November 1st, 2013

For our first real day we decided to go to a hamam, one of the things you must do while in Istanbul.   A hamam is basically paying someone to bathe you and yes, it is as weird as it sounds.  We found the cheapest hamam we could, since many of them cost hundreds of dollars, but ours was only $25.  Yay for being on a college budget.  After wandering around the area where the hamam should have been for about an hour, (again faulty maps) we finally found it.  We walked into the building and were directed into the back, which was the women’s hamam.  Now, something to know is that when most locals attend hamams, they are completely naked.  Since we were scared little Americas, we opted to wear our swimsuits.

When we walked into the women’s hamam, immediately you are hit by a wave of thick, humid air.  We were then shown to our changing room, but don’t think that was a private experience.  The wall of the changing room was just a giant window looking into the main room.  After awkwardly changing under towels we were led into the actual bath.  We were handed something was like a thick sheet to sit on, and given a bowl to pour water on ourselves.  It was very relaxing and I felt like I was easily sweating out anything bad that had ever been in my body.  The lady then came back in and that’s when it got a little stranger.  When you walk into the next room there is a large marble table that you put your sheet thing down on and than lay on it.  I was more than ready to do this but the bath lady told me, you should take your top off.  I decided I would be a big girl, and while in Turkey, do like the Turks.  The first thing they did was scrub your entire body with the most abrasive loofa I have ever felt.  It removed so much gross dead skin from my body, you would think I had not bathed in years.  You then rinse off, and basically get bathed and get a massage.  As weird as the experience sounds, it was actually very relaxing and I have never felt cleaner in my life.

(I didn't take any pictures, so you can thank the internet for these.)

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the hamam, though, was when my friend had her turn to get bathed.  Now when I had my turn, I was just asked to take my top off and I got to lay on my towel.  Apparently, the bath attendant had a different plan for my friend.  She asked her to fully strip down and then took away her towel from her, leaving her laying on the bare marble.  We still don't know why she got such a different treatment than me, but I found it endlessly funny.

As we left the hamam we attempted to tip our bath attended but were almost out of Turkish Lira so we tipped the poor woman in Turkish Lira, Czech Crowns and Euros.  After the hamam we went and got dinner in the tourist area.  Finally we went and got my roommate from the airport before heading back to the hostel for the night.