Eurospa
MARY- I MADE THIS WINTER-ORIENTED AS I DID NOT GET THE SEASON FROM YOU. IT'S 350 WORDS PLUS A LITTLE TRAVEL BOX.
SAINT-IGNACE-DE-STANBRIDGE, Quebec – When too much hiking in the hills of Quebec has my sore muscles crying out for relief, I take the cure at the Euro-Spa Wellness Resort in the pastoral farming region of the Eastern Townships, a 45-minute drive southeast of Montreal.
European-born Christine Muhlbauer and Josef Bihler opened this small getaway with unusual water and mud baths 12 years ago. It was like a tiny Baden-Baden, the German spa where the cure involves soaking away aches and pains in mineralized hot springs.
Today, Euro-Spa is a wellness centre with 17 country-style guest rooms, all with private bathroom, television and telephone. The resort has indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a full spa with an international flavour. I am about to be rejuvenated with mud, seaweed and hay, massaged with rain jets and hot stones, and beautified with facials using collagen or caviar.
I slip on my bathing suit – the bathing section is co-ed – then wrap myself in my bathrobe. The spa requests that you bring your own robe, slippers and towels.
Euro-Spa believes in the ancient maxim of the Roman SPA, or sanitas per aqua, which means healing through water. I start by soaking in four hot baths bubbling with mud from the St. Lawrence River, salt from the Dead Sea or herbs from neighbouring farms. I lean into the water jets and let the pressure pummel my body to the melting point.
When I am as melted as a Swiss raclette, I pad over to the Turkish steam bath to clear my breathing with the eucalyptus-spiked air. I have opted for the Desert Heat Wrap to re-energize my muscles. I'm slathered head to toe with a cream laced with copper, magnesium and zinc, then mummified in cotton sheets and baked for a half-hour in a heated blanket. I feel like a French pastry, layered with rich cream.
I'm almost ready for more hiking. But I'll wait before heading out into the bracing autumn weather. I'm thinking about a café au lait for breakfast and a facial with caviar before the lunch buffet.
DETAILS
Transportation is offered from Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport or downtown (minimum two nights). The I Feel Good package costs $539 for two people or $322 for one, including one night's lodging, three meals, two spa treatments and access to baths.