No
visitor to Turkey should miss out on a Turkish bath. It is not the luxury spa
treatment that you might be hoping for, but it is certainly refreshing and often
great fun.
The
History
The
Turks have been having Turkish baths, or hamams, for years. They used to be something
of a weekly outing for women since women were only permitted to visit at
restricted times. This meant the hamam was very busy on those occasions as for
some women they were the only access they had to large quantities of hot water,
not only for washing themselves but the laundry too. Of course where there are
women there is also gossip and hamams were quite the daughter-in-law hunting
grounds of Turkish mothers, seeking the best wives for their sons.
Traditionally
and in large cities hamams are separated into male and female sections. Only
workers of the same sex are inside and it is not unusual to be naked or topless
inside (cue awkward memories of being stripped naked in an Istanbul hamam with
my mother and her friend). In tourist resorts they are often mixed, with male
masseurs and mercifully most patrons
keep their swimwear on.
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| Hamam workers in a large hamam. |
The
Experience
Turkish
baths feature a large steamy marble chamber with several anterooms. The other
rooms are changing, waiting or massage rooms. Having slipped and slid your way
on the wet marble to a seat you are left to sit and sweat for a while. By the
time you are just beyond comfortable with how sweaty you have become one of the
hamam men, dressed handsomely in a thin cotton wrap that becomes dangerously
translucent when wet, be warned, normally arrives and slaps the marble to
indicate that you should approach and lie down.
Assuming
you don’t slip to your death on the near-lethal rubber slippers, you lie on the
marble. The hamam men are very good at untying bikini straps, but this is
simply to gain good scrubbing access to your back. Wearing a loofah mitt you
get scrubbed hard all over and rolls and rolls of dead skin peel off. It is
disgusting but at the same time it is amazing. Who knew how dirty we are? Once
you are thoroughly repulsed with yourself the hamam man tosses bowls of water
over you to rinse you off and then covers you in astoundingly soft olive oil
soap bubbles which pop deliciously on your skin, and then he will massage you,
crack knuckles, and if you’re lucky, wash your hair.
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| Inside the main chamber of a hamam. |
It is
not the most relaxing massage you will ever have. The marble surface you lie on
puts pay to that straight away and the hamam men can be fairly heavy-handed,
especially with blokes. After all the slippery wallowing on the marble it is
not uncommon to start feeling a bit like a beached whale. There can be awkward
flash moments for those who are uncomfortable with public nudity and it is
possible to cop an unattractive eyeful of someone if you’re unlucky. Combined
with the recently undone bikini straps, the potential humiliation factor is
high.
Once out
of the main chamber of the Turkish bath you are usually offered a drink of
apple tea or water and other services like extra massages. At the very least
you are wrapped in towels including one over your head that is somehow
amusingly folded to leave your ears poking out. After all the grime and
wallowing, this get up really restores your self-confidence!
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| My friend Becki and I. The post-hamam look is a winner! |
Somehow
you still come away feeling refreshed though as well as squeaky clean. Having a
Turkish bath is a fantastic experience. I urge you to make sure you go, next
time you are in Turkey.
