Not wanting to give up on our day of beauty, we searched on line and asked around for a possible alternative. Then, something came to mind that a friend had mentioned the week prior; she said there was a natural hot springs not far from here and the buildings that housed the baths were originally built on Roman and Arabic ruins. How perfect!
We searched them out on line and although we didn’t find a website specific to them, we did find a couple of tourism sites that had information. Through these sites we were able to piece together amazing photos of the place as well as maps that show a road leading you to and ending at ancient stone buildings perched on the side of a mountain with sweeping views of the valley below. Interior photos included shots of dining under rows of massive brick archways and columns, a two tiered interior courtyard complete with fountain (reminiscent of Moorish dwellings) and marble bath tubs for soaking in the thermal water. We read they offered massage along with the thermal baths and we eventually found a list of services and prices. Since we were piecing together information from a number of sites we felt like we didn’t have the full picture in regard to public baths or private, length of massage, etc. but we forged ahead and made on line reservations for the four of us, for the following day. How bad could it be?
The following day we headed off. The road to the property certainly was scenic with a couple of switchback curves and commanding view of the rocky valley below and once we reached what we thought had to be the baths (or banos as they called here) we found the road did, in fact, stop. This had to be the place…..right? (this photo is also pirated, the current fascade is no longer as tidy)
After taking about 5-10 minutes to find the front door of the building (which was actually in a very beautiful, stone walled, alley that faced the side of the mountain) we entered the hotel/spa’s lobby; it was at this point we knew we were in for some surprises!
The front desk was actually through a large, elbow high opening of an interior stone wall. Behind this wall sat a number of antiquated metal filing cabinets bulging with faded, old papers; a couple of cluttered, metal school desks; a radio playing unrecognizable tunes and a very large lady in a red track suit working the mouse to her dated computer…and everything was covered in dust…everything.
After confirming our reservation (we really weren’t sure we wanted to follow thought with this) we were asked to wait in the interior courtyard until someone could usher us where we needed to be.
This was the time we KNEW we were in for an experience! The first photo here is the photo we found on line for the interior courtyard. The second photo was taken on site…..gone was the Romance of the hotel and in its place was faded grandure.
The once fabulous courtyard was strewn with a few plastic children’s toys; new, rusted metal bird cages where hung from various places each housing fake birds (although one did have a live partridge in it) and in one corner was a chest with an old saddle and tack laid across it (like there was nowhere else to store it). The overgrown orange trees,
although heavy with colorful fruit, were now without leaves and looking like they’d seen a better day and if the shabby wasn’t enough we saw a woman in a shaggy pink robe walk through the courtyard and into a side door-which she closed behind her….and a few minutes later two men backed a motorcycle into the courtyard, through that same door. WTF?!
There were various people passing through the courtyard and milling about… a man on his hands and knees on the stone floor, repairing a water line; a woman who turned out to be the cook; another man who arrived in a suit, at the same time we did, who ended up being a salesman and our masseur, dressed in black lycra, who eventually lead us to the lower level where the baths were located.
It turns out we signed up for the “public” baths but since we were the only four customers (not really sure who the lady in the robe was) we had the room to ourselves.
As you can see in the first photo (pirated from a website), there were two sunken, natural stone baths in the room. Each had the thermal water in them and each was a different temperature-one very warm and the other hot.
In the second photo, taken by me, what you can’t see are the plastic deck chairs; the wobbly, weight bench with the torn seat pad; the fabric curtain, stretched across the lower portion of one of the arch ways, hiding god knows what; a yellow rubber hose coiled up on the floor and the black plastic tubing suspended from a wire above one of the baths.
This tubing was the most curious of all. When traced back to its source, we found it was attached to a cold water outlet and we assumed it must be used either as a shower or to cool down the bath.
An even more curious thing was in one of the archways someone had installed a shower. It was in the center archway along a side wall, one step up from the main floor and it was fairly well constructed. The tile surround was similar to the rest of the room and the built up floor was done in marble, however, it really felt like whoever was brave enough to take a shower was going to be on stage. Once I saw this my mind started to wander and I immediately thought this had the makings of a Fellini film!.....with the two baths full of people, I saw a person in the shower, under a spot light and the large lady in red pants suit sitting across the room in one of the plastic deck chairs, eating Serrano ham with her fingers all the while spraying cold water on the showering person from the yellow, rubber hose! The entire scene was a bit trippy and we laughed about it for ages!
In the end…..the massages were ok (light and fluffy and cold!) and the thermal baths were actually very soothing; our skin was super soft for a couple of days.
As we left the spa and walked out of the remains of the main, contemporary, glass door (which we hadn’t noticed upon entering) we could see a multitude of lodging and tourism organizations this hotel had once belonged to…all dated 15 years prior. I’m sure this hotel was something in the day, in its restored state but it is once again in need of some TLC and vision. Overall, it was a spa day like no other and one we won’t soon forget.
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