Turkish baths (Hamam) and my very first experience

Today I would like to introduce you to the Turkish healthful steam bath, also called as Hamam. Turkish baths have been a big part of the culture for more than thousands of years. However, Hamams are not so luxury as Western world spa centres, but this is a purely cultural thing! If you are visiting Turkey, you can choose from public Hamams and historical ones. Historical Turkish Baths are quite expensive, but it is money well spent for this wonderful experience.

Introduction to the Turkish baths

Every city or town in Turkey has at least one Hamam you can visit. Nowadays Hamams have become more cultural and social rather than used for religious purposes. It is also a very popular tourist attraction. You also have to take into account that the Hamams are currently separated by gender.

The real use of Turkish baths

Mostly, Hamams are used for ablution, cleansing and relaxation. Before entering the mosque, people must do ablution. Firstly, you have to wash your hands from the top of the fingers to the wrists. Secondly, nose and mouth should be cleaned with the right hand. Then you have to wash your face, hands from the wrist to the elbow and your hair by removing the excess of water. Lastly, you must clean your ears and feet from the top of the toes till the ankles.

Inside the Hamam

The relaxation in the Hamam starts in the preparation room. There you can wash yourself with the hot spring water and do the ablution. Later you can go to the warm room, where the swimming pool is located. The water is quite hot but very relaxing. Thirdly, you can enter the hot room, where you can sweat and lay down on the tiles. Before that, you can receive the scrubbing from the attendant. After everything, you can go to the cold room and stay there for a little while to regain the body's normal temperature.

When you are in Hamam, you do not have to get fully naked. Do not break with tradition and follow other people. There are different rules for men and women. You can keep your boxers and use a towel.

Hamam services

When you enter the Hamam, you must give your shoes to the worker and take the slippers. After that, you can go to pay for the services. Mostly they offer to scrub, a massage and, depending on the Hamam, add-on services. It can be services such as aromatherapy, oil massages and some others. However, if you do not want these, you can just pay for the Hamam. You must take soap with you if you are allergic to some ingredients, but if you are not, you can buy directly from the Hamam.

My very first experience in Hamam

The day we planned to go to the Yeni Hamam in Eskisehir was my second midterm exam day. We decided to go there very early, around 7 in the morning. We had to wake up around 6 to prepare ourselves. The distance from our flat to Yeni Hamam is quite significant.

We went out on time, and we decided to have breakfast on our way to Yeni Hamam. We went to a cafe and ordered some buns and some cups of tea. We were very sleepy. As you know, for young people it is hard to wake up early. After the breakfast, we went directly to our destination.

Before entering the preparation room

My first thought was how could this small building contain such space facilities? The entrance was low and narrow. We gave our shoes to the worker and took slippers. My flatmate led the way, and we entered the changing room. Hamam also provides lockers for putting the clothes and keeping them safe.

Discovering the Hamam in the preparation room

The room looked amazing: the walls were covered in little pieces of tiles. In addition to this, during the early morning, we were alone in the chamber. Mostly it was crowded. There were many taps from which hot spring water was flowing. We took little buckets and started the ablution. My flatmate taught me how to do it correctly. It was an entirely new experience for me. We stayed there for quite a while and talked.

Swimming pool

After the ablution, we went to the swimming pool to relax. It was big, and the water was scorching. We needed some time to get used to it. We found some people jumping into the water as if it were a regular swimming pool. My suggestion is that you should not do that. If you follow these people's actions, you are showing disrespect to the culture and traditions.

The hot room and scrubbing

Firstly, we bought the scrubbing services. We went to the hot room, and an attendant asked us to wait a little bit because he was scrubbing other people. After some time he invited us and here a funny thing happened. Just some days before, I got back from Antalya, Kas with significant sunburn. My skin was totally going off, but it did not hurt. The man started to scrub all my body with a unique black, rough glove.

My flatmate was laughing when he saw the look I had on my face. The skin which was scrubbing off was dark, and I lost my tan. It became a lighter colour. When the attendant realised that I had sunburn, he just apologised and smiled. Our service time was finishing. The man was saying something in Turkish language, and I could not understand anything. Later, he started to shout and try to explain me something, but I did not understand anything. My flatmate was laughing from his heart. Everybody from the other room was looking at me, and another attendant came to help us. He just told me that I needed to lay down and assured that they were not going to do anything bad to me :D

After the scrubbing, we went to the hot room. Do you know why it is called like that? The water in the little pool was so hot that I took out my foot in the instant. When I saw one man that got fully into the water I was amazed. I can say for certain that the water was more than 40 degrees Celsius. I wonder how these people get used to this type of water.

Our relaxation in the changing room

We were just sitting and trying to get our bodies a little colder from the heat. We ordered a Turkish drink called "Atom". It consists of a Turkish traditional drink "Ayran", sparkling mineral water and lemon. My flatmate taught me that people drink "Atom" in order to get back the minerals which they lose after the sauna. It was different for me, but it was tasty and refreshing.

If you are in Turkey, Hamam is a must-do! After the Turkish bath, you will feel so relaxed that all you want is to sleep. It was not possible to take photos inside the Hamam, more correctly, when you are going from the changing room.

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