The Spa ...

Spa Struck at Aphrodite Hills (scroll down)

The Retreat Spa is truly magnificent, inspired by Greco-Roman bathing rituals, built in warm local stone and it is set among peaceful gardens planted with trees and shrubs indigenous to Cyprus. As you enter the Spa you are immediately enveloped in an atmosphere of absolute calm, the smell of natural wood is pervasive and with its classically columned architecture and wrought iron sconces it is almost like stepping into a place of worship.

The marbled ‘Check in’ reception area exudes extreme luxury, an impression which continues as you make your way to a secondary reception for the cloakroom and towel service. Naturally the inner sanctums of the cloakrooms themselves, ladies and gentlemen, are equally impressive in terms of their ‘nothing but the best approach’ to fittings, space and facilities.

The Spa offers fitness seekers access to a 140 sq.m superbly equipped gymnasium with an aerobics studio sprung floor for impact protection of joints. The Swimming and hydro-treatment pools, which are in addition to pools servicing the individual residential areas, are located up on the sundeck. Your hydro treatment can be conducted some 100 plus metres above sea level while gazing at a magnificent view of the ocean fanned by a cooling breeze and you will see some seriously healthy suntans on display.

Returning to the interior of the Spa, you make your way through an inner courtyard which is the epitome of tranquillity, with the look and feel of an ancient monastery, especially when it is illuminated by candlelight. Natural stone water features are a key factor of the ambience and there are culverts of flowing water designed to cool in summer and warm in Winter via underground heating in much the same way as the Romans operated their baths centuries before. Cypriot authenticity is completed by the transplantation of a forty-year-old olive tree as the centrepiece of the courtyard, surrounded by a footbath lined with smooth pebbles, a historic device used to refresh and revitalise the feet of weary travellers.

And so on to the ‘Thermae’ treatment rooms finished in exquisite wood and marble and absolutely designed for relaxation and stress release. The Hammam with its private massage rooms is a modern reproduction of the original Turkish Baths. There are also Roman heat rooms, a sauna that offers a sea view, through to a ‘tepid’ room as the next stage of the process, with a delightful garden outlook.

A ‘finishing’ treatment room completes the journey, which again exists in total harmony with the gardens, as do the outdoor massage temples, where you are manipulated amidst an aroma of leafy citrus trees and herbs to the tinkling of fountaining arches of water from the central pond. And if that is not sufficient to satisfy the decadent side of your nature then in keeping with the tradition of ancient Cypriot plutocrats you may pick and eat the ripened fruit of your choice at the same time.