Turkey is an incredible place to travel. From its mosques to its museums, its glittering oceans and delicious meals, no traveler should miss this country full of ancient relics and cosmopolitan excitement. However, it's a challenging land for women, especially if one chooses to travel solo. Along with the inevitable hawkers in front of every kiosk or restaurant, one may also have to deal with harassment from many insistent men. Relaxing at a hamam is a way to counter this relentless pressure.
Types of Baths
There are a variety of hamams in Turkey, some hundreds of years old and others recently constructed. Some have different bathing hours for men and women, others feature separate sections. The newer ones also offer co-ed rooms for men and couples. A woman alone will likely want to choose the women's section or bathing time. Baths in a city like Istanbul cost more than in the country while new hamams are generally pricier than historical ones. Prices range from 10-100 dollars, depending on these factors. For an oil massage, shampoo or refreshments, the fee will increase.
The Experience
Though the female vistor to the hamam might feel nervous or apprehensive at first, but afterwards they will feel terrific! Pay the fee, bring your toiletries, and follow an attendent to the changing room. There the bather will be given a pestemal (pesh-te-mahl), a large towel fringed at both ends and wrapped around the torso, from below the armpits to about mid-thigh, and a key to a locker to store personal possessions. Wear your bathing suit, panties or go bare beneath the towel, depending on personal comfort level.
First, either go to the sauna or the heated stone in the warm room to help one's body temperature rise. Then another attendent, called a “natir,” will bring one into the adjoining hot room. There the bather will lie on a marble slab and be scrubbed down with a rough mitt, sloshing the dead skin cells off the body with water from a ewer. She may not speak English, but it won't matter. In fact, it's better to appreciate the hamam outside of one's linguistic comfort zone.
She will then squeeze soap all over the visitor's tingling body in thick bubbly masses from a cheesecloth. Using this soap for lubrication, she will massage every inch, even between the fingers! The massages can be gentle or somewhat rough. Either way, it resembles a return to childhood, especially during the hair wash. At the end, soak in the tub or rinse off in the shower. Then head to the cool room. Rest on a deckchair and drink tea. Leave ready to face the streets again, refreshed and empowered by this hamam adventure.
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