What happens to the Ecovillage Schmilka in winter? we asked ourselves and went to have a look.
Normally during winter time there is not much going on in the region. Therefore a lot of restaurants and hotels are closed. Also Schmilka has had a winter break so far. But 2017 will be different. During the winter the ecovillage will become the wintervilage.
And when it gets colder people tend to get closer together. Also at the „Bio- und Nationalpark Resort Schmilka“. This then changes to the winter village. And the center is transferred to the mill. Nearly everything happens there.
First there is the reception. Which then is at the mill. For the whole village. From here you move into your eco room at the hotel Helvetia, a rustic holiday flat at the old forester’s house or one of the generous holiday homes with view to the Elbe at the Villa Thusnelda or a small room at the mill. Parking lots are spread all over the village and are partly assigned to the special accommodation facilities. Moving is inevitable.
You can have your breakfast at the wintergarden or the snuggery at the mill. A splendid buffet for any kind of eating habit is composed at the parlour. Until noon! Dinner is served at Café Richter though. The guests are somehow always on the way. In case you are not on one of the numerous hiking paths or skiing the slopes around noon you can get a bite of lunch at the mill as well. At two o’clock in the afternoon the sauna opens. Then you can see a caravan of people in bathrobes wander through the village.
Also at two o’clock the counter at the yard opens and shortly after that hot spiced wine is served for sociable gatherings. At the fireplace you can have a chat with other guests or just have a mug of a hot drink. Have you tried beer punch before? There is also an alcohol free version of punch. It might happen that you spent a longer time at the yard. Just because it is so cozy. A real village-chatting-meetingpoint.
The tubs in the yard are also new. They are heated up early in the morning with wood so you can sit in the warm water in the afternoon. Once a week for the beer bath some liters of beer are added to the bath water. Of course you can drink the fresh brewed beer as well. Internal and external application quasi.
The beer bath at the tubs belongs to the new winter rituals. The rituals are a number of different events or activities around all kind of subjects. Every day there are several rituals like a winter hiking tour, yoga, a bakery- or brewery guided tour or a cinema evening like the long Quenin Tarrantino night with not less than three movies in a row.
But there are also some extraordinary rituals. Or have you ever tried visual training? The eco village has even a naturopathic practice. Here you can get – unlike at spas or wellness departments – real therapies and also some rare offers like eye exercises.
I treated myself right away with a kinesiologic treatment. The whole body is tested and if necessary balancing methods are applied. A comprehensive debriefing rounds everything up. Further offers are massages, cupping or even treatments with bloodsucker. And then there are individual nutrition courses, homeopathy and bacb-flower therapy. And I am sure I forgot to mention something. Ah yes! The herb pouches.
Here in Schmilka the herb pouches are composed individually for each person and are hand made. It is an art in itself to bind the pouches so that they survive not only the bath in hot water and hot oil but also the massage treatment. The whole application with peeling and herb pouches lasts two hours after all. There are so many treatments offered here. You’d rather make an appointment before your travel because the practice is very popular.
Read the full story: How to Make Herb Pouches
It will never get boring at the winter village. Let alone the rituals that were offered during our stay: Musical evenings and baking for kids, yoga, vegetarian gourmet buffet, a talk about natural colours and community economy, a concert with irish folk music and an opera singer, a photo evening from the Waltzing Meurers and a lecture about shipping and Elbe high waters during the centuries, an eco barbecue and a movie evening… If you won’t find anything among this I really don’t know…
Between the rituals there is still enough time to maybe read a book. In case you have not got enough reading material you might find something at the library. For game lovers there are antique gambling machines, for to pit one’s strength against someone there is a kind of a high striker and there is a very old tabletop football where the figures are hanging very casually at the poles.
There is enough nature and water for walking and boating. And in Bad Schandau there are some shops for a stroll or buying some souvenirs.
So much for there is nothing going on in the winter times in Schmilka… I just say „winter village“!!
All photos © Waltzing Meurers
