I'm not sure if you've heard of a Hamam - a Turkish bath.
Well, obviously being here for a month, we'd heard quite a lot about them, and I figured it had to be done before we left.
What's a Turkish Bath you ask? Well, it's slightly different to a bath you might take at home. I'll walk you through it.
You pay your money (mine was about 18euro - good ol' credit card) and get your cabin key. Then, in your cabin you strip off completely, and put on your "pestemal", or towel to hide your bits.
Then you walk through to a sort of steam room. It's a large marble circular slab under a mosque-like dome, that you then lay down on to build up a sweat. You can stay as long as you like, wash some water over yourself and basically just relax.
Of course, not so easy to relax when the guy next to you has started his wash and massage, and is screaming like a baby...
So, now it's my turn. A bit fat sweaty Turk comes over to me, points and yells "lie here". Of course, I do as I'm told. He then puts his hand in a glove, sort of like a loofah but in a glove, and proceeds to take as many layers of your skin off as possible... Having just recovered from my small bout of sunburn, I think he got more than his usual amount of skin. I was smooth as a baby's afterwards.
Next, he lathers up a towel and covers you with soapy suds. Then he jumps aboard and starts doing what he might call massage, but others might call torture. I must've got mine on a good day though, because although it was quite tough, it didn't hurt, and actually felt really good afterwards. I heard bones crack that I didn't know I had. Feet, legs, back, shoulders, arms, neck, stomach - it all got a going-over. And contrary to what I've heard from others, he didn't go too far under the towel, so it was all quite comfortable.
Next, he grabbed a few buckets of water and threw them over me, washing off the soap and I guess any leftover sheets of skin.
With a few grunts that he might call words, I figure it's time to go to the next room and get a washdown. He follows me in, lathers up again, and starts going all over again, included a quick head massage, followed again by a few buckets of water to clean it all down.
He then pointed to the showers, and afterwards I came back to him, he whipped off the pestemal and gave me a fresh one, and then dressed me up in 3 huge towels to dry me off. I've never worn a towel on my head before, but it certainly did the trick.
The guy then pointed to the cabins where I was to change, and with a few more grunts explained to me that I was expected to come back down after changing and give him a tip.
That happens a lot... After I changed back into my clothes, a guy gave me a handful of cologne to finish off with, and followed this by pointing to his tip jar and saying "service". I gave him one lira and hurried downstairs, only to find my massage giant standing in front of me with his arms crossed, looking like he was ready to go another round unless I gave him a few bob. I showed him what was left in my already tattered wallet, 1.50 lira, and he was satisfied with that.
So, in all a great experience. I could probably get used to a weekly hamam. Maybe I can find one at home somewhere... maybe.
Ally would have had a go as well, but she's heard storied from others who've said that their masseuse (although normally a chick) often gets a bit carried away in the touchy-feely-stakes, so she left this experience to me instead.
Sorry - no photos! but you can check out the hamam i went to here:
http://www.cemberlitashamami.com.tr/
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