Posted on Sep 2, 2022
Schmilka: The progressive German town stuck in the past
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This picturesque village exists in a time warp that takes visitors back centuries – but the principles that keep the town alive are as forward-thinking as they come.
Schmilka: The progressive German town stuck in the past
Posted from bbc.com
Germany
Rock climbing
Beer
Baking
World History
Posted >1 y ago
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I used to love driving through the countryside in Germany, finding small villages like this, meeting the real German Volk.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Being so close to nature, Schmilka is acutely impacted by it. "Schmilka has had to face some serious tests: floods, landslides, mudslides, Covid," Hitzer said, "and now forest fire. There were fires on the Czech side of the park in early August."
Yet Bigge, Glaser and Rieger agree that Schmilka now has something to fight for. They also agree that Hitzer turned Schmilka into a forward-thinking town with an ironically backward-looking philosophy; the town is not stuck in the past so much as it willingly walked back to it… with electricity and central heating, naturally. This is a spa town, after all.
"What we call 'sustainability' today was the way of life 200 years ago," Bigge said.
"We grow our own vegetables," Glaser added, explaining that sustainability, a passionately embraced concept in Germany, is not a touristy gimmick. "We recycle and use recycled materials. We utilise waste heat from the brewery and bakery for the town. Even our detergents are organic."
"What we call 'sustainability' today was the way of life 200 years ago"
The company Hitzer formed in 2007 now runs Schmilka as a business. What drew people to Schmilka centuries ago – the forests, the quiet – do so again. Hitzer positioned the town as a decompression chamber for the world-weary, an HQ for hikers and rock climbers, and a health and wellness retreat for people exhausted by Covid, all under the banner of sustainability practices and organic cuisine. And it works beautifully.
Sipping organic ale in the beer garden, serenaded by the creaking waterwheel of the mill and surrounded by pastel-coloured buildings – all restored to their historical glory – I found myself embracing the time warp. Hotels are booked, yoga and massage therapies lined up, and the influx of visitors constant. The town is alive and well."
..."Being so close to nature, Schmilka is acutely impacted by it. "Schmilka has had to face some serious tests: floods, landslides, mudslides, Covid," Hitzer said, "and now forest fire. There were fires on the Czech side of the park in early August."
Yet Bigge, Glaser and Rieger agree that Schmilka now has something to fight for. They also agree that Hitzer turned Schmilka into a forward-thinking town with an ironically backward-looking philosophy; the town is not stuck in the past so much as it willingly walked back to it… with electricity and central heating, naturally. This is a spa town, after all.
"What we call 'sustainability' today was the way of life 200 years ago," Bigge said.
"We grow our own vegetables," Glaser added, explaining that sustainability, a passionately embraced concept in Germany, is not a touristy gimmick. "We recycle and use recycled materials. We utilise waste heat from the brewery and bakery for the town. Even our detergents are organic."
"What we call 'sustainability' today was the way of life 200 years ago"
The company Hitzer formed in 2007 now runs Schmilka as a business. What drew people to Schmilka centuries ago – the forests, the quiet – do so again. Hitzer positioned the town as a decompression chamber for the world-weary, an HQ for hikers and rock climbers, and a health and wellness retreat for people exhausted by Covid, all under the banner of sustainability practices and organic cuisine. And it works beautifully.
Sipping organic ale in the beer garden, serenaded by the creaking waterwheel of the mill and surrounded by pastel-coloured buildings – all restored to their historical glory – I found myself embracing the time warp. Hotels are booked, yoga and massage therapies lined up, and the influx of visitors constant. The town is alive and well."
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
SFC William Farrell Beautiful! Too bad it was on the East German Side of the Border while I was in Germany.
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