At the Villa Iris Yoga Retreat on the island of Lanzarote warm rose-pinks, salmon-reds and soft coral tones mix with towering plants, ferns and flowers, an auspicious mix that offers lasting love, according to Feng Shui. Curved pebble pathways allow positive Ch’i to flow more easily with an open front garden (Yang) and a private rear green space (Yin) dotted with stone sundials, carved rock statues, stepping-stones, flickering fibre-optic lanterns and melodic wind chimes. Reiki, massage, meditation and shiatsu are all close at hand as is a fine organic menu using local produce. Villa Iris also manages to achieve that delicate balance of personal space and kindred company – and a finer setting in which to achieve a conspicuous transformation in togetherness is hard to imagine.
Practising yoga as a couple can enhance trust and communication.
009 CORDOBA
CONTACT Tablao Cardenal Tel: +34 957 483 320 www.tablocardenal.com
La Buleria
Tel: +34 957 433 889
Mesón Flamenco La Bulería
Tel: +34 957 483 839
Dubbed Spain’s City of Romance on account of its sensual music and dance tradition, Cordoba’s flamenco scene is firmly entrenched in the city’s cobblestone old quarter, Juderia. Daytime Cordoba is a relaxed affair of pigeon-scattered plazas, pavement cafes and snoozing street-corner traders. It is after dark that the city truly bursts into life as restaurants and bars fill and music begins to flow as freely as the wine. Vibrant, passionate, intense and flamboyant Cordoba celebrates the riches of everyday life with the evocative flavours of food, dance, art, rhythm and song. As befits a city of romance, lyrics of lost love – the heart of Cordoba’s spirit – emanate from dozens of cosy bars, cafes and terrazas to tug at the heartstrings. Conversation and dance are both engaged in with passion, but rarely without liquid accompaniment in the tabernas (traditional style taverns), cervecerías (speciality beer bars), cocterlerías (cocktail bars) and bares de copas (serving speciality spirits) city-wide. Unassuming, dimly lit doorways reveal stunning traditional tile-work, boldly painted ceramic murals, scrubbed wooden floors and lime-washed walls.
There is a joke in Cordoba that the day begins at 10pm when the lights dim, clubs open and crowds swell into the city. Traditional flamenco has its time now, stirring Cordoba with an intoxicating energy of whirling colour and the firecracker sound of heels on tile. Young and old radiate to the short, sharp claps as soulful cries rise above the music with a resonance that burrows deep into night. A dance of exuberance and intensity, the gypsy-originated flamenco rejects formality, preferring the freedom of improvised movements to mirror the mood of the moment. A strumming guitar follows the rhythms as dancers take to the floor with chins perfectly poised and arms aloft. A dance genre characterized by rapid passages and audible footwork, flamenco is thought to derive from the Arabic music traditions of Moorish times. In Cordoba, flamenco is the dance of the people with visitor participation welcomed by encouraging stamps and shouts. Simply allow your body to feel the compás (rhythm) rather than mechanically counting the beats. Close your eyes and yield to the escalating syncopated tempo of raw emotion, joy, passion and mournful lament.
Dancing the sevillanas in Cordoba – a whirl of colour and energy.
010 MALLORCA
CONTACT Hotel Barceló Pueblo Park Tel: +44 (0)800 4227 2356 (UK) www.barcelopueblopark.com
Most of us, at some time or another, have craved the velvety pleasures of chocolate. Medical evidence suggests that to deny this occasional indulgence is to miss out on one of the pleasures of life itself – not to mention good health. While these centre on chocolate’s non-ingested forms, reports have attested to significant benefits to wellbeing. Beauty experts are also increasingly confirming that skin can never have too much chocolate as long as it is slathered on rather than ingested.
So why do we have such a love affair with chocolate? Well, the answer could lie in Phenylethylamine (PEA), a constituent of chocolate, and also a chemical found in the brain that rises as we experience joy and pleasure. Although many foods contain PEA, chocolate is loaded with it, so every time we allow a praline to tantalise our taste-buds we raise our levels to a stratospheric high. Our dermal rate of absorption suggests that this feel-good factor is transported to our brains during chocolate-laden spa therapies. Not only that, but once our face, body, hands and feet are layered in creamy chocolate our skin shows sure signs of obvious repair.
Cocoa beans, from which chocolate is made, are high in antioxidant phenolic phytochemicals (polyphenols), so high in fact that cocoa actually has higher antioxidant potential than green tea or red wine.
Native to Central and South America, cocoa was first brought to Europe via Spain by Hernando Cortez in the 1500s. Today, the Spanish connection prevails at the Hotel Barcelo Pueblo Park in the heart of Palma beach, Mallorca, where spa-goers are pampered with a decadent chocolate splurge. Indulge in delicious treatments, from a body peel with dark chocolate flakes, or a wrap with hot chocolate sauce, to a massage with chocolate and espresso-truffle oil. Chocolate is hand-blended into a thick emulsion with an essential oil, from rosewood and mandarin for rejuvenation, sandalwood and ylang ylang for relaxing, and grapefruit and clary sage for healing, filling the treatment room with a fulsome, mouthwatering aroma. Not only does cocoa beautifully nourish skin, making it super-soft, but it also boosts serotonin levels and feel-good endorphins to leave you in a happy state of mind. As the chocolately properties penetrate the skin you’ll feel truly divine and smell good enough to eat. All this without adding an inch to your waistline – unless, that is, you inadvertently lick your lips.
Enjoy delicious chocolate-based spa treatments to put you in the mood for love.
011 ALICANTE
CONTACT SHA Wellness Clinic Tel +34 902 995 335 Fax: +34 966 864 528 Email: [email protected] www.shawellnessclinic.com
According to Chinese cosmology, the central concept of Yin and Yang relates to ‘unity in duality’: the binding of opposing forces. Once an equilibrium has been attained, the mind, body and soul reap the rewards of optimum wellness: the goal of Oriental health philosophies.
From the outside, the SHA Wellness Clinic wouldn’t look out of place in New York City with its contemporary East-meets-West architecture and ultra-chic urban decor. Step inside and the tranquillity of the Zen-inspired interior exudes a peacefulness that transports you to the East in a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to longevity, agelessness and restorative R&R. The building itself is nestled between the sea and the magical green mountains, close to the secluded El Albir beach on the Mediterranean Coast.
At the heart of the SHA Wellness philosophy is the age-old health concept of a macrobiotic diet, a grain-based food regime supplemented with vegetables and pulses in which highly processed and refined produce is avoided. SHA has been developed with health guru George Ohsawa, a macrobiotic expert. Comprised of five striking individual buildings, the centre is straddled by interconnecting bridges over Zen gardens, lily-topped pools and bloom-filled chill-out zones.
Geared very much