July 2019 - The Story of Davos and the Schatzalp

About 100 years ago, Davos was primarily known as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. And the city owed this reputation mainly to the German doctor Alexander Spengler. He came here in 1853 and was amazed to find no tuberculosis patients in Davos. The place was virtually tuberculosis-free. At that time, one out of every seven Europeans died from the disease, and every second person was infected. When a sick person came to Davos, their symptoms improved.

The reason had to be the good air. As a result, various sanatoriums were opened here, where the wealthier members of European society could rest and recover. And Davos grew from a village with 1,700 inhabitants to the highest city in Europe with 25,000 permanent spa guests.

However, one could also become impoverished here, as such a stay was expensive. The Schatzalp was the most expensive, with a daily rate of 21.50 Swiss francs. The public sanatorium, on the other hand, cost only 1.30 Swiss francs per day.

How do I know all of this? Today at the hotel, we had a slideshow about the history of the place. Yes, slides still exist. The older ones among us will remember. But it doesn't always have to be a laptop and a PowerPoint presentation. It's about the content. And the topic of tuberculosis was so interesting to me.

As you probably know, antibiotics for tuberculosis were later discovered. But by that time, Davos had already made a name for itself and is now a place of recreation, popular in winter sports, and also a conference venue. I'm just saying the World Economic Forum every year in January.

In addition, it has now been proven that the air up here is actually allergen-free and mite-free.

Anyway, it just so happened that we were on the aforementioned Schatzalp during the day today. We had our day off today. It sounds odd because, of course, we are on vacation and have free time anyway. But of course, we want to take advantage of our hiking week and participate in the guided hikes. However, today was a day built in for free time.

We really took it easy and didn't get up until 8 o'clock. 'What?' some of you might ask, 'Free and already up at 8 o'clock?' Well, we wanted to go swimming before breakfast, so compromises had to be made.

But after that, we were really lazy. We sat on benches more often today than any other day. There was no group waiting for us, as on the other days.

In addition, we had a destination that was really easy to reach. The valley station of the Schatzalp cogwheel railway is just around the corner from the hotel. Once at the top, you have a beautiful view and plenty of flowers to admire. The Alpinum, a botanical garden, was our destination. However, most of the garden area was covered with tarps, but there were flowers blooming all around. Wonderful!

By the way, a part of the area is dedicated to Thomas Mann, who visited his wife Katia in the sanatorium in Davos over 100 years ago. He later processed his experiences here in the world-famous book 'The Magic Mountain'. That's why there is now the 'Thomas Mann Path' on the Schatzalp, adorned with quotes from his work.

We also walked partly on this path, but additionally took the waterfall circular route and then walked to the Restaurant Strelaalp. Oh yes, we also treated ourselves to a ride on the summer toboggan run. This too is surrounded by flower meadows.

On the way back, we walked down the mountain to Davos. We also had the chance to observe the cogwheel railway at two points. But even more exciting was an encounter with wildlife: young squirrels actually ran almost under our feet multiple times. They were very curious and incredibly cute. A fantastic day!