After a few days here in Ischia, Erik, Lenore and I have figured out our way around and settled into a nice routine of sorts. A typical day consists of breakfast, spa treatments, lunch, pool time, then a trek into town for evening shopping and dinner. We mix this up a bit with the occasional hike, water taxi to a nearby town, etc.
The spa treatments are a great way to ease into the day… you wander in kind of drowsy and half-asleep, then proceed to get coated in mud, massaged, pedicured, facialed, etc. The massages have improved from my first day, though they still can’t compete with the ones I’ve had in the U.S. But then again, they’re not costing nearly as much!
The fango treatment (or “fandango,” as Lenore likes to call it) was interesting, but not something I feel compelled to try again. Basically, you strip down to your birthday suit in front of some massive, hairy Italian guy, hop up onto a table that has a giant pile of extremely hot mud on it (hence the big guy – women apparently aren’t strong enough to move around the heavy mud), then lay down and he proceeds to coat your body in the hot mud. He then bundles you up in blankets and leaves you to cook for about a half hour, occasionally returning to gently wipe the sweat off your face (unexpected, from the giant ape of a man). After you’ve adequately “fangoed,” he then puts you in a shower to get most of the mud off, and uses a high-pressure hose to get the rest, esp. those hard-to-reach areas (I kid you not). Anyway, I didn’t notice feeling any different after the fango, so I don’t think I’ll be shelling out any more cash for that one again.
Aside from the spa, the pools here are what really sell the place. There are 13 of them, most of which are in a large area with great views and lots of lounge chairs – this is where we spend most of our afternoons. The pools vary in temperature, and include a couple cool Japanese pools with funky rocks and bubbles.