Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
nicely appointed casitas. The Ultimate Package, with rooms, three gourmets a day, a spa ser-
vice a day (or one round of golf), round-trip transportation from Tucson airport, and use of all
the facilities, start at $445 per day for double occupancy, or $595 October through December.
SPA EVOLUTION
Spas might currently be experiencing a revolution in upscale resorts around the
world, but they are by no means a new thing. Homer and other Classical writers
extolled the virtues of taking to springs, baths, and spas for therapeutic and healing
purposes. The Babylonians, Egyptians, and Minoans all took the waters. Spas were
built across the Roman Empire, from Africa to England, expanding into entertain-
ment complexes complete with exercise rooms, restaurants, and a menu of different
types of hot and cold baths. The first Japanese
onsen
(hot spring) opened in 737
A.D
.
near Izumo, with the first
ryoken
(inn), offering food, accommodations, gardens,
outdoor baths, and indoor soaking tubs, emerging on the spa scene centuries later.
Saunas originated in Finland as early as 1000
A.D
., including a healthy dose of beer
and vodka. And the Ottoman were famous for their gorgeously mosaiced
hammam,
comprising steam rooms, massage platforms, and plenty of socializing. In Western
Europe, natural hot springs drew the elite and wealthy as far back as the Middle
Ages—Charlemagne's Aachen and Bonaventura's Poretta are prime examples, with
such still famous sites as Spa, Belgium; Baden-Baden, Germany; and Bath, Eng-
land, originating during the Renaissance.
Spas first took root in the United States in the 1850s, at New York's Saratoga
Springs, a fashionable resort that drew Edgar Allan Poe, Franklin Roosevelt, and
other elites. Elizabeth Arden opened the first day spa, Manhattan's Red Door Salon,
in 1910, purveying manicures and facials; it also served as a finishing school. Cali-
fornia's Golden Door spa opened in 1958, focusing on weight loss and fitness—only
the beginning in the innovation of treatments and popularity of pampering that con-
tinues to bloom.
