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It was for official purpose, for sure. Our Turkish colleagues decided to hold their task teams inventory workshop for the Turkey National Implementation Plan (NIP) update and review project in Antalya, the country's biggest international sea resort. I won't bore you with the details of the work I do, but one of the perks of the job is being able to go to gorgeous place like this... for free! :).
Get a glimpse of this Mediterranean paradise...
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| Fantastic views from the Mirada del Mar Hotel |
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| Enjoying the place |
Anyways, I felt really exhausted on the second day of the workshop. Well, who wouldn't?! I came from a two-week long duty travel in Manila and Sao Paulo - attending high level meetings to find solution to some frustrating issues, enduring 14-hour drives (both ways) to go to Bicol to present a paper on the work we do in the Philippines and suffering a 28-hour haul from Manila to Brazil to attend a very important workshop of the Stockholm Convention Secretariat. Add the (happy) pressures of celebrating your birthday, attending a family reunion, attending to the needs and whims of the nieces and the nephew...wheeewww!!! By the way, I "passed by" our Vienna home, arriving at 3 PM last Saturday and leaving for Antalya at 7AM the next day.
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| The hotel's wellness center... |
So after the usual "thank you's" and "see you soon's", I marched down the spa center and booked myself the luxury spa package with a Turkish bath, a hot stone and facial treatment and a Balinese massage for a whooping price of 70 Euro!!! (hahaha...gosh, this is definitely a steal!!)
So, there I was at the spa promptly at 5:30 PM, welcomed with an unknown tea concoction. I was led to a personal dressing cubicle, made to strip down to my undies, gave me sandals and a colorful checkered cloth (I initially thought its a table cloth :) - I learned later that it's called a peştemal to be tied around the body for modesty) and led to a dark hallway and taadaaahhh....the Turkish bath!
Called hamam, the bath itself is interesting. It's like going back to the Ottoman Empire and reliving the time when emperors bathed in their naked glory ( the naked is obvious, the glory needs to be checked :)). The bath is hot (think sauna hot) and completely made of marble with raised platforms (sorry, the comparison that comes to mind is a raised marble tomb). Again, with little research, I learned that these platforms are called göbektaşı. This is where you relax and sit or lie down, sweating it out to the soothing piped-in music.
Since I was not able to photograph the actual bath in the hotel, for obvious reasons, I googled some photos to give an idea how the bath looked....
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| Thanks Google for the photos... |
And the surreal bathing experience began....
In a rhythmic trance, the attendant began pouring deliciously warm water all over my body and lathered me with foamy soap. Then, the scrubbing began. She wore a sandpaper-like wash cloth and started scouring away dead skin cells and accumulated dirt (?). She then worked up a lather and the satiny feeling and delicious scent of soap suds enveloped my body while her gentle massage rocked me to an almost orgasmic sensation (ehherrmmm, pardon the loss for adjective) . Then, very gently, she started the rinsing ritual with warm water. I was still in dreamland when the shocking sensation of cold water touched my skin! Asked to relax still for a few minutes, I savoured again the hotness of the marble platform. After 5 minutes, she re-entered the bath and asked me to stand...and then, again splashes of warm water to the "sensitive" parts completing the rinsing ritual. She then dried me up, gave me a fresh towel and led me to the "cold room" to cool down a bit...
O-M-G!! So this is how babies felt when being bathed! It was surreal, dreamlike - with the attendant taking control of the whole experience...
The Turkish bath alone melted down all the physical soreness and mental exhaustion of the last few days and I still had the hot stone and facial treatment with the Balinese massage! What universal good have I done to deserve such karmic reward?!!
Also, I was told that, traditionally, male attendants usually give the bath...tssskk, I should have known. :)
Nonetheless, I should profusely thank the Turkish colleague who advised me to give it a try and my stars and planet for appositely aligning to allow me to experience this realm of physical pleasures.
By the way, the spa has a Cleopatra package....hmmmmm..... next time, next time....
