Hamam

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A few of the other girls and I met up today to go to our first Hamam. A hamam is a Turkish bath and it's definitely on every list of things to do while visiting Istanbul. Lacey had been anticipating her first trip since she read a blog by one of the World Traveler Interns who hilariously documented her experience here in Istanbul. There are many different hamam's you can go to, some are known for the buildings, some for the bath.

We started early, leaving around 9am to trek to the other side of the city for a bath at Cemberlitas Hamam. We took a bus for about 30 minutes, walked for 15, and then took a tram for about 15 more minutes, before arriving. Istanbul is huge if you haven't caught on to that yet! There were 3 options at the bath house: self service, traditional bath, and the luxury option. The traditional bath included the soapy scrub down but the luxury one also included a 30 minute oil massage, after the wash. We decided we probably wouldn't be doing this very often so we all went big and decided to be luxurious, which set us each back 99 lira. There goes this weeks spending money!

We went inside to a 3 story open changing area with lockers and bathrooms. They give you a pair of underwear and a scrubber when you pay. You also get a towel to cover your top. You can imagine a group of mostly American girls doing this for the first time and giggling about being naked. It's very interesting to me why it's such a big deal for us, when no one would think twice about it in most parts of the world. We definitely like our privacy. Anyway, we finally put our cameras away and headed down to the sauna area in our matching black undies and red checkered towels.

The main area has a huge marble table/slab where you lay and relax in the heat. Dripping sweat is tons of fun and extremely enjoyable. Not really. We did that for about 20 minutes while we waited for the women to bathe us. A topless woman finally came barging through the door and started pointing at us and saying something. Lacey volunteered to go first and I think most of the girls were glad as we were all hoping to see exactly what would happen, and hoping we didn't have to expose ourselves in front of everyone. That didn't last long.

So you lay down on the slab in front of the mostly naked, not-so-slim, Turkish woman and the first step is to dump luke warm water all of over you. Feels pretty good after sweating your brains out. Then of course, she grabs the scrubber and where else would she start but your chest? I have to say this is the first time I've head my chest scrubbed down by a Turkish woman, or any woman. A few minutes later she's finished your whole body and you are COVERED in grayish brown flakes of dead skin. It was pretty disgusting sitting in piles of your own dead skin! Yuck! She dumps more water on you and then moves on to the soap, not before she yanks both sides of my underwear so far in my crack I flinch. Natural reaction! Now I am topless and wearing a makeshift thong while laying on a marble slab, all while being rubbed by the chubby, Turkish, nearly-naked woman. Despite all of this, it felt amazing! On to the soap...she grabs a cloth bag and shakes it over you and bubbles come out everywhere and then she massages you with soap. I'm sure anybody reading this is completely disgusted at this point but it felt pretty good!

After she finished washing I went for my 30 minute massage which was more like 15 minutes. It felt great but definitely wasn't the best massage I've ever had. When I finished Lacey and I grabbed some fresh squeezed orange juice while we hung out in our towels waiting for the other girls to finish.

I kept comparing it to Korea because that's the only other butt naked spa experience I have had. I have to say that Korean jimjilbang's have much more to offer! Restaurants, computers, hot rooms, cold rooms, pools, tv's, etc. And they're definitely much cheaper! And provide a place to sleep for the night! The Turkish hamam felt very old fashioned though and the building was neat to see. Honestly, it was a great experience and I'd love to go back regularly, although it was a little pricey. I'll definitely go to a different one next time just to explore the area and compare buildings and service. I plan on taking any visiting guests with me next time! Who's coming to Turkey?!

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Comments

[Jeanne]

What a great story!! Who are the other girls? I'm so glad you have the nerve to try so many interesting things!! Can you believe you can now compare baths in Korea and Turkey?? You are a world traveler indeed!! Love you!