Cleansing more than the soul…

The ship was in Istanbul, Turkey for three consecutive days and I was able to venture into the city for two of those days…with wonderful experiences to share…one in particular.

The city of Istanbul is the only city in the world that spans two continents (Europe and Asia). It also has tons of biblical history…hence its old name “Constantinople.” Though, despite all this, there is something this city has that none other can compare to…a “hamam” or a Turkish bath.

Istanbul has a huge Muslim populace. As a Muslim, you may not drink alcohol and females may not show their body in public, but they sure no how to cleanse themselves. Well, at least some do. This cleansing process is not only a cleansing of the skin…it’s also serves as a spiritual experience.

There were a few people from my department that went to the Cagaloglu Hamam and raved about their experiences. I decided to partake in this “hamam” and see what it was all about for myself. I chose to go with a girl, Wendy, from the ship that I’m not familiar with, but we work in the same department…because I was too scared to go by myself.

So we got the address of this place and ventured out in Istanbul to find it. We found it nestled in a neighborhood near Sultan Ahmet Square…and you couldn’t miss the place. There were signs everywhere promoting this “300-year old” hamam…and ranked among one of the “1,000 Places You Must See Before You Die” publication. We went inside, paid for our service (the Full Oriental Treatment, which was 50 Euro…whew!) and then were directed to the female side. Yes, fortunately the hamam was separated based upon gender!

We were issued a little room (camekan) with a bed, mirror, vanity with hairdryer and a pestemal (cloth) to wrap around your naked body. We quickly changed into the pestemal and were lead into this large steam room (hararet), which was the main room of the bath. This room was made of all marble had several sinks on each wall and a dome roof with skylights. But most disturbing of all…the women in this room were all completely naked! Wendy and I sat for awhile (about 30 minutes) and steamed on the hot marble floors. Every once and awhile we would splash cool water on ourselves from the sink, but never removed our pestemal.

Then a woman came into the room, bathed herself and came over to get Wendy to begin her treatment. I waited, and waited and waited…for nearly another 30 minutes and still no sign of a woman to start my treatment…by this time I was getting really hot not only because of the temperature, but because I’d spent the same amount of money as Wendy and I wasn’t being helped…and other women were being helped and they had come into the room after I did…so I just decided “what the hell” and I yanked off my pestemal and went totally nude. I thought why not experience this fully…when’s the next time I’ll be here?

Within the next few minutes, a woman, Anna, came into the room, bathed herself and then came over to help me. She issued me over to this huge round heated marble base (gobek tasi) in the middle of the room. I lay down on the marble base and rested my head on a pillow…she immediately began massaging my body with a light soap suds…I knew right away I was going to enjoy this. Next, Anna exfoliated my body with a course glove (kese)...and boy did I need that! Then, she massaged me with a brush (made of some type of hair) and lots of foamy suds. Lastly, she washed my hair and gave me a head massage. She rinsed me off for the last time and thanked me. By that time, I was in such heaven that it all was a blur. I sat in the hararet for a few more minutes…rinsed off again and went back to the changing room.

I looked at my watch and realized I had spent more than two-and-a-half hours at the hamam and had a matter of minutes to get back to the ship…so much for relaxation! I hurried to dry off, got dressed and gave Anna her tip. I quickly sipped a piping hot green tea, if you can do such a thing (burnt my mouth)…and rushed back to the ship. What a day of beauty!

About Cagaloglu Hamam:
The Cagaloglu was a gift to the city in 1741 from Sultan Mehmet I. It is believed that other royalty has since used the hamam including Florence Nightingale, King Edward VIII, Tony Curtis and Cameron Diaz. The hamam has been featured in 138 television segments including “Indiana Jones,” and a Visa Card commercial…and has been featured in The New York Times articles.

Public baths were originally founded by the Romans. They were public because of the lack of water and because of the Koran’s (Muslim “Bible”) demand for cleanliness. Today, most Turkish homes have plumbing; the baths are still utilized as a social institution.