The pavilion is the only new building in Svatá Kateřina.
Picture: SK
Svatá Kateřina is located in a spring area, which is also an ancient pagan place of worship. Now the old spa town in the Czech Republic is experiencing its rebirth, also because it has made a name for itself in Europe for authentic Ayurveda.
Dhe navigation system can’t find the parking lot on the outskirts of Počátky, but the village on the border between Bohemia and Moravia isn’t big, and a couple of women with yoga mats under their arms cross our path. They don’t look like tourists, more so, so that’s where they lived. They stand in front of their houses in colorful leggings and say goodbye after the afternoon’s gymnastics in a cheerful mood. You know where Svatá Kateřina’s parking lot is, twice on the right, once on the left. Behind a fence as high as a tennis court is the terminus for the arriving guests’ cars; two silent shepherd dogs will watch over the vehicles day and night.
The scent of sesame oil
To get to Svatá Kateřina it is a five-minute ride by hotel shuttle; the effort is necessary because the spa is located on special terrain, a headwaters area that is also an ancient pagan place of worship. Even the Hussites regenerated here after the battles – at least that’s what it says in a Time.news from 1432. In the “Saint Katerina”, this little spa town hidden behind coniferous forests, there is now strict water protection. Gasoline-powered vehicles are only allowed to drive up to a limited extent and only with a special permit. On the other hand, if you arrive with an electric drive, you even get a parking space with a socket in front of the reception building. It takes one and a half hours to get here from Prague, two and a half hours from Vienna and four and a half hours from Munich. In any case, the Teslas that shine in the parking lot in the evening light come from these metropolises.