Istanbul – The Cemberlitas Baths
Where Better than Turkey 's Biggest City to Have a Turkish Bath
Nov 3, 2009
Turkey has so many wonderful places to visit as can be appreciated here. But after seeing the sites in Istanbul, visitors should indulge in a relaxing Turkish experience and go for a bath.
The Cemberlitas Baths in Istanbul, Turkey
The most convenient place for tourists, and also the most famous, is the Cemberlitas Baths, the entrance to which is around 20 metres from the Cemberlitas tram stop.
The various options on offer (In English) in the reception area include the “Luxury” option, costing 90 Turkish Lira ($64.5 Canadian), and the ‘Traditional’ option costing 55 Lira. You can pay via credit card or cash. Those who pay for the Traditional option will receive a folded scrubbing mitt enclosed in plastic and a towel called a pestemal that will cover roughly the middle third of a normal adult.
Men go straight ahead to their changing rooms whereas the ladies access their separate changing rooms, steam room, and showers via a door, which is to the right in the reception area.
Where Bathers Get Changed and The Steam Room
After crossing the entrance hall or camekan male visitors head up the stairs to the lower of two levels of individual changing rooms called halvets. These rooms are locked with a key, which has a loop attached that fits snugly and securely over the wrist. This is where people change into their pestemal and the loose-fitting wooden sandals that are found in the room.
After heading back down the stairs another attendant will direct the visitor through one door into the shower and warming down area. Here people sit around having shoulder massages, drying themselves, and meditating. The door to the steam room will open and the bather will pass through the slight haziness into this huge, domed room.
An attendant will direct the bather to where they should lie down on the circular central slab that is 10 metres in diameter. This is called a gokektasi and is directly above the heating source.
This steam room was built in 1584 and like the rest of the Cemberlitas Baths was designed by the great architect Sinan, who designed many of the mosques in Istanbul. Fountains around the edge contain water to help people cool down if they feel they can’t cope with the temperature. All around people are being washed, massaged, slapped a little, scrubbed, and sloshed with water.
Massaging, Washing, and Rinsing - The Turkish Bath Experience
Bathers lie on the vast hot marble slab and sweat profusely for 15 minutes, occasionally dowsing themselves with cool water from a metal bowl filled from the fountains. There are holes in concentric circles in the ceiling to let the light in. The first thing the attendant will do is to drench the bather with a bucket of colder water and then tell him to lie down flat on the edge of the slab and put his head on a metal bowl.
With the Traditional option, the attendant will clean the bather all over with the mitt. This will be done quite gently moving in vertical sweeps along torso and legs up to the thighs. The attendant will then use some of the contents of a large metal bucket to cover the bather in soapy water, using the fingertips to massage him really well back and front, to extract all the dirt built up over the day.
When the bather is lying on his front, the attendant will tell him to stretch his arms above his head. The attendant will flatten them slightly against the stone, and quickly pull on the wrists. The attendant will then massage the bather’s back quite hard running his hands upwards from the waist towards the neck three or four times.
The bather will be asked to sit by the water fountain for 5 minutes to sweat a little more, while the attendant cleans the washing and massaging area with two buckets of water before walking around the slab and chatting with some more attendants. When he returns, he will grab the bather’s head quite firmly and begin to wash the hair with the mitt. The attendant will have the flat of one hand pressed against the bather’s forehead and will wash his head with the other hand.
With both hands the attendant might rub the bather’s head vigourously with more soap and massage the upper back, neck, and shoulders. The attendant will rinse the bather twice and soap him again before he finally empties three invigorating buckets of cooler water over him in quick succession.
Then the fun really begins. Read the next article to find out what happens next.
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