For lunch we met with Ian Sherwood (Anglican Chaplain to the British Consulate). Needless to say, he has had a colorful twenty-year cure here! We met again in the evening for a cocktail party he had in the Rectory. There were a bunch of expat friends of Ian's, mostly Brits and Americans. Many of these folks have lived for various periods in places all over the world. One American business woman we met has been abroad for fifteen years. She and the others told us their consensus that Istanbul is an amazing city, but difficult to live in. Everything just takes a lot more work to accomplish. There are also some things one never gets used to, the bad smells and dirty streets among them.
Even more interesting was my trip to a historic Hamam (Turkish Bath) known as the Çemberlitaş Hamam just before supper time.
This particular turkish bath was built in the 16th Century and is one of the city's most beautiful. It's located just across the street from the "burnt column" erected by Constantine I. The entrance is not particularly interesting. Once inside, I was at a reception desk. A young English-speaking expat-type let me select my experience from a menu. I chose the "Traditional" bath which includes a soap massage.
From there I entered the "cold room." This is the only co-ed part of the bath. Here is a place to sit and have a tea or juice after your bath. But first an attendant took me to a tier of changing rooms above the "cold room." I was handed a token for my soap massage, a unopened box with a pair of bathing mits, a towel, and spa slippers. I changed into the towel in the cubicle. (You are not really supposed to be naked in the "public" spaces in the bath.) I emerged in my towel and slippers and locked the cubicle behind me. I felt pretty comfortable that my stuff was secure, especially since the attendant is right there watching and I had the key.
From there I was ushered downstairs through the "warm room" into the "hot room." I gather that normally people linger in the "warm room" for a time, but I think today the place was doing a brisk business and wanted to move people along. At the moment I didn't know enough to protest.
In the "hot room" my glasses immediately fogged up and I realized how stupid I was to even bring them this far. An attendant took my token. I later realized that I had become, at this moment, his responsibility. The "hot room," pictured above, is an octagonal room as hot and wet as you would expect. I could see that men were choosing to either lie down on the heated slab in the center or sitting around the periphery. Thinking it would be a little cooler around the periphery, I picked a spot and sat down. I then realized that the entire floor, not just the slab in the center, is heated. Everything is marble and it's all warm or hot.
I watched the other bathers. People were using shallow silver bowels to pour water from sinks onto themselves as a kind of rinse. This made sense to me, so took a bowl and rinsed myself with water from the sink embeded in the wall next to me. It felt good, in the heat, to feel completely drenched in warm water. I sat there letting the heat penetrate.
A group of American college-aged guys rambled in, annoying some of the locals with their loud awkwardness. I tried to pretend I had nothing in common with them. I had seen them before on the street--back then they had been looking at the Hamam entrance uncertainly while their girlfriend's tugged at their elbows. No doubt the girlfriends were next door in the women' section of the bath.
After about 20 minutes stewing I was motioned over by one of the bath attendants. He was a hairy, pot-bellied guy wearing a towel (blue for attendants, red for clients). I would have preferred a beautiful but surprisingly strong Swedish or German lass, but I guess like is attracted to like. Ah, well.
First the guy rinsed me off with warm/hot water. Then he had me lie down face up on the hot slab. He put my glasses and keys aside and opened the box of massage mittens. Mittens on, he massaged my head, chest, and arms a bit. Then he came over with what looked like a huge ball of soap suds. He kind of dabbed this on me to cover me with sudsy foam. Next, the massage began in earnest.
I've heard horror stories about how rough these guys can be, especially at they attempt to make joints and backs crack. But in truth I found this all very mild. I think they go easy on the tourist-types. Still, the two EMT backboards I noticed on my walk through the "cold room" tell me that injury is not at unknown happening. As it was, I never felt like he was going to break me.
After massaging my chest and arms with the soap and mitten he had me flip over so he could do my back and legs. After that he led me over to the periphery of the room and had me sit next to a sink. He applied shampoo to my hair and more soap to the rest of my head, massaged it, then rinsed it off with warm water. He escorted me through the "warm room" to a side room with private shower stalls where he instructed me to take a quick shower to scrub the parts he didn't get. Done with that, I traded towels for a fresh set and was ushered back to my changing room.
Dry and changed I met my attendant downstairs in the "cold room" to give him his tip and then enjoyed a nice glass of freshly squeezed orange juice while I let my body re-acclimate. Total cost (including public-transit across the Golden Horn, tips, etc.): 50 Lira (approx. $44.39 CAD/USD). This is relatively expensive as these places go, but the price buys the beauty and history and the fact that about 50% of their clients are foreigners for whom this is their first Hamam experience. Total time (walking-in to walking-out) was about 50 minutes. I think they rushed me through faster than usual because of the higher-than-normal rush of people.
Another thing to do differently: I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I had someone to talk to during the bath. Originally I had wanted to go with our Greek friend from Yale, Vasileios, but he was occupied with family in town. Also, he was worried about getting too harsh a massage (as he did last time). But as I said, they were gentle with me. I suppose one can also give feedback of the "eeeiiii" variety during the proceedings. I understand there are some Turkish Baths in Toronto--I'll have to find out if they are the real deal or something scuzzy....
-t
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