It may be 4 months since I stepped foot into this place that I am about to gush over (insert nostalgia), but it’s places like this that leave that magical and memorable impressions on your life…especially when you are in a foreign city, far far away from home and anyone or anything you know…having the time of your life.
Stepping into Aire Ancient Baths – whether it was the one I went to in New York two weeks earlier or their big sister spa in Barcelona, Spain – they both felt like I was entering into another realm…a feeling everyone should treat themselves to in this all too real world.
On this special day, my travel mate Kyle decided to join me for a spa day experience…something even a guys-guy like himself admitted to his buddies was pretty awesome. Being in Barcelona means a lot of walking. And if you’re not walking everywhere, you’re doing it wrong in my opinion. So we took the short 15 minute walk across the city from our place at @balcony_barcelona and lone behold we approached the inviting entrance of Aire.
Aire really knows how to set the mood. The moment you step foot over the threshold of that singular, solid, and grand wood door your experience begins. The lobby is dark. Vaulted. And warm from all the steam rising from the underground baths, sultry showers, steamy steam rooms, and saunas alike. And it must be mentioned that Barcelona in the summer is it’s own sauna in itself. The humidity there was real people. Two to three showers were taken a day. Short and cold ones that is. This particular spa was quite a bit busier than the one in New York, so more bodies meant more steam as well.
We were quickly checked in and escorted back to the mens and women’s locker room where we changed into our bathing suits and robes. Kyle and I met outside the locker rooms by the stairwell that we would then ascend into the dark, steamy and might I say romantic depths of Aire. I must say, this is a wonderful treat to experience with someone else you adore at your side. It is so relaxing. You don’t even have to talk but just enjoy the silence together, sip on provided tea and water while waiting for your treatment is otherworldly pleasurable. I mean, to describe what this underground world looked like would have to be like a magical chamber. Brick walls with candles inset into them flickering every so softly with Moroccan lanterns scattered throughout. The ground was wet every where. Robes were hanging on assigned walls. Long walkways. Glassed in rooms where you’d find your next bathing experience whether it was a warm pool, ice bath, jet pool, sauna or salt pool. Truly enrapturing. It just leaves you asking yourself why more places like this don’t exist because it is so darn relaxing.
So after going through the motions of one bath to the next, the sauna to the steam room, we were approached by a woman who escorted us to the area where our 30 minute massages were to take place. I opted for a foot and shoulder massage while Kyle received a Swedish massage. I have to say that this was not one of the best massages I have received. It was more like I was being tickled. Not what I was looking for after walking the streets of the world for the last 3 weeks. Here nor there, we carried out our time in the jet pool, sipped some more tea and then showered off and headed back into the locker room to put ourselves back together in order to step back out into the real world.
It was a magical day that I will never forget and hold dear to my heart. Barcelona is one of my favorite cities I have been to. The relaxed vibe throughout the city, the friendly people, all of the art I saw, the classic preserved architecture and the yummy food sold me. I look forward to stopping into this city in the near future and I encourage you to take an afternoon and treat yourself to an Aire Ancient Baths experience. They have 5 locations throughout the world. Two down for me, 3 to go!
to BE inspired 