Sunday, February 22, 2009

Galos Caves



This afternoon I had a fantastically intriguing experience at the Galos Caves on the far west side of the city. It's a Polish spa establishment in which you lay in a faux salt cave for 45 minutes while you listen to relaxing music and sounds of the sea in near darkness.

Now it may seem a bit cheesy (it did to me too), but the interesting part is that they have actually imported all of the salt from Poland! The walls are made of bricks of it, and there are stalactite-looking structures hanging from the ceiling. I'm sure those are man made, but the atmosphere is really great. They recommend that you wear white socks, because the ground is covered with several inches of crushed salt, and you don't walk into there with shoes. It was a tad painful on the bottom of my feet, but nothing too terrible.

I sat down in my reclining chair, and was out like a light. The feeling of the air in there is very different and very relaxing. My poor sister was very hungover, so she kept having to get up and visit the bathroom (she was a trooper, I would have petered out and stayed home).

All in all it was a really cool experience. I would highly recommend this place, Galos Caves, for those who are in Chicago. For others, you might try googling "Polish Salt Caves" or something to that effect. You will likely get the real caves in Poland, but you will probably find others as well.

4 comments:

Emily said...

Is the salt good for your body for it to be called a spa or is it more the idea of sitting and realizing you are in a salt cave? It would be a good place to bring snacks: popcorn and salt go well together and so fresh tomatoes and basil.

Red from Ktown said...

Interesting....not sure if I'd pay money for it yet, unless they were giving me a facial with all of that salt.

kathryn said...

wow...I want to go there! Maybe we can recreate it in San Fran...I will start collecting salt.

Anonymous said...

omigod this place looks like heeeeeeeeaven! Exactly the type of place I need to escape to after this awful week is over.