If I were to have to describe Istanbul with a word, it would be CONTRADICTION. Towering stone structures dating back to the early part of the first millennium are now overshadowed by their anchored neighboring cruise ships which have just come into port. A young woman dressed in head scarf and trench coat walks hand in hand with her best friend wearing short shorts and a ponytail. Turks who have all the time in the world to help you out or give you advice are the first to race and push in front of you to get on the bus or cut you in the bathroom or check-out line. I found this same contradiction in the Turkish Hamam.
I got invited to go to this hamam with a Turkish colleague who goes there every weekend. For me, this was an ideal situation. I have been wanting to gain this Turkish experience, but have heard that tourist area hamams are not the real thing. Unfortunately going to a local hamam like this alone is very intimidating seeing that they would not speak English and I would be completely unknowing of the culture of a hamam.
I went early Saturday morning with my math colleague Jack and our Turkish colleague Irem. Jack and I took an early ferry over to the Asian side where her hamam was. This was a first hamam experience for both Jack and me. The hamam was built in the 1600s as a part of a larger mosque complex, as was usual for the times. Cleanliness is very important in the Muslim religion and therefore sultans saw building these hamams as an important service to the public who did not have private baths. Here is a little more on the Canili Hamam you can check out http://www.cinilihamam.com/eng/default.asp?p=homepage. You can go to the gallery of the website and get better pictures of the bath. From the outside, the hamam was honestly not much to look at. The walls were old and looking like it. There were many domes in the ceiling but the placement and size seemed randomly chosen making the general appearance of it not aesthetically pleasing.
After explaining to Jack the steps in which he should expect, we split our ways since there were two different entrances, men and women. We had gotten there early so we were the first to enter. The inside of the hamam was beautiful. The first part we entered into was the changing area. It was a two story square shaped room with the dressing rooms around the outside of both levels. We got our bowls for washing ourselves and I bought a scrubbing mitt. We then went into the changing rooms and stripped down into our underwear. Large windows without blinds were on each of the changing room doors so I realized that the function of the rooms were not so much privacy as a place to lock and keep secure our belongings. We then grabbed our towel, soap, scrubbing mitt, and bowls and headed into the bath.
Although the ancient tiles for which the hamam was named have been stolen off the walls, the bath is still stunning. When you enter, there is a large stone table in the middle where we were later scrubbed and massaged. Circling the main table were about 8 little nooks with three large sinks and taps in each. A sauna was located in there opposite the entrance. From the inside,the domes made complete sense. There was a huge one in the middle over the stone table and smaller ones over the little nooks. We settled ourselves into one of the nooks and turned on our taps. Once the water was at the right temperature, we used our bowls to pour the water on us. We then decided to go into the sauna for a bit, even though the temperature of the bath itself was already up there. After about 20 minutes of sauna and rinsing, we decided we were ready for the scrubbing and Irem went and told one of the scrubbers. This is where I encountered my first surprise.
I have gotten used to living in a more traditional culture. Although more young women don't than do cover up, there are still a large number of middle-aged women who wear the traditional garb of trenchcoat and head scarf. Therefore, I was slightly taken aback when my middle aged female scrubber came in with only a tight pair of underwear on her lower half. Not an image I was expecting here in Turkey. And as soon as I laid down on the table, she made me topless just like her. She then took the scrubbing mitt and scrubbed a layer of dirt and skin right off me. It was quite amazing to see what actually came off me. And it felt good, like a good scratch over my entire body. I then rinsed off at the sink, then she washed me with my soap and massaged me, rinsing me with warm water after. The scrub and massage mixed with the heat and hot water of the bath made this an extremely relaxing experience. Of course, this relaxation only came after a few minutes of adjusting to the small shocks of the workings of the hamam. Lying in the middle of the open bath on a stone table nearly naked as many women entered was a little disconcerting at first, but I quickly forgot about it since everyone was doing the same. Having a nearly naked woman scrub me down was also a different experience, but again the normalcy of how everyone acted about it made me quickly forget it. Afterwards, the whole day, I felt so relaxed and clean. Even writing this the morning after, my skin still feels so smooth from that scrubbing.
We left after not quite two hours and found Jack. From the sounds of it, his experience was quite similar. We finished the morning off with a leisurely Turkish breakfast nearby with fresh vegetables, eggs, and bread with various spreads. Of course, there were many cups of chai (which is their traditional tea). It was a wonderful start to the weekend and I know Jack and I will be both doing this again.
