The Last Days in Istanbul - Our Last Blog

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Day 18

We were able to sleep in a little on day 18. We packed up our stuff and headed to the airport to fly from Cappadocia back to Istanbul. We arrived Istanbul in the afternoon and headed straight to a Turkish Bath House. We were a little nervous, because of previous of our previous Egyptian massage experience. We walked in and were handed, yes, our own sponges!!! This simple hygenic gesture put us a little more at ease. We walked through the hallway and made it to the women's section and soon realized that yes, this is a Turkish Bath house. There was a bevy of large, topless Turkish women walking around in their underwear; then they directed us upstairs to get ready.

We were given a thin towel, about the density of a scarf and got completely undressed. We throw on some slippers and headed to our destiny. We went back downstairs and walked into a large open air Steam room. It was pretty cool in design. There was a huge dome and then a circular marble slab about 15 feet in diameter where we were instructed to place our towel on the marble and lay down. We soon noticed that everyone was topless, no big deal, we all have the same stuff, just in different sizes, but then we realized they all had on bikini bottoms or underwear, we paniced a little when we both knew we didn't have on either. We layed down on our backs, naked, while everyone else has bottoms on, and waited. Ohh, thank goodness, our ladies came back with black undies that we quickly put on so we looked like everyone else. The scrub down started and it was quite pleasant. That was until the ladies slapped us on teh leg or butt. This we learned was the international term for "flip over". We soon got the hand of it. We were scrubbed down, then had cold water dumped over us from a bucket to rinse us off. It was so hot in the area, so it was nice for the cool down but still a shocker every time. After the first rinse then we were back on our tummies and were completley soaped up from head to toe with bubles just like a little kid. Think back to when the Brady kids overloaded the washing machine and Alice was lost in all the foam in the laundry room, that was us. The second rinse down included a hair wash and then we were off to the jacuzzi. We soaked in the hot tub for as long as we could take it. It was bruttally hot. We left the hot tub and we told to go to another room. We headed out there and that's where they informed us we were done. Wait, no massage? No, you are done. Well we're here, we're naked, we want a massage. Forty Turkish Lire later (about 24 USD), we got a 30 minute massage added onto our the experience. The massage was nothing great, we both felt they could have used more pressure, and oh yeah, not stop mid-massage to talk to everyone who came into the room. The best part though was the wicked thunderstorm that came through. It was pouring rain outside, Chester knows this personally since she was located right under several leaks in the roof. Ohh, the massage oil applicator (I doubt these women were actual massage therapists) pushed the table a little to the side. And it still kept leaking down on Chester's back. She moved it again after the water started to pool a little in the small of her back. Finally after at least 10 minutes, the lady asked Chester to switch tables to one not located under the leaks. The experience was relaxing and we got our massage in, but we both agree that the "Cleopatra" is the way to go!

Sunday night also included a Traditinal Turkish dinner and dance. We experienced this already in Cappadoica (for free), but were hoping to see one from the front side of the performace and not the back side. It was a smaller stage and a similar show, Yet not as good but still entertaining. The music was incredible and the performers were good, but we also felt that the show in Cappadocia was better. That one was in a cave and the performers were absolutely engaging. The Istanbul show did include a cheesey lounge singer. He pointed out where people were from, as we all had our national flag at our tables. The singer sang songs from everyone's region and Chester even sang a verse to "Country Road" with him. But the night didn't end there. Both Kirsten and Chester ended up on stage to learn to belly dance with other women from Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey. Chester was called out right away, and of course she jumped on stage. Kirsten had to be coerced a little more. The singer had to leave the stage and drag her up there. Kirsten was the only blonde in the entire room, so she stood out a little bit. The singer was enamored by here and kept calling her "Blondee." We shook our hips a little and danced on stage and that was our night.

Day 19

This was our last day of our vacation. We had a half day tour of the Bosphorus area. It was a quick but nice tour down the river toward the Black Sea. The banks were lined with huge, old palaces and new million dollar homes. It was just very leisurely and pleasant and a nice way to end our official touring of Istanbul. After the tour we headed back to the Grand Bazaar for some final souvenirs for friends and family.

Our last night we will just have a light dinner, a few beers and pack for home. Kirsten has a 6 am flight and is headed back to work in Nigeria. Since she is on this half of the world, her travels won't be too long. Chester has an 11:am flight back to the States, and should be back in Omaha Tuesday evening.

Thanks for following along with us and I hope you were entertained by our thoughts and experiences. Until next trip,
Se Re Fe--which we learned is "Cheers' in Turkish!

Sincerely,
2 of the 4 non-blondes,
Chester and Kirsten

(PS been trying for 5 hours to load photos but must be a problem with site. So unfortunately last blog does not have any photos. Sorry)

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Comments

[Ricki]

it's over....
What a trip you girls had....so fun!!! I can just see all these "bath/massage" experiences.....I'd guess you're both pretty comfortable in your bodies by now!! Inhibitions, if any, are history by now!! Great blog...thanks, Ricki