May 18, 2005

Speaking Greek

Athena Spa Opens

In this city, scoring an apartment is like bidding for land on Mount Olympus: a mythical undertaking requiring Herculean powers and divine intervention.

Looks like you’ll be renewing that lease in Hades yet again.

As solace, you may want to spring for temporary celestial living by visiting the Athena Spa, a fancy, Greek-themed, Korean-run bathhouse (hey, this is New York) that opens today. (Look for the Ionic columns on 31st Street.)

Regular manis, pedis, facials, and shaves are available, but the focus is on intense body treatments (with names like Poseidon, Adonis, and Calypso), performed in solo or couple’s quarters, barber rooms, or baths. (Is this place bigger than the Parthenon?) The temple is the Hwangto Igloo, a (unisex!) dry sauna made from toxin-eliminating clay, lined with amethyst and jade (which purport to purify the body and increase circulation).

A word of caution about the wet spa services: They’re not for the faint of heart. Expect to spend lots of time naked in the company of others. But you’ll feel incredible. After an intimate scrub down, massage, cold bath, and mud treatment, we were flying high for hours. An otherworldy experience.

One befitting the gods.

Athena Spa, 32 East 31 Street, between Park and Madison Avenues, (212-683-4484).