{"id":2160,"date":"2014-07-25T07:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T14:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/?p=2160"},"modified":"2022-06-29T06:59:45","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T13:59:45","slug":"my-turkish-bath-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/?p=2160","title":{"rendered":"My Turkish Bath Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tip: If you want to go to one of the popular ones, be sure to book ahead! \u00a0We tried to book the morning of our desired visit (looking for a time around 7pm), but they were all booked up. \u00a0The hotel sent us to another bath – it wasn’t as nice, but the price reflected that so at least we saved some money!<\/em><\/p>\n

First of all, a few logistics. \u00a0Men and women are in separate areas – at some of the baths, the times for women and men are actually different, so be sure to check on this before you plan! \u00a0For example, there was one that had men in the morning and evening, and women in the afternoon. \u00a0This wouldn’t have worked for us because we planned to go at the same time. \u00a0Women = naked (you don’t HAVE to be, but it’s normal) and men = naked with a towel kept around them at all times. \u00a0At least this is what we experienced at ours.<\/p>\n

The bath we went to is called Cagaloglu Hamami<\/a>. \u00a0It was open to both men and women from 8am – 10pm, and we were told by our hotel that we didn’t need reservations (it wasn’t very busy when we were there – around 6:30pm). \u00a0They offer a range of services, starting from self-service at \u20ac30\u00a0(you could also pay in TL\u00a0or USD, but they did only accept cash – so we had to run to the ATM) all the way to the \u20ac110 “Sultan service” – full body scrubbing, a 15-minute dry massage, then a 15-minute foam massage (with two attendants!). \u00a0Ryan and I both chose something in between – the “exfoliating\u00a0service,” which was \u20ac45 or 135 TL. \u00a0More about what that included later!<\/p>\n

\"Changing<\/a><\/p>\n

After paying, we went our separate ways. \u00a0I was brought to a large changing room (pictured on the left – picture from the website), with separate locking rooms around the edges. \u00a0Each of the small rooms had a bed\/cot, which I used to keep my clothes and purse. \u00a0We were provided with the key to our room, a towel, and wooden shoes. \u00a0I stripped down and brought only my hair tie and key with me (with my towel wrapped around and wooden shoes on!) and walked into the large marble bath room.<\/p>\n

Upon entering, I was a bit disappointed. \u00a0There\u00a0were two women wearing bathing suits, with 3\u00a0kids (maybe about 6-8 age range). \u00a0The kids were running around, splashing water, and being loud (or just being kids). \u00a0It was a bit frustrating because it was supposed to be a relaxing experience, but maybe that’s what you get when you don’t pay as much! \u00a0Luckily they didn’t stick around the whole time.<\/p>\n

\"Turkish<\/a><\/p>\n

My attendant, Arzeau, told me to lay on the slab, which I did. \u00a0I put my towel down first and laid face up on top if it, and just tried to relax as best as I could. \u00a0Another woman came in a few minutes after me and did the same – laid down, waiting for her attendant to come back. \u00a0I stared at the domed ceiling, which had holes through it shaped like circles and stars, letting sunlight stream through. \u00a0The room was warm and somewhat steamy, but not as much as I expected.<\/p>\n

About 15-20 minutes later, Arzeau came back in with a few bowls full of water and started dumping them onto my body. \u00a0I was still laying face up as she started to scrub me down. \u00a0She started at my face and worked her way down. \u00a0I was ready for it to hurt, since I had heard that the attendants are generally pretty rough with the scrubbing, but I was never uncomfortable. \u00a0Once she was done with the front, Arzeau instructed me to turn around and she scrubbed my back all the way down to the backs of my feet. The last section to scrub was done while sitting up – my armpits, arms, and sides of my torso.<\/p>\n

\"Turkish<\/a><\/p>\n

Once she was done scrubbing, Arzeau led me over to one of the sinks that surrounded the walls of the room. \u00a0She quickly rinsed me off, put my towel on the ground, and had me sit on it while she went to get the shampoo. \u00a0She came back and dumped water all over me until I was soaked, and then lathered up my hair with the shampoo, continuing down to the rest of my upper body. \u00a0Once that was done, I stood up, was rinsed off once more, and she was done! you can also check out\u00a0malie.com\/collections\/botany-beauty\/products\/botany-beauty-luxe-eye-cream<\/a> to buy the best shampoo products.<\/p>\n

The entire service took maybe about 15-20 minutes, but as I mentioned above, there were other, more extensive services that were available for purchase. \u00a0The length of mine was just about right (for me). \u00a0I was allowed to stay in the bath area, so I went back to the marble slab to relax for another 15 or so minutes, not wanting to take too long because I figured Ryan would be waiting for me.<\/p>\n

When I exited, I found myself in a room with dry towels, so I grabbed one and dried off before heading back to my locker room (I kept the towel with me, since I would have been naked – which is okay since it was still females only at this point). \u00a0There were also hair dryers available, but since my hair doesn’t cooperate well without some type of conditioner, I opted to leave it wet. \u00a0Arzeau came by and handed me a plastic bag with the scrubber she had used on me (a souvenir!) and I thanked her and tipped her 30TL – she was a good attendant and was not pushy at all about being tipped, which I’ve heard can happen.<\/p>\n

What an experience! \u00a0I met Ryan at the outdoor cafe where he had already finished his coffee or tea, and had been waiting for me for 30 minutes. \u00a0His experience wasn’t quite as enjoyable as mine, and he was just ready to get a drink.<\/p>\n

Would I recommend a turkish bath? \u00a0Yes, I think if you have the time, it’s a fun and different experience, assuming you are not too uncomfortable to be naked in front of strangers. \u00a0If we were to do it again, I would have made reservations and gone to a more upscale one, but the one we went to was fine and there were no real issues. \u00a0The bath was a nice break from a hot day of site seeing and, while it didn’t leave me without wanting a real shower later on, it did leave me feeling refreshed for the evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tip: If you want to go to one of the popular ones, be sure to book ahead! \u00a0We tried to book the morning of our desired visit (looking for a time around 7pm), but they were all booked up. \u00a0The … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[27,157,142,158,143,144],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2160"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2658,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2160\/revisions\/2658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suitcasejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}