WE VISITED HARKÁNY SPA Where old tree canopies, healing waters and the best wines come together Summer at a spa might not seem like the first choice for many, but it can be a healing, fun and refreshing experience, so why not try it in Hungary? T he small Hungarian town of Harkány has fewer than 5,000 residents, but it at- tracts over 150,000 tourists. They all come because this
with sugar. And this high-quality fruit is used to make good wines and even bet- ter brandies. If you’re a fan of red wine, head to the nearby town of Villány, where everything is dedicated to wine and the main street is full of small houses with red tile roofs that have been converted into wine bars. Among them is the fami- ly winery of the Urszics (or Ursić in Serbi- an), and living there is Aleksandra, whose family settled in this place as far back as the year 1700 and today represents the only Serbian family left in Villány. You will be directed towards another point of interest in this area by a statue made from the famous Zsolnay ceram- ics. You could easily be fooled into think- ing that it’s bronze, but that’s actually because of the specific colour of these ce- ramics, which were also made to create the roof of Belgrade’s Hotel Moskva. If you want to hear the story of the famous Zsolnay sisters, travel the 25 kilometres to the city of Pécs...
beneficial in the treatment of many dis- eases and was even prescribed as a medi- cine by doctors in the former Yugoslavia. Legend has it that the source of this ther- mal water was given by the devil himself, though that wasn’t his intention. Specif- ically, he fell in love with a beautiful girl who was the daughter of a witch. The devil wanted to marry her and promised to prove his love and ability by ploughing a hill above Harkány until sunrise. How- ever, the witch tricked the devil by caus- ing a rooster to crow prematurely. In his rage, the devil struck the ground and cre- ated a huge hole that began to release the healing water. So, we thank him... Harkány Spa is Hungary’s greenest spa, while it also enjoys more than 2,000 hours of sunshine a year, which is why fruits ripen here easily and are packed
isn’t only a spa town, but is also home to a large waterpark that’s complete with slides, massage jets and numerous pools, all located in a 13-hectare park that en- joys the natural shade of trees that are more than 200 years old. Just a few of the 18 pools at this spa are filled with healing thermal water that has a composition so specific that it’s been proven to alleviate the symptoms of pso- riasis – a quality that only the Dead Sea and one spring in Mexico are acknowl- edged as sharing. Harkány’s thermal wa- ter owes its healing properties, and its odour, to a sulphur compound that’s
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