 mille ans. (trad. : Dominique)