Day 1

First thoughts: OMG. WOW. I am in paradise. The location of the villa is idyllic: nestled on a hillside overlooking the sea in a bay on the so called 'Turkish Riviera'. The sea is blue, the sky is bluer, & the stereotypical mediterranean orange rooftops are dotted all over the landscape in land. All in all the view is a very pleasing experience for the eye & a definitely the kind of view you'd want to send a photo of back home (or upload on Facebook, the villa has WiFi!) to say "HAHA LOOK AT HOW AMAZING IT IS WHERE I AM!".

The villa itself is just as incredible. A huge modern marble palace. The views from the upstairs rooms are breath-taking, & the downstairs room benefits from having direct access to the terrace. The infinity pool & jacuzzi really are the icing on the cake when it comes to the view - the blue of the pool contrasts strikingly against the light marble of the terrace, & combined with the sea, sky & rooftops in the background it's like my eyes are having an orgasm.

Anyway - Day 1. Having arrived very late the night before I've been let off the 8am morning yoga session (they couldn't have woken me up with tasers if they'd tried). I slowly rise from the depths of sleep & go out to meet everyone after they have finished yoga & have breakfast. Our breakfast is light but filling: eggs with avocado & tomatoes. We spend a few hours milling around by the pool in awe of the place, have a juice with fruit & nuts for lunch & then at 3pm we take a stab at doing some Zumba. I have never done Zumba before & now I know why, I am completely mal-cordinated. Fortunately Nora, our trainer, is very patient. She goes over the steps for me & doesn't frown at me when I completely mess it up regardless.

With Zumba out of the way we then head off down to the Turkish Baths. I didn't really think about what to expect before we got there, & even when we got there I was still envisaging a light massage with some gentle plinky plonky Turkish music playing in the background. Well, the plinky plonky music was there, but instead of the gentle massage I was expecting, 2 large hairy Turkish men came out wrapped in towels & proceeded to dowse us with water & exfoliate us from head to toe whilst we lay on a large slab of stone in what can only be described as a human oven. They then cover us in soap suds & give us a good old rub down. Strange... yet I was feeling good! A very thorough massage in a separate room followed, with face masks after that. The whole thing left me feeling so relaxed I nodded off in the waiting room afterwards. Definitely, definitely left wanting to go back again; don't think I have ever felt so relaxed!

We were sent home in a taxi in zombie like states to have another delicious juice for dinner (plus several handfuls of the nuts & seeds on offer) & headed to bed very swiftly after that for a long blissful sleep. After day 1 I can honestly say that I cannot remember when I last felt this relaxed!