Page 136 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2024 LIMA

Bad Ragaz

“To be here is splendid”

Story & photography by wibke carter

ankind has been experiment‐
ing with water and its healing
powers for centuries. In var‐
ious cultures such as that of
M Egypt or the Romans, ther‐
mal water was utilized for its beneficial prop‐
erties. Bathing was a ritual and social
experience; beautiful public baths were built
with the finest materials as temples to
bathing and the sacred waters within. One
place with such a history based on wellness
through water is Bad Ragaz in Switzerland.
Ever since the discovery of the thermal
water in the Tamina Gorge in 1242, when two
hunters from the Benedictine monastery of
Pfäfers came across warm water bubbling
out of the rocks, guests have been coming
to the small town to take advantage of the
water. In 1535, a naturalist and philosopher
called Paracelsus was the first doctor to tes‐
tify to the healing power of the thermal
springs. "Originally, patients were lowered
into the gorge on ropes in wooden bath
houses built across the roaring Tamina," said
Astrid Hüni of the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz
which runs the Tamina Therme thermal pools.
"The first people wanting to be healed had
to stay in the water for seven days."

136 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2024