Start the New Year Clean
Last Saturday, New Year's Day, a group of girls went to the Hamam to start 2011 clean.
Oriana had warned us, several of the new teachers at TAC, that this was the "woman's penitentiary" of Hamam experiences where you would be "slapped around". This sounded like a truly Turkish way to do things, so I was in.
Hamams in Istanbul, or in other major cities that see many tourists, have co-ed hamams, but here in Tarsus the hamam has set gender divides, which I can get behind. I don't think I would have gone had it been a mixed gender setting. There is just too much nakedness involved in the scrubbing process for me to be okay with that.
If you Google "hamam" and look for images, you see some fairly ritzy versions of what the experience can be like. The hamam at the Kelebek in Kappadokia was one of these ritzy set-ups and I really enjoyed that experience. It was more spa than penitentiary.
Here in Tarsus there are no frills. The building is really old. It's called the "new bath house" and was built in 1785, according to the "Tarsus" travel guide from the Turkish Ministry of Tourism. This bath house is open to women Thursday-Sunday from 12-5. The other times and days are for men. There is another hamam in town that is for men only, and it is the "old hamam" and has been in the same spot since Roman times. St. Paul could have had a bath there.
When you arrive at the hamam, a friendly woman at the door asks what you would like. Entrance to the hamam is 10 lira, the scrub is 5 lira and the "massage" is 5 lira. We all went for the full deal. This made the women who do the scrubbing very pleased, as we looked like easy targets for tips.
Tromping up the iron stair case, we grabbed a changing room, stripped to our panties (I wore very modest, black ones, as did most of the other girls), wrapped our towels about ourselves, rounded up shampoo, soap, and scrubbies from our arsenal of gear, and headed to the bath section.
The hamam is a warm place. There is a wood/coal stove heating the changing area, and a boiler under the marble floor that heats water for the bathing. The idea of the hamam is that it will make you sweat, softening your skin for removal. It is like a sauna and steam room but is not quite either one. It is a bit of a maze to get to the bathing area, but not bad.
All of the marble is white. The "hot section" is a large space with little chambers at the compass points and open rooms between each. We were there early, so we got one of the more private rooms. To start the process, you fill the basin from the tap in the wall and wet nice and wet. Then you sit around for a while building up a sweat and chat with your girlfriends about your day. As it was the new year, we were discussing our hopes for the next year, various travel plans, and O's upcoming wedding.
After a few minutes of this, the three women who do the scrubbing, came and felt our skin. They were looking to see who was the dirtiest so that they could use their scrubbing talents to the fullest. The scrubbing is like one your mom gave you when you were four or five and had played in a mud pit. No pity or embarrassment allowed here. The dead skin and dirt comes off in rolls. Ick, but in a good way. This scrubbing process take about 20 minutes each.
Then you rinse off at the basin and hang out some more. You want to use plenty of water to rinse and it's interesting to see it run off into the drain channels in the floor. There are no modern drains in this building, all of the used, dirty water flows openly in channels in the floor. Be careful where you walk.
Then you get a hair scrub. Don't bring your best shampoo when you go to the hamam. These ladies use a ton, and "lather, rinse, repeat" two or three times, depending on how dirty they think you are. You will have your head smashed into their ample bosom so that they can get a good, deep scrub of your scalp. The lather will be so thick that you can not hear a sound other than the scrubbing of your head. It's a bit weird. Then, after the rinse, and if you have it with you, they will condition your hair. Some more sitting around happened then as other people in the group were revealed of their dead skin, and dirty scalps.
The "massage" involved being soaped up and pummeled by the ladies. If you've ever had a massage in the states, don't expect the same service here. One of the reasons massage is costly in the US, or in any first world nation, is because of the training that is required. No training required here and many of us had bruises to attest to that the next day.
Then there was more rinsing, and more sitting around, and when we were all squeaky clean in our new pink skin, we donned our towels again and headed back to the changing room to get dressed. This is not a spa, so don't expect lovely outlets, counters or mirrors. I towel dried my hair down by the potbelly stove heating the changing area, put it in a braid, and threw a cap on.
The services came to 20 lira and I gave a 3 lira tip to the lady helping me. Not a bad adventure for the price. I'm even thinking of making it a bi-monthly event sans the massage, just because it really did make my skin soft and I felt relaxed afterwords.
Oriana had warned us, several of the new teachers at TAC, that this was the "woman's penitentiary" of Hamam experiences where you would be "slapped around". This sounded like a truly Turkish way to do things, so I was in.
Hamams in Istanbul, or in other major cities that see many tourists, have co-ed hamams, but here in Tarsus the hamam has set gender divides, which I can get behind. I don't think I would have gone had it been a mixed gender setting. There is just too much nakedness involved in the scrubbing process for me to be okay with that.
If you Google "hamam" and look for images, you see some fairly ritzy versions of what the experience can be like. The hamam at the Kelebek in Kappadokia was one of these ritzy set-ups and I really enjoyed that experience. It was more spa than penitentiary.
Here in Tarsus there are no frills. The building is really old. It's called the "new bath house" and was built in 1785, according to the "Tarsus" travel guide from the Turkish Ministry of Tourism. This bath house is open to women Thursday-Sunday from 12-5. The other times and days are for men. There is another hamam in town that is for men only, and it is the "old hamam" and has been in the same spot since Roman times. St. Paul could have had a bath there.
When you arrive at the hamam, a friendly woman at the door asks what you would like. Entrance to the hamam is 10 lira, the scrub is 5 lira and the "massage" is 5 lira. We all went for the full deal. This made the women who do the scrubbing very pleased, as we looked like easy targets for tips.
Tromping up the iron stair case, we grabbed a changing room, stripped to our panties (I wore very modest, black ones, as did most of the other girls), wrapped our towels about ourselves, rounded up shampoo, soap, and scrubbies from our arsenal of gear, and headed to the bath section.
The hamam is a warm place. There is a wood/coal stove heating the changing area, and a boiler under the marble floor that heats water for the bathing. The idea of the hamam is that it will make you sweat, softening your skin for removal. It is like a sauna and steam room but is not quite either one. It is a bit of a maze to get to the bathing area, but not bad.
All of the marble is white. The "hot section" is a large space with little chambers at the compass points and open rooms between each. We were there early, so we got one of the more private rooms. To start the process, you fill the basin from the tap in the wall and wet nice and wet. Then you sit around for a while building up a sweat and chat with your girlfriends about your day. As it was the new year, we were discussing our hopes for the next year, various travel plans, and O's upcoming wedding.
After a few minutes of this, the three women who do the scrubbing, came and felt our skin. They were looking to see who was the dirtiest so that they could use their scrubbing talents to the fullest. The scrubbing is like one your mom gave you when you were four or five and had played in a mud pit. No pity or embarrassment allowed here. The dead skin and dirt comes off in rolls. Ick, but in a good way. This scrubbing process take about 20 minutes each.
Then you rinse off at the basin and hang out some more. You want to use plenty of water to rinse and it's interesting to see it run off into the drain channels in the floor. There are no modern drains in this building, all of the used, dirty water flows openly in channels in the floor. Be careful where you walk.
Then you get a hair scrub. Don't bring your best shampoo when you go to the hamam. These ladies use a ton, and "lather, rinse, repeat" two or three times, depending on how dirty they think you are. You will have your head smashed into their ample bosom so that they can get a good, deep scrub of your scalp. The lather will be so thick that you can not hear a sound other than the scrubbing of your head. It's a bit weird. Then, after the rinse, and if you have it with you, they will condition your hair. Some more sitting around happened then as other people in the group were revealed of their dead skin, and dirty scalps.
The "massage" involved being soaped up and pummeled by the ladies. If you've ever had a massage in the states, don't expect the same service here. One of the reasons massage is costly in the US, or in any first world nation, is because of the training that is required. No training required here and many of us had bruises to attest to that the next day.
Then there was more rinsing, and more sitting around, and when we were all squeaky clean in our new pink skin, we donned our towels again and headed back to the changing room to get dressed. This is not a spa, so don't expect lovely outlets, counters or mirrors. I towel dried my hair down by the potbelly stove heating the changing area, put it in a braid, and threw a cap on.
The services came to 20 lira and I gave a 3 lira tip to the lady helping me. Not a bad adventure for the price. I'm even thinking of making it a bi-monthly event sans the massage, just because it really did make my skin soft and I felt relaxed afterwords.
Sounds like a very interesting experience. I certainly wouldn't want to go by myself the first time!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds fantastic. Did you feel closer to your friends after sharing that sort of experience with them?
ReplyDeleteSally-Sal-- We give it another try this last weekend and I think this is a good bonding event for women. The fact that we don't speak the language that well makes things interesting, as we know we are being talked about, but we have know idea what is being said. I tell myself it's all positive and think the little old ladies are just hunting for a wife for their grandsons.
ReplyDeleteLisa-- We can go when you visit! That will be an interesting time if you're up for it!