Enjoy old-world wellness in Goethe's love-nest

By Christina Rietz Nov 3, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Marianske Lazne, Czech Republic - The comforting thing about taking the waters in the handsome Czech town of Marianske Lazne is that Goethe once did the same. Less reassuring however is the taste. Liquid rust would be an apt description yet the yellowish water which splutters forth in these parts has made the watering hole world famous.

The town known as Marienbad in German has more than 100 mineral springs, the most celebrated of which is the Kreuzbrunnen (the Cross Spring). Here in a classical-style colonnade the highly-mineralized water drips constantly from rusty taps into the spouted cups of thirsty visitors. Two litres a day are necessary in order to benefit from the various curative effects ascribed to the waters.

A drinking cure takes place under the strict and watchful eyes of Marienbad's founder. A bronze bust of doctor Johannes Nehr occupies pride of place in the Cross Spring hall. At the beginning of the 19th century the physician of the local Tepl Abbey organised the draining of a piece of inhospitable Bohemian marshland nearby and laid the foundation stone for the spa and the use of the many springs for medicinal purposes.

Marianske Lazne is noted today for its springs, its bombastic spa architecture and its illustrious guests. From the Cross Spring the view takes in the spa park, a beautifully laid-out garden in the English landscape style. The streets on both sides are lined with ornately-decorated hotels painted hues of yellow and orange.

Author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe arrived for the first time by carriage in 1820, already a seasoned spa fan. His journey probably took only a little longer than today's diesel train which rumbles through the forest at a snail's pace and grinds to a halt at every wooden platform on the way. In 1821 the then elderly Goethe got to know a local girl of aristocratic extraction, 17-year-old Ulrike von Levetzow, and fell in love with her.

He enjoyed strolling with Ulrike through the park, drank the waters and chaperoned her to festive balls. The new love came late in the author's life - he was aged 72 years at the time and his wife Christiane had been dead for five years. The liaison scandalized Marienbad but Goethe persisted.

In summer 1823 he proposed to Ulrike, not in person but via his friend, the Grand Duke of Weimer, Carl August. Her family refused. The story was the talk of Weimar before Goethe had even arrived back home. He was devastated by the rejection and during the return journey he began work on a draft of one of his most famous works, the Marienbad elegy. The great man never went to Bohemia again.

Marienbad has never forgotten Goethe's contribution towards putting the spa on the map and a museum to the poet resides in a hotel on Goethe Square. For around 100 years Marienbad enjoyed prosperity as a preferred resort of Europe's wealthy and famous.

The cure procedures have hardly changed down the years and Goethe would recognise most of them. At 7 o'clock in the morning the so-called Balneo Department at the Zentralbad Hotel resembles a busy city doctor's practice at the start of a typical day. Guests clad in dressing gowns and slippers shuffle through the corridors, past dark green shiny tiles and an array of plaster cherubs which have adorned the walls since 1892.

The time-honoured treatment at Marienbad is taking a bath of mineral water. The king-size and very rusty bathtub is filled with lukewarm spring water, infused with a local gas of volcanic origin known as 'Mariengas'. Bathers can imagine themselves as a giant aspirin tablet as the water fizzes furiously. Bubbles rise and fall and there is lots of foam. The whole procedure is very relaxing even if participants will find their arms quickly covered with a rusty-coloured coating.

With the blood suitably well-circulated, the visitor is all geared-up for one of the principal pastimes in Marienbad, which guests have been practicing for centuries: eating and drinking. Marienbad has neither bars nor discos but does boast an amazing concentration of cafes and restaurants.

A typical menu might be succulent Prague ham followed by Bohemian smoked meats and roast pig with dumplings, all washed down with a pivo (beer). After stimulating the digestion in this way it's time to ease oneself into another mineral bath.