Hot Stone Treatment

Thursday 22 March

All the rain seemed to have disappeared – and the day dawned with blue skies, a few wisps of white mares tails floating overhead, and extremely hot. We checked emails again, after breakfast, as we were still awaiting confirmation that we were expected at our hotel in Barcelona – having booked it in June last year, and not paying a deposit or hearing anything since then - we were concerned that perhaps our reservation might not still exist. But not to worry, the hotel had replied that we could arrive directly after disembarking from the ship – hopefully that means we still have a room.

We spent another morning on the balcony – it was so perfect, gazing at the view, watching seagulls turn somersaults in the shallows just below us as they preened their feathers, while the larger boats arrived and departed on their daily ferry runs around the peninsula and islands – none of them seemed very full, but there are a lot of them, visiting about seven destinations. We sat for a long time in the pool, just to keep cool, but even that defeated us by mid afternoon, and we resorted to the bar for refreshments.

Well sated, we decided to investigate the spa and arrange for our massages. Following signs down steps, round corners and along tiny corridors, we arrived at the spa reception and arranged our treatments for Saturday afternoon, as a sort of “going away” present We were then taken on a tour of the rooms. Down even more steps – surely we must soon be in the basement – and round a corner, brought us to a very light and airy room with a large jacuzzi, which apparently is available at all times for guests to use. The water was hotter than a bath – just the opposite to our cool plunge pool, but could be great at the end of the day. We were shown areas where yoga classes and thai massages take place, treatment rooms for various different therapies, including a double one, which we chose to use on Saturday. We were shown the hot stones used in a special massage, which I was tempted to try, and the hairdressers – a young man with lots of metal braces on his teeth, worked in that salon. I had decided I would have my hair cut again whilst on the ship – only a few days away now – otherwise I might have let him loose with his scissors. The whole spa area was a much larger labyrinth than expected and the range of treatments was huge – thinking about it – it had to be quite comprehensive to be advertised as one of Johansens’ top spa resorts. Back at reception the young lady arranged for me to have a “hot stone” massage at 17.00 today – only a little over an hour away.

We spent the hour back on the balcony, sitting in the pool and taking in the last rays of the day. Arriving back at the spa, I was introduced to Simone – she spoke no English at all - who would be doing the massage. I selected “nature” music – I could have had jazz, classical, Brazilian or about six other styles – to play serenely in the background, and hot green tea to drink after the treatment – no honey or coconut milk for me. Simone led me to the changing rooms and gave me a bikini and robe to change into, before showing me to the treatment bed. One wall in this room was lined with “saucepans” on electric hot plates, filled with perfectly smooth black and brown lava stones of all shapes and sizes sitting in water. I laid on the bed, on my front, with my head on one of those horseshoe shapes that allows you to breath but see nothing but the floor and the masseur’s feet. In fact there was a tin tray under this head rest, full of small coloured stones, which did hold my interest as Simone prepared to go to work on my body. Firstly she placed palm sized stones under my hands, which felt very warm, and covered them with towels. Then she proceeded to massage fragrant oil followed by hot stones up and down and across the whole of my back, in smooth relaxing movements that made me feel warm all over. Eventually she had covered all my body, replacing the stones under my hands as they cooled (at one time they were very hot and I wondered if you could get burnt), and placing several small stones along my spine as she worked on my arms and legs, and then down the centre of my front when I turned over. At this stage Simone put a muslin towel over my face, so still couldn’t observe what was happening – initially this felt slightly claustrophobic, but with small warm stones on my forehead, I soon relaxed. She massaged my head and my hair (!) gently stoking and tensing strands all over my head. The treatment lasted just over an hour, when Simone brought me the promised cup of hot green tea. As I sat on the bed and drank, I would see out over the bay, and once again, although it was only just starting to get dusky, lightning was flashing in the far distance over the islands, illuminating some curly cumulus clouds with fuchsia pink edges.

When I returned to the room, the first comment Colin made was that my hair was a mass of curls, and when I looked in the mirror, I was faced with a complete mop of tightly curled hair – as if I had had a perm – and no amount of combing would straighten it. As I didn’t want to shower off all the oils, so recently massaged into my body yet, I just had to put up with being a “curly top”!

We had decided to eat in the hotel again tonight – and sat at one of our usual tables in the far corner of the restaurant. There were several new couples there tonight, and hardly anyone we recognized. We chose shrimps and squid in an algae sauce to start, with a skewer of prawns and tropical fruits (pineapple and mango), accompanied by seven grain rice, for me, and “catch of the day” (badejo – the same fish I had had with beans and “en papiotte” earlier in the week) with a marqueca sauce - one of the slightly spicy sauces Brazil is famous for. Both dishes were excellent, but I felt mine was a triumph of flavours –and I even enjoyed the rice – with both soft and crunchy grains. Having drunk our fill of cocktails, we decided to skip tea and made our way back to the room. It was still warm out on the balcony, but there were a few flying “monsters that bite” about at that time of night, so we adjourned to bed.