Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
protect your ears and a small paper mask over
your nose and mouth, you may well feel a little
underdressed, to say nothing of foolish. The
experience itself, which lasts the two coldest
minutes of your life as you pace in a circle round a
small chamber filled with freezing dry ice, might
seem like a surreal Soviet cosmonaut experiment
but is apparently good for your body in all sorts
of ways.
This is probably the oddest of the various
treatments on offer at this extensive water park,
built over and almost entirely powered by a
natural geothermal spring in Poprad, at the foot
of the High Tatras mountain range. Along with
the outdoor thermal pools there are water slides,
a children's area, an Olympic-size pool, a floating
bar and the Vital Zone, which takes sauna to a
new level. In its several steam rooms you can be
treated with everything from menthol scents to
salt, flower essences or healing herbs. For cooling
off there is an ice fountain, a chilly plunge pool
and a snow cave where if you're brave (or just
mad) you can throw snowballs at each other's
bare skin - all while indoors on the second floor.
As the hordes of local people pouring in every
day show, Aquacity is not an elite spa. It's designed
to be fun for everyone and is a proud focal point
of the community, almost two hundred of whom
work here, either in the award-winning hotel or
the restaurant where classic Slovakian dishes are
served using organic local ingredients. And there's
plenty to see nearby, from the hiking and skiing
resorts in the Tatras to the tranquil medieval
town of Levo ˘a. Whether you take the cryotherapy
course or simply whizz down the slides, Aquacity
provides a unique base from which to discover one
of the less-visited parts of Europe.
150 hidE away
in a turkish
lighthousE
Yediburunlar is Turkish
for “seven noses” - an
apt description of the
shapes carved by the
seven bays beneath the
lighthouse of the same
name, and the steep,
verdant promontories
that divide them. It's
the perfect place to appreciate the beauty of this
remote part of Turkey's south coast. Looking down
over the 600m drop to the sea from each of the six
bedrooms' private terraces, your vision is filled
with the vast blue of the Aegean; your ears with
the total silence that such isolation affords.
The solar-powered lighthouse is situated halfway
along the Lycian Way, a 500km path that follows
the coast from Fethiye to Antalya, considered one of
the world's great walking routes. Each day there's
an optional guided hike, perhaps stopping for lunch
in remote fishing settlements or walking to the
2,500-year-old ruins of the Lycian settlement of
Sidyma, where the village of Dodurga sits among
the remains - its houses constructed using pillars
and other pieces of ancient stone as building
materials. If these hikes have built up an appetite,
hostess Semra's dinners won't disappoint: expect
five-course extravaganzas ranging from smoky
roasted aubergine with local cheese and walnuts
to a crisp broccoli salad with lemon dressing. It's
a hard place to leave, but as Semra also offers
vegetarian cooking classes, at the very least you'll
have the chance to recreate her dinners when you
get home.
View of the “seven noses” from
Yediburunlar lighthouse
Need to know The park is five minutes from the
railway station at Poprad Tatry, easily accessible
from both Budapest and Kraków. For more on
accommodation, opening hours, treatments and
prices see W www.aquacity.sk; T +44 (0) 158 274
8840 for booking from the UK.
Need to know The lighthouse (open May-Oct only)
is two hours' drive from Dalaman. For further info
on rooms, activities, rates and booking see W www.
exclusiveescapes.co.uk/destinations/property/yedi/
detail.
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