Turkish Hammam Experience

Kim and I went to a Turkish Hammam (bath) last night. Separately... men and women bathe seperately here.

We were not sure where to go so we asked the hostel clerk to recommend a place. He offered a couple touristy/westernized places but recommended a place that was very authentic.

We chose the authentic and I think the place we ended up was authentic.

On arrival we knocked on the door. The guy answering the door spoke very little English but quickly ushered Kim further down the street to the other entrance to the other Hammam.

I went in and was taken to a little private individual change room and told to strip down and put on a stiff towel. I was then lead downstairs and put into a dry sauna.

And I was left there.

No one else was down stairs.

Like. How long am I supposed to stay in this sauna? Am I supposed to tell someone when I am done or do they come and get me?

Doo. Doo. Doo. Lots of time on my hands. I started trying to relax, but ended up counting and wondering how long I was supposed to be in here. I tried counting to 50. And then 20. And then 30. I was going to get up, but someone else came in. He did not speak English either. I thought I should count quietly to at least 10 before leaving to be polite. I forget how high I got.

So outside the hot sauna was a large circular area with a high concrete domed roof. I saw pictures of five or six men laying on this same large circular table in the brochure and wondered if I should just lay there.

But arranged around the centre were small rooms with small concrete tubs and taps with frisbee shaped plastic scoops. In Finland they often dump buckets of cold water on themselves after the sauna, so I tried doing that for a bit. I used warmish cold water which was very refreshing.

So I then tried laying on the big table in the middle of the huge room. And eventually the guy who showed me to the sauna showed up and motioned for me to sit next to one of the concrete tubs. He then poured hot water over me and started to massage my back with a black glove that he was wearing to exfoliate my skin.

I might point out that I have had lots of massages before and I prefer to be massaged by female masseuses. I just find that more relaxing.

This fellow was not very relaxing. It was a rough but not painful scrub down. He did my whole body twice separated with a hot water rinse in between. He then had me lay down on the large table and then gave me a massage.

The massage was painful. He really poked hard at my pecs and back muscles. I then got another scrub down and rinse.

I think I had another scrub down and rinse again. To be honest I lost track. Let's just say I got scrubbed alot.

The masseur then told me to go upstairs and the guy upstairs told me to sleep for 5 minutes in the change room.

Once Kim arrived at the Men's area, I was done.

I felt a bit worked over. But yet, very very clean.