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Day 3 in beautiful, wonderful Istanbul! Today we were able to lounge around and made appointments for a Turkish bath at 1pm for all four of us at the Roxlena bath houses near the Hagia Sofia - or the Ayasofia Hammam. Jamie compared reviews between this and the Cemberlistas ? baths and we decided on the nearer one. Until our appointment, we visited the cisterns, which were surprisingly fantastic. A huge underground reservoir that was tastefully lighted. We also opted to take some tourist photos in "traditional" dress - as you can see from the photos, it was totally worth it. We then stopped for a beer at a rooftop cafe nearby until our appt and had some appetizers.
I wish I could fully describe how beautiful the Turkish bath was, but we were not allowed photos. Basically, men's and women's are different so we dropped Jesse off then proceeded to the ladies quarters. It was gorgeous inside! There were three levels of wooden changing or massage rooms. We were given our own lockers and purple sarongs. We were then taken into the baths and given little golden bowls to dunk into our own individual fountains and wet ourselves down
with - fully naked of course. The rooms were beautiful white marble and while there were a few aesthetic lights around, the entire baths were filled with natural light from the skylights above. Then we were taken into a second room where we got a full body scrub down - no holds barred! I was the last and my masseuse, Bahar, admonished me as I tried to cover my chest while standing naked as the days I was born in the main room - "No! Big! Beautiful!!!" She was amazing. After scrubbing away ALL of our dead skin we were given a soapy massage which was amazing. Then a rinse before relaxation.
After the baths, we took the tram across the bridge and climbed the Gelata tower, where you get 360 degree views of the city. It was a good climb and afterwards it was time for a nap!
For dinner, we walked towards the Hagia Sophia area, where we ran into the same guy from the day before who'd been so nice to Jamie when she stubbed her toe. He asked how her toe was and we asked for restaurant recommendations. He walked with us take us,
arm in arm with Jamie, and I thought she was on his mind. Oh no. He decided I was his "future wife" and stuck with me like glue for the next few hours! He took us to this restaurant called "The Meat House" which sounds simple, but it was absolutely amazing! Best meal we've had here hands down, so sayeth we all. We stayed for over four hours! Eating, drinking, smoking, talking... My new boyfriend was very forward and finally I had to tell him to back off - he didn't take it too well and basically blamed me. But oh well, the evening was still incredible. And he found a new girl to molest. I finally had to leave because I have to wake up at 4am to catch a 6:20am flight!
Good night from my last night in Istanbul!
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