Today we celebrate the International Action Day of Black Sea.
For this event you can read more
Here.
But I will take this occasion to tell you more about the sea and its natural gifts.
Bulgarian Black Sea coast is a unique natural treаsure - it has a variety of valuable, proven therapeutic properties mud.
The mud is created over millennia, the firth mud is one of the oldest healing funds established empirically, but in recent decades and through modern methods, for treatment in balneology.
On our coast there are several lakes, which produced healing mud, but I will focus on the most famous of them, namely the Pomorie Lake.
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| The Pomorie Lake, Bulgaria |
The Pomorie Lake is a natural hyper saline lagoon situated along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast north of city of Pomorie.
In the past, Pomorie used to be an island, which was later connected to the land through two sand strips – westwards and northwards.
Today, the lake is separated from the sea by the northern sand strip, which is about 5 km long and 50 m wide. Sand dunes covered with specific vegetation have formed along this sand strip. The black color of the sand strip is due to the high concentration of ferrous oxide.
Since antiquity, the high salinity of the lake water, combined with the mild climate, has been a precondition for salt production through evaporation. These activities have more than 20 centuries’ history in the region of Pomorie. Therefore, parts of the lake banks have been transformed into saltpans.
In the late 20th C. serious reconstruction of the Pomorie saltpans resulted in the establishment of a system of embankments, dividing the lake in one big and several smaller basins. The Adata River (Kamenarska River) used to flow into the western part of the lake, which, with a view to securing the salt production, was diverted from the lake through a drainage canal.
The high salinity (more than twice higher than that of the Black Sea) has created a unique environment maintaining various animal and plant species such as Artemia and Salicornia europaea. The location of the lake on the western Black Sea coast, along which Via Pontica – the second biggest bird migration route runs, determines the high diversity of species found in this region.
The bottom of the lake is covered with black mud rich in minerals and microelements, possessing curative qualities and used for medicinal purposes. Mud therapy is a long established tradition in Pomorie, applied mainly for skin diseases and problems with the locomotor system. Recently, the medicinal mud has been used in cosmetics, SPA, and wellness procedures. The medicinal mud is a product resulting from decomposition and subsequent mineralization of dead organic matter (phyto- and zoo-plankton) under specific high salinity.
Here, in town of Pomorie is situated "
Specialized hospitals for rehabilitation national complex" just at 500 m from the center of the town, being the biggest center for mud-therapy on the Balkan Peninsula with a capacity of 1000 mud-treatment procedures a day. It is located at 100 m from the sea coast at the bank of a salt lake. The wonderful combination of such wealth with the sea and the modern base for medical treatment withhigh-qualified staff makes it an attractive place for healing and respite of thousands of Bulgarian and foreign people.
Except in specialized hospitals, every visitor to the town of Pomorie is able to enjoy a mud bath:
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| Photo: Vanya Dankova |
Besides the cure, the mud beautify and rejuvenate.
Pass through the skin calcium, iodine, phosphorus and others. This helps the bone healing after fracture. Treat almost the entire range of skin diseases, arthritis, disc hernia, gynecological problems, plexitis. Contraindicated only for tuberculosis, venereal diseases and cancer.
It is indispensable for the relief of psoriasis - one of the most difficult to treat auto-immune diseases of the skin.
Radioactive substances in the mud acting bactericidal and antioxidant. It is impossible to carry any infection from uncontrolled use of the mud fields.
Another valuable natural product of the lake is the lye. It is a product of salt production with red colour and contains only inorganic substances - sodium chloride, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, etc. Obtained after evaporation and concentration of salts in the lake water. It has analgesic, tonic and passing effect. Stay in warm lye no more than 20-30 minutes. A longer stay is harmful because it is loaded heart.
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| Pomorian Lye |
Lye is used in osteoarthritis, arthritis, tendovaginitis, disc hernia, joint dislocation ishas. But if you want to relieve skin conditions or to achieve a cosmetic effect, stay away from the lye! It is counterproductive to the superficial layer of the body and subcutaneous tissue.
Sometimes, though rarely, occurs intolerance to the lye and the mud after the first procedure. It is expressed in large red spots and itching. Typically, this reaction subsides quickly, but if repeated and the next time you better quit.
An interesting fact is that Hitler ordered three coaches mud from Burgas.
In the spring of 1945 when army troops of Hitler's Germany panic left the bases in the Bourgas region, local people observed a strange picture. Except the valuable objects and documents, which deleted the Nazis stay in Bulgaria, three car trains themselves filled with ... mud. There are still living witnesses of the action that took place at the region of Lake Atanasov. Full squad of soldiers was localized to rafts, shovels and buckets in the lake to rake out the healing mixture. The order was from the high command of the Third Reich, which for years were aware of the precious qualities of the Bulgarian natural heritage. Even in 1942 leachate from salt and mud were tested in the German laboratoryand found that its properties are unparalleled to all fields in the world.
Fortunately, we can all enjoy the healing mud and lye at home, thanks to some great Bulgarian cosmetic products. Coming Soon!
Thanks to:
www.greenbalkans.org
www.rehabilitation.bg
www.zavodata.com
