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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Angelika Several American friends have asked us about the German spa system, both fascinated and bewildered. Paid spa treatments are seen by Americans as the icing on the cake of the German welfare state. However, disappointment quickly followed when I explained that paid spa treatments, in the traditional sense, have been dying out in Germany for a long time.
Nevertheless, there are also places like health resorts in America. These are usually characterized by special water. In California, you can find several such places, as California's volcanic history means that pleasantly warm water still bubbles up here and there from geysers and the like. Calistoga, for example, is one such place; and it has the nice advantage of being located right in the middle of the wine region "Napa Valley." Calistoga is located about 80 miles north of San Francisco. The small town has retained its Californian charm and boasts some good restaurants and many so-called spas (singular: "spa"). I believe you guys are actually now referring to these in modern German as wellness centers. In these, people burdened by everyday life can relax with a massage or a mud bath. Calistoga is famous for its mud baths.
Michael has so far been reluctant to bury himself up to his neck in the mud made of volcanic ash because the mud is not changed from one spa guest to the next. A bit sensitive, the man! I, on the other hand, have already enjoyed such a bath, for which I bravely laid down in something like a bathtub and let myself be covered with mud. The mud is quite hot, and after a short time, sweat runs down your forehead like nobody's business. But that's probably the point: to detoxify the body and absorb the minerals from the mud.
Samuel Brannan opened the first hotel with a spa in Calistoga around 1860 because he dreamed of creating a second Saratoga Springs (a famous resort in the state of New York). Allegedly, the name Calistoga comes from a combination of the words California and Saratoga. The idea of a hotel/motel with a spa is, of course, brilliant and is still widespread in Calistoga today. Guests can settle into the hotel and don't even need to leave for a few relaxing treatments.
Our favorite accommodation in Calistoga is the "Indian Springs Resort," which is located on the property originally acquired by Sam Brannan. However, it's not the massages or mud baths that attract us there, but the swimming pool fed by a natural hot spring. The pool is Olympic-sized, and its water temperature varies between 90 to 102 degrees Fahrenheit depending on the season.
The insider tip is to book a stay at Indian Springs during the Californian winter months (November to February), as Calistoga typically has quite cool nights during this time. There's nothing better than scurrying through the cold night to the swimming pool and then slipping into the warm water, making your legs tingle from the temperature difference. As a hotel guest, you can use the pool until midnight. Every time we're there, I feel like I'm in a Hitchcock movie. The pool is dimly lit, and the water is steaming. Occasionally, you can see the outline of a person through the mist. Eerily beautiful!
However, the fun isn't exactly cheap. To rent one of the small cottages, you need to have some money to spare, especially during the summer and fall months. The relatively new so-called "Lodge" on the premises is a bit easier on the wallet, but the tastefully decorated rooms there don't have a refrigerator or even a kitchen like the rentable cottages do. By the way, Calistoga can even boast its own mineral water, which is sourced from natural spring water. The bottled water company is also called Calistoga and unfortunately now belongs to the large Nestle group. If you're traveling in Northern California and order a mineral water, you might be asked if a Calistoga is okay. Now you know what that means.
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