POST 20 (11/22/25) SATURDAY DOUBLE SPA DAY (Gloria Palace)

Having an appointment for massage at 11am, and of course not wanting to eat anything before that, I took advantage of the opportunity to sleep after my late night on Friday. I got up at 10:30, leaving time to shower etc. and head down in the elevator to the "spa". Hamza was waiting at his desk and lit up when I arrived. The massage was very good, as before. He really is an appropriate fit for that job at this resort, as he is a kind, gentle person with a firm, assertive pressure and some solid techniques.

Not leaving too much time between appointments, I showered and dressed for my trip to the Gloria Palace Hotel and Thalasso in the next town over of St. Augustin. Alex, at reception, called me a taxi, which showed up in just a couple minutes (they are always very quick around here). The trip over was less than ten minutes. The entire resort is huge and impressive, with a marble lobby overlooking the pool area through floor-to-ceiling windows. I'll let you poke around their website if you like:

Link to Hotel

I easily found my way to the elevators that led to the spa. It turns out the word Thalassotherapy means sea-water therapy. My chi nei tseng therapist Gilles, who referred me here, did tell me that they had sea-water pools at this resort, it just took me a while to look up the word and realize that it referred to that specialty. I checked in and was shown where to wait for my massage therapist, who emerged in a few minutes. He introduced himself as Dario, and revealed that he was Spanish. This was only a 25 minute massage, as that is all they had available on this day. He was actually very good, so of course longer would have been nice, but let's face it, I had just come from an 80 minute massage that morning from Hamza. Was not looking for overkill, just seemed appropriate to book a therapy session since I was visiting the place. As you would expect, it was over all too soon, and he escorted me from the treatment room back to the reception area of the spa where I was issued my electronic bracelet, robe, and towel, and pointed in the direction of the men's locker room and the thalasso itself. Off I went, stripped down to my swim trunks, locked up the rest of my stuff, donned the robe, and headed out to the salty pools. I took a wrong ramp and was headed up toward the sauna area, and was informed by the man cleaning the floors that up there was the "premium area", which of course I attempted to book originally but it was already at capacity for the day. So I backtracked and walked in the direction where I could already see the huge atrium and pools. I noticed that every single person out there was wearing one of those clear plastic bathing caps. I realized that I had been issued one and left it in the locker, so back I went to fetch that. Now truly prepared, I made my way out there. Wow! This place is insane! I never did bring a phone out there to get personal pics, so I will share a few screenshots from the internet that don't manage to do it any kind of justice, unfortunately.

The atrium has huge, sweeping ceilings and lots of glass to see out. You can see the ocean, some of the guests rooms, and other surrounding buildings. There are multiple pools of varying temperatures with different features. The long one in the last picture has currents in it, and you can float around. Plus it has these jets that are super powerful and massage you while in the water. The spigots are different shapes so they spray in different forms. It's fun to move around and feel the various effects from the pressure. One of the pools is partly indoors and partly outdoors, and there are also seating areas outside. There is also a cold plunge pool, as well as one that is a bit hotter, but I would say no more than 100 degrees. I had such a fun time in this place, and just couldn't get over how unique and interesting it was to hang out there for an hour or so. Downright awe inspiring!

I looked up the hours of the fine dining restaurant on Google, and it looked as though they served throughout the day, so I was excited to try it. Up to the 9th floor roof terrace I went after getting showered up from the salt water and dressed in what I had worn over there. I got to the roof, and made this video to share with you the perspective from up there:

I learned that the restaurant is dinner only, opens at 6pm, and to never trust the almighty Google. There was a bar that served food up there, but the menu did not entice me. I asked the server about other restaurants in the hotel, and decided to hit the buffet. I took this pic on the way to the elevator on the roof:

I got to the buffet around 30 minutes before last seating. It turns out this resort can be all-inclusive (as I learned many around here are), and many of the guests take the meal plan, so this is their daily dining room. The food was quite good, and I tried not to eat too much (always the danger with a buffet). I did not take any photos though.

Out front is this cool blue dog statue:

          

I had them call me a taxi, which arrived in two minutes, and headed back to my hotel. I watched a few Youtubes and fell asleep for a bit. When I got up, I wrote the blog for Friday, did my chiropractor exercises, and headed out for the evening. I went by the Hummel Hummel, but it was entirely packed with no room to stand, let alone sit. So I said hello to a few people I knew and wandered over to Na Und. I wasn't really feeling it tonight, and out of frustration felt the urge to eat. I walked over to the Rainbow Room, whose hours on Google claimed they would still be serving, but alas, the kitchen had closed and they were serving only drinks at that point. I checked the hours for Wapa Tapa, a place that had been on my radar but I had yet to try, and according to Google, I should have been good to go. But when I arrived, I was told they were no longer serving either. Lacking enticing known options, I grabbed a table at the place next door, and it was mediocre.

At this point I felt my time in Gran Canaria was winding down. I had experienced ups and downs, and wanted to get out of the rat race. I certainly wasn't looking to meet anyone new at the tail end of my trip. I didn't really want to see Charles again, and although I told Acacio I would dance with him, I was over that too. As far as I was concerned I was pretty well ready to get back to Madrid, see Ramon for a couple days, and wrap this trip up. So I went back to the hotel and was in bed at a reasonable hour.