Bucharest city tales: Welcome, spa spoil and treatment time!

Columnist Eleonore af Schaumburg-Lippe writes in her weekly column about life as an expat in Romania. This week she looks at all the opportunities here in Romania when it comes to treatments and spas. Welcome to Romania, welcome to Bucharest, the place where you have the best opportunities to treat yourself after a hard day’s work. What is splendid about Bucharest is that there are all these places where, for a reasonable price, you can have your hair done, your nails done, and have all sorts of facial and body treatments. Summer is here and why not give ourselves a treat after a long winter, enjoy spring/summer and welcome Spa time, so you are in top shape for the bathing season that will soon begin. Bucharest is a pure paradise when it comes to treatments, there are hidden places – read houses - that have been turned into spas, where you and your friends can go for half the day, and relax to calming meditation music, while you drink a delicious tea; that is good for your health and at the same time the scents of the candles will make you almost fall asleep. As an expat woman here - or a man, no discrimination - you've got to give yourself a present and go to a Spa. It is a whole world in itself, and usually they will enjoy explaining all the treatments they offer, what is perfect for your specific skin type, or for your shoulder pain, let's say. Some of the treatments are more exotic sounding than others, for example, try a facial mask made with pure gold, or have your body wrapped in seaweed and caviar. I must admit that most Romanian women I know go to these places; it is more or less a part of their normal daily beauty treatment, so why don’t we integrate? Of course men can also go. Go to a spa as a part of your beauty treatment, they are skilled here when it comes to hair, makeup, not to mention treatments and massages. I know massage can have a different meaning in Romanian, as we all know, many massage parlors offer a different kind of service, but obviously I'm not talking about that kind of 'massage'. This is a massage done by professionals to help your back, shoulders and neck to recover after working many hours in front of the computer or working in the same position all day. When I got to Romania, everything seemed not to be designed for a tall Danish girl; the tables were lower and kitchen was also designed so that I had to bend, after a while my back and especially my shoulders began to hurt quite a lot, but now I go every week for a massage. There are two men who are working at the place I go to and they are both blind, and I am deeply grateful to them for curing my back and shoulder problems. Not even to mention a special ice cube treatment they gave me, when I fell and hit my knee, it seemed okay but I had problems walking and after one slightly painful ice cube massage on the knee, my knee was as good as new. So I truly recommend looking into the different treatments that are on offer here in Bucharest, whether it is for you to shine and look pretty or it is to solve various ailments.