Day 45 : Arabic Bath

I gave myself a treat today by booking a session at the Hamman Baths, a traditional bath in the Arabic style, and also because my body could do with a massage! 

Sessions occur on every 2 hour blocks and I booked myself in at 8pm for a bath along with 30 minutes massage (the standard massage is usually 15 minutes, but that seems very short to enjoy the massage!). 

The moment I stepped into the dressing room, I started perspiring as you could feel the heat of the baths coming through the area.  I quickly got into my bikini and headed up the stairs towards the bath area, where I was greeted by a lady in red uniform.  It is the common area and there were already a group of about 30 men and women in bathing suits and bikinis waiting to commence their session.

The lady in red brought us through the different chambers and of course as everything was explained in Spanish, I could only grasp the surface of the contents.  We were first led through the chamber with a cold pool, before moving to the hot pool and a much bigger warm pool and a steam room on the side.  All of this was designed in an Arabic style with the typical arched doorways seen in the Islamic design, and with Arabic music piping in the background and sounds of water running.

We were then brought down the stairs and shown the massage areas, and I gathered that we would be called based on the number tag(s) that was given to us at the reception counters.  I had number tag 1 & 2 (each tag entitles to 15mins massage), and was thus the 1st to be called.  It seemed strange to be doing a massage before the baths, but I guess it was better than soaking in the bath and being disrupted halfway to go for the massage.

I was asked to lie face down while she worked on the back of the legs and back, and it was a good relief as she massaged into the points with good techniques and strength, and of course 30 minutes went by quickly, before I headed back out to the pools area and relaxed away for the next 45 minutes before being asked to leave the pools area, so that they can prepare for the next group to come in.

It was definitely worth experiencing if one ever gets the chance to do so. 

No pictures were allowed, but I sneaked a couple of pictures of the entrance to the dressing area and others were taken from the brochure.