“Visiting Turkey without visiting a Turkish Bath (Hamam) is like waking in a field full of beautiful flowers and not opening your eyes!”
History of the Hamam
Constantinople, (or Istanbul to give it its modern name), was the capital of the Roman Byzantium where they ruled for several centuries until around 1450, when the Ottomans then conquered the city. On doing this the Turk Ottomans brought with them their own bathing cultures, however it was here that they first encountered the bathing habits of the Romans. On liking some of the Roman ideas on cleansing & bathing the Ottomans merged both rituals together and a brand-new “bath” evolved, ensuring it conformed to the rules & requirements of the Islamic religion. The Turks then called this the HAMAM or HAMMAM, meaning “spreader of warmth.”
The traditional Hamam consists of 3 stages:
The CAMEKAN – To begin you enter the camekan (the warm room) where you undress and prepare for your Hamam experience. Here you will an area to store your belongings and if you haven’t “dressed appropriately” you will be given apeştamal (a special linen cloth) to cover your body and nalın (wooden clog-like slippers) for your feet.
The HARARET – On leaving the camekan the tellak (masseur) will lead you to the hararet (the hot room) In the hararet the göbek taşi (the belly stone) takes centre stage and is a raised platform built entirely of marble. The masseur will instruct you to lie on the belly stone and once you are lying comfortably it doesn’t take long for you to begin sweating as your pores open up in preparation of the “great cleanse.” After a while your masseur will re-enter the hot room and begin washing you vigorously with a traditional soap and olive paste mixture (often using a fine linen cloth in the process) This action completely removes all the dead skin cells from your body and these (along with the suds) are washed away with bowls of fresh water. (one of the main differences from the original Roman bath where you would immerse yourself in a pool of cold water with other bathers for this. The Turks thought this to be unhygienic)
Once the soapy suds and skin cells are completely rinsed from you, your tellak will perform your invigorating massage and it is here the final tensions and strains of the day are removed, leaving you feeling completely content and at ease.
The SOGUKLUK – When your massage is complete you will be escorted to the sogukluk (the cool room) where you will receive a refreshing drink and you can relax a littie more (if indeed that’s possible!) before finally dressing and leaving the Hamam.
So what are you waiting for? Why not allow FreeZone Travel to arrange a very special Turkish Bath experience for you - After all, we think you deserve a bit of pampering!