Thalassotherapy weekend

Ah, my first-ever spa weekend! I went with a friend of mine from work on a trip sponsored by the CE. (I think we've mentioned on the blog before about the CE (Comite d'Enterprise) at my work.)

The weekend included dinner Friday and Saturday nights, two nights hotel, breakfast, and 8 treatments. The treatments were Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. We got a significant discount on the price, and it was only about 45 minutes away by car in a town called Frejus.

Thalassotherapy treatments are based on sea water and sea minerals, such as algae and sea mud. See here for more information. The sea water is heated to near body temperature, which means that it feels lovely and warm on your skin, and it's really relaxing.

Here's what I had:

Hydrotherapy bath - A giant single-person sized jacuzzi tub with hundreds of different sized jets. They fill the bath with the sea water, and then set the jets to go on a cycle that covers your whole body. It took about 15 minutes, and I had two of these sessions, one on each day.

Aquagym - 25 minutes of water aerobics in the big saltwater pool. Standard stuff, except that I accidentally splashed myself in the eye with the water. Ouch! That stings!

Algae wrap - They rub this incredibly stinky, brown, mud-looking algae all over your body, then wrap you in 3 layers, like a burrito. You lay on the table for 20 minutes and the algae is supposed to be very good for your skin. It was very relaxing, once I got over the smell of it. Then you shower it all off.

Hydrojet - Basically a twin-sized waterbed with these powerful jets underneath the mattress covering that go up and down your body. That was really nice.

Massage - A 25-minute relaxation massage, which was too short, but really nice anyway. The interesting part of this was that the masseuse put the oil all over my body before she began instead of on her hands for each body part. Oh yeah, and I got to wear a disposable paper thong, which was, you know, comfortable. NOT.

Shower jets - For this one, I laid face-down on a big massage table that was covered in plastic wrap. Then this arm-like contraption with lots of showerheads on it was positioned above my body. The warm sea water was sprayed in different patterns all over my back and legs. Nice, but the water kept getting into my eyes.

Underwater jets - This was in a huge jacuzzi tub with jets coming out of the walls. We held onto a bar on the wall and then moved our legs, arms, and body in front of the jets. There were 5 of us and one of the spa employees led us in a little routine.

Overall, it was a really nice time. The only problem was we had to vacate the hotel room by 1:30 on Sunday, so we didn't have time to relax afterwards. I can highly recommend this type of spa if you have a chance to visit one.