Legend has it that long ago, when Sils-Maria was still called Seglias-Majoria (“dairy on the pastures”) and travellers changed their horses here, melting snow caused the lake and the river Inn to burst their banks – so that the dairy was cut off from its surroundings. And it was wild goblin-like creatures that saved the lives of the people of Sils by packing food for them into balls of larch needles, which they floated across the lake: Silserkugeln or “Sils balls”, which you can still find on the lakeshore every autumn. So the story goes, at least. Writers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, artists such as Joseph Beuys and musicians such as David Bowie have all found inspiration in the enchanting wide-open expanses and the magical quality of the light. Idyllically located between two frozen lakes, the village lies at the entrance to the unspoilt Val Fex – at its most romantic when explored on a ride in a horse-drawn sleigh. Sils is also said by aficionados to be a place of living energy, of special power.