BRITANNY: THALASSA QUIBERON

by Kate Pocock

They say that sea water is good for you, and its byproduct — seaweed — even better. So, after a week at a thalassotherapy spa on the southern Brittany coast of France, I hoped to be a radiant picture of health. “It’s a therapeutic health kind of thing, like going to a clinic,” advised one European friend, remembering her mother’s annual escape. One brochure promised I would “tackle life with newfound serenity.” Another called for “overstressed, over-fatigued, toxin-riddled or sports-addicted urban dwellers.” Yes, all of the above! Sign me up.

A three-and-a-half hour train ride from Paris, the Thalassa Quiberon is the world’s largest thalassotherapy centre. Perched on a scenic rocky promontory and subject to 250 days of part- sunshine a year, the institute was the perfect place for mixing thalasso (sea) with therapy (treatment). This facility offers doctors and medical support, a large seawater swimming pool, outside hot tubs, treatment rooms with special pressure point tubs, inside exercise pools, a professional beauty centre and a shop selling bathing suits and bathing caps — a good thing as the stretchy Star Trek-like headcoverings were mandatory for all pool treatments. Unlimited quantities of healthful seawater, sea mud, and a variety of seaweeds (who knew there were dozens) lay just outside the door.

Seawater and seaweed, as well as sea air, have long been known to possess curative powers. But when French biologist René Quinton discovered in the early 20th century that seawater was similar to the internal composition of human cells, his friend Dr. Louis Bagot opened the first thalassotherapy establishment in Brittany. Soon, freshly-pumped seawater, heated to between 34 and 45 C, was helping to cure gout, rheumatism, arthritis and physical trauma. Seaweed alone offers an amazingly rich natural cocktail. During the week, we would be ingesting zinc, copper and iodine for metabolism; calcium, magnesium and iron for muscles and bones; potassium, lithium, selenium, fluoride and cobalt—as well as vitamins A to K—all in daily doses of seaweed in food, drink, treatments and even our shampoo.

In between the getting rid of toxins, there are walks along nearby nature trails or to the quaint seaside town of Quiberon with its art galleries and shops selling fishermen sweaters. Plus, two four-star hotels, the Sofitel Thalassa and the Sofitel Diététique, offered great views of sand, sea and sky and were linked directly to the Institute.

After an in-room breakfast of soft-boiled eggs, muesli with milk, yogurt and tea, all helpfully tabulated at 330 calories, I met with the resident Dr. Bernardeau. He tut-tutted when I stepped on the scale but measured my spine, took my blood pressure and demonstrated proper walking techniques. He suggested weight reducing treatments such as the swimming pool exercises and water jet massage—four treatments a day on alternative mornings and afternoons—and urged that I drink a lot of water, at least one litre a day to compensate for salt in the seaweeds. Luckily, I wasn’t assigned to what we nicknamed the “elephant wash,” a kind of hosing down at long range, or the High Seas for Legs Cure for those with heavy legs.

Between sessions in the Olympic-sized pool equipped with jets and waterfalls, soaks in bubbling heated tubs, massages, hammam saunas, smelly mud wraps and the amazingly gentle facials, we ate succulent meals: clear soup followed by melon and Parma ham, scallops with rice and sweet potato, banana and Grand Marnier crêpes — all artistically arranged with toppings of yellow and purple pear or grapes with mint.

One day in the name of good health, I was smeared with smelly seaweed mud and wrapped to just lie and steep. I felt like a fish steaming in smelly brown sauce. Nevertheless, I did feel invigorated upon my unwrapping and cold shower. My favourite was the cure de silence, a room with blanket-covered cots covered and floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto the ocean. No problems with sleep even in the afternoon.

As the days progressed, I became hotter and hotter, flapping my housecoat open to breezes coming in through the windows. (Not too much flapping though. Forty percent of the clientele was male.) “The toxins leaving,” commented one attendant.

As for the full effects of seaweed and seawater after five days? My skin felt like velvet, my breathing was easy and I had shed a few pounds. But even better, my health was perfect for months. Not a sniffle. "Be careful," warned one woman bubbling away in the outside hot tub. "If you come once, you just have to come again.”

*
*
*

Six-night stays in Brittany include accommodations, some meals and four treatments per day starting at about E756 per person at a two-star hotel. At the four-star Sofitel Thalassa Hotel in Quiberon, at Thalasso Quiberon, a six-day package costs from about E1064 per person (double occupancy) including treatments and half board to E2244 for full board with personalized low-calorie meals. (Please note that prices reflect the time of our visit. Please contact the hotels for up dated pricing before you go.)

For details visit www.thalassa.com or www.accorthalassa.com

For a free brochure on all 52 Thalassotherapy Centres in France (programs range from new mother-and-baby sessions to anti-smoking cures) call Info France, 866-313-7262 or visit www.franceguide.com (click on wellbeing).

Air France flies daily to Paris from Toronto, Montreal, New York and Chicago; 800-237-2747 or www.airfrance.ca

Kate Pocock is a Toronto-based travel writer.