Those of you who know Suzy and me know that we agree on just about everything.

OK, it’s fine to stop laughing.

For those of you who don’t know Suzy and me, it is safe to tell you that we disagree over just about everything, often (if not usually) openly, publicly and uncomfortably.  So it was no surprise that when we left the Poseidon thermal spa yesterday offering that I preferred it to the Negombo spa, which we had visited two days earlier Suzy, naturally, disagreed.

But such are the joys of travel, even apart from the great food, interesting people and mind expanding and soul charging experiences.  There is no right answer to a question like which spa is better (other than my answer).  The joy is in being able to have the discussion.

We arrived at the Poseidon, reputed to be the best spa on the island (take that, Suzy) by scooter which was delivered to our hotel the evening before.  I have rented scooters in a handful of places in Italy but this ride was among the most terrifying yet.  Combine aggressive southern Italian drivers with windy roads, hordes of tourists and locals spilling off the sidewalk and relatively poor infrastructure, all the while with a wife whose flinches unwittingly steer the cycle and you are asking for an incidente.  None occurred, however and we tooled into the beachside parking lot with our limbs, joints and dignity intact.

Admission at the Poseidon is €32 for the entire day, a couple of euros less than Negombo.  You are given a fancy wristwatch-looking device that activates the turnstile to let you in, but also gives you access to the public beach (and more importantly access from the public beach back into the spa).  And upon entering we were greeted by an English speaking staffer who provided us a map of the facility and explained to us the suggested itinerary.

In this way (and in many others), Poseidon differs greatly from Negombo.  At Negombo we were mostly on our own, wandering from bath to bath without a game plan.  At Poseidon, there is a definite purpose to your being there and they play it up in many ways.  The waters are therapeutic, says Poseidon’s management, almost magically or mystically so, and you should take advantage of this gift according to their strict guidelines.

Along with the map we were given an explanation of how the waters can cure what ails you.  (According to management, “hot baths make the body temperature rise and create a state of fever.  As a consequence, the skin takes up an additional amount of up to one and a half liters of blood which considerably relieves the internal organs.”  Who knew?)  And included in that tome is a set of instructions, a prescription almost, that tells you which pool to enter in what order and how long to take the waters in each one.  We followed this process religiously, even using my trusty Timex Expedition wristwatch to time our immersion in each pool.  As you could expect in a facility populated by mostly Italians, we were in the distinct minority.

We also followed the rule that everyone must wear a bathing cap, dutifully purchasing ours in the spa’s boutique.  I think we looked pretty stylish in ours.  It gives me a good idea of what I will look like when I go bald in a couple of years and half my head turns red.  As you could expect in a facility populated by mostly Italians, there were many creative efforts to circumvent the bathing cap rule, with bandanas, baseball caps and even an Amish looking head dress being tried out.

The main difference between Poseidon and Negombo is the overall design.  Both spas feature a series of pools fed by thermal springs with different temperatures and chemical makeups.  And both are built into the landscape with terraces stretching into the hills.  Negombo is a bit more vertical than Poseidon, requiring a bit more hill climbing but both require a lot of stair climbing.  No, the main difference is that the design of Negombo is more intentionally natural, the entire park covered with trees, pools built into caves and looking more like they existed before the park was built.  Poseidon, on the other hand, while benefiting from the natural beauty of its location, surrounded on one side by a rocky cliff and on the other by the sea, is a manmade design.  With its Roman statues and classical layout it gives one the impression that ancient Romans or Greeks would be very comfortable greeting one another in its pools.

The customers at Poseidon also seemed a bit more relaxed and less rushed than at Negombo.  And as we finished our circuit of the pools in about an hour we could perhaps see why.  With dozens of cozy terraces set up with beach chairs and umbrellas, there were more than enough places to relax and unwind after playing the human teabag in the scalding waters.  After our lunch, a couple of simple salads (once again featuring incredibly flavorful tomatoes) we found a secluded spot toward the end of the property to lay down, with the soft sounds of the sea in the distance and a cool sea breeze to keep us company.  Within a minute we were sound asleep.

We woke some time later – a half hour? an hour? – and moved to a different spot where we continued the day of unwinding and recuperating.  And as the late afternoon sun inched toward the horizon we packed up, got on our scooter and rejoined the “real” world, the one where you have to work just a bit harder to achieve relaxation, peacefulness and balance.  In just a few hours at Poseidon we were able to reach that state which is why I am right and Suzy is wrong.

Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy