Luxe Beat Magazine APRIL 2015 | Page 136

Greece’s Best Medical Spa By Aurelia enjoyed several treatments, including immersion in mud baths, and was rejuvenated and renewed as never before. It is with me still. I experienced serenity of mind in the soothing pools of the spa with its combined sea and natural spring waters and my body was massaged and pampered by the expert hands of world-class therapists. A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings Hippocrates (c.460 - 400 BC) I n ancient times Edipsos was known aptly as Loutropolis (Spring City), and Greek philosophers such as Aristotle, Strabo, Plutarch and Hippocrates wrote in praise of its thermal healing waters. Located in Central Greece on the island of Evia, it is just 150 kilometers north of Athens. Although Heraclitus, another philosopher of note, famously declared, “you cannot step into the same water twice,” the springs have 136 endured through the centuries and the water still heals. It is an amazing, centuries-old phenomenon. The jewel in the crown of this healing paradise is the Thermae Sylla Spa Wellness Hotel, and health-conscious pilgrims come from all over the world for its therapeutic, curative waters. It has rightfully earned a laurel wreath as the best medical spa in Greece and in 2004, Conde Nast Traveller named it one of the “Ten Best Medical Spas in the World.” I was a guest there for a week last October when I “took the waters,” Many foreign guests, especially those from Europe, Russia and the Balkan countries, are regular guests who return year after year to follow a regimented routine prescribed by th m i a taff Th taff recommends two annual visits of fourteen days each for the most ff ti to tr atm nt Th include a daily mud bath, two swims a day in the external pool, (28-30 degrees C or 82.4-86 degrees F) and the warmer indoor pool, (32-34 degrees C or 89.6–107.6 degrees F), a therapeutic treatment of choice, an a ho r r t Thi i n at its best. The outside pool is shaped like two large clover leafs and surrounded by comfortable lounge chairs and tables h r th ait taff i r yo