Thermal Waters

The day after a two-hour tennis workout on cold hard cement in a cavern, focusing on timing and footwork essentials I visited a thermal bath/spa. It was built in 1555 by the Grand Visier Rustem Pasa for Suleymann the Magnificent.

First, a long sauna spilling temperate water over skin.

Then into a clean and spacious white marble space with a high vaulted dome, 32 pin points of sunlight shafting across mosaic tiles, with eight domed recessed arched cubicles where men soaped, slathered, scrubbed, melting, relaxing in mist heat. The round thermal pool was huge, filled with deep hot water.

Perfect for sitting meditation.

The pool was a simple luxury, hearing, listening to water, all the musical water notes. Then an extensive scrub and massage as a man worked sandpaper fibers over skin, removing dead cells followed by a dive into the thermal waters.

A glass of fresh squeezed juice and slow steps out into fresh spring air below snow covered mountains and clear blue sky.

Defrost your imagination.