The next morning, after the hike in the Domogled Mountains I was telling you about hereI had reservations at the spa at 10:30.

I don't like to eat right before massages or other spa experiences, so I went for breakfast as soon as it opened. I appreciated the variety of options, from my point of view breakfast is itself a label for the hotel. And Aphrodite Resort I found exactly what I expected from a spa resort: multiple light food choices.   

At 10:20 I arrived at the reception Herculum Spa10 minutes before the appointment time. Valentina, the therapist, was already waiting for me. She accompanied me to the first part of the ritual: a sauna circuit.

The first sauna was Aphrodite's Sauna - a 75-degree sauna with an impressive bouquet of herbs. It was so called because the herbal recipes of the goddess of love and beauty, who knew so well the art of seduction, have survived to this day.

She described to me each of Aphrodite's herbs

• Basil"grass of kings", with a deeply masculine, fresh, sweet-spicy fragrance
• Sage - the "basil's mate" as she expressed herself - has a deeply feminine, passionate, invaluable fragrance. It comes to the aid of those who no longer have time to love. 
• Rosemary, the elixir of youth, determines a vitalization of the activity of all organs, a plus of energy and optimism.
• Thyme - wine boiled with thyme passed as one of Aphrodite's most powerful potions. The aphrodisiac power of thyme was so feared in the Middle Ages that monks were not allowed to grow it in monastery gardens.
• Thyme  fills the body with life, vigor and strength. To the heart it gives courage, manliness and inflation. To the soul it gives greatness and nobility. As for the mind, it makes it vigilant and strengthens it in the struggle against tension and mental pressure. 
• Mint, the grass of the mind, was a nymph, that is a divine bride, which retains to this day the fragrance, flavor and spell of a divine love, but forbidden. 
• Lavender it is the grass of the home, the patron of husbands. It cleanses and clears your whole being. Sachets of lavender, placed on the bedside table, in clothes closets and linen drawers, increase love, peace and happiness. 
• RoinitaThe goddess, also known as Melisa, is also a gift of Aphrodite, she makes you like her: the master or mistress of seduction. She also makes you understand the lesson of suffering, to come to terms with it and shows you the way out of suffering, which is always the way of the heart united with the mind. 
• Marzipan. In Ancient Greece, it was believed that the marjoram's fragrance was due to the fact that Aphrodite ran her fingers over the plant. Girls who put a marjoram under their pillow were visited by Aphrodite in a dream, who whispered the name of their future husband.

After 20 minutes in the hot and super-smoky sauna, Valentina invited me to relax on a sun lounger. But I was feeling in great shape, so I asked her to give me a little time in Hercules' Sauna. I was so curious to smell that black pine aroma - how many times I was writing to you in this articleI didn't want to miss the opportunity.

She was initially resistant, but I finally convinced her, after a glass of water and another shower.

In Hercule's sauna it's warmer, I think it's over 90 degrees, but that aroma of banat black pine combined with mint and juniper was worth it.

After I came out, I had another glass of water, took another shower and then went on a sezlog in one of the relaxation areas of Herculum SPA.

I had almost fallen asleep there when Suna came to take me for a honey massage.

I had never had a honey massage before

It was a surprising experience that I would not have expected, no matter how much I had read about it.

At Herculum Spa they use natural honey from local sources, in liquid form, to which they add a few drops of orange, lemon and juniper essential oils. 

Suna asked me to lie face down on the bed.

She began to apply honey to one foot, just as she would apply cream.

But the massage is done with a very special technique, using controlled movements, until the honey becomes very sticky, at which point it is removed with a warm damp towel. It's improperly called a massage. At first it feels like a massage. Then, as the honey becomes less and less fluid, the therapist's maneuvers produce a deep manipulation of the tissues, a sort of pulling and pulling of the tissues away from the bone. You can see it in the video:

The specific movements of this massage activate certain nerve centers corresponding to the vital organs, stimulate the body, unblock the lymphatic system and increase the blood flow to the massaged area. But towards the end, the massage can become a little painful, at least for the more sensitive like me. Suna checked this, asked me to tell him when to massage with honey and to continue on the area with a normal oil massage.

The massage was amazing. I must admit that on my left leg, I was so eager to have the oil massage, that the moment the honey started to harden and the massage became a bit painful, I stopped her and asked her to remove the honey and switch to oil. She was surprised, but didn't ask me anything.

Suna knew immediately how hard to press me so that it would help my therapy. It was an oil massage that I will hardly forget, I was impressed by how well he knew what to do.

I asked Maria afterwards if they have a fixed protocol on this massage. She replied that they do, but the protocol leaves the therapists free to combine different massage techniques as they feel the client, especially as they have many years of experience.

At the end I felt as if my whole back and my whole mind had been freed. I had a little chat with Suna.

She is from Bali, 45 years old. She has been a therapist for 20 years and has an 18-year-old son whom she hasn't seen for almost two years. But even before she came to Romania, she worked for many years in Turkey, in 5-star hotel chains, and even then she was not near her family. Her husband practically raised the child so she could work and send money home.

I asked her if she regrets her decision and she said no. She is grateful that she has managed to build a career, that she loves what she does and that she has had wonderful employers everywhere she has worked over the years. It has been her choice to change hotels so that she can continually evolve, to benefit from as much training as possible on many types of therapies.

At that moment I understood how he managed to make me feel so good. In fact, it was a lot of experience and know-how, not just intuition.

He led me to another relaxation room, next to the spa treatment area and served me with a lemon water infusion.

I lay down on the sun lounger and noticed how my skin looked. It was only then that I realized what a massage with honey, especially natural honey, meant. Honey-fed skin looks completely different. It was smoother, it seemed brighter and certainly more beautiful, although it sounds strange to talk about the skin on my legs and hands like that. But that's exactly what it was. And then I deduced that this was also the reason why Suna was so surprised that I wanted to switch to oil massage.

I would have stayed there, in the relaxation room, but it was already lunchtime and my husband and Edi were waiting for me. In the afternoon, we were going for a walk and then, another spa moment - a facial ritual this time - at the Hotel Diana, also part of the Bacolux Hotels group. I'll tell you next week about that eye-opening experience for me.

Thank you Maria Rendes for the photos in this article!

Ioana Marian, founder of despreSpa.ro