Up close and personal

A visit to a traditional Turkish Bath has been on my bucket list for a long time. I have no idea why. It just looked like a major experience. Which is why I found myself one sunny Saturday at the doorway of Cagaloglu Hamami, a three hundred year old Turkish Bath in Istanbul. I should point out here that I didn’t make the journey just to do this. Istanbul itself was a stopping point on a wider adventure but it was a bucket list item within a bucket list destination.

I’d booked so the staff were expecting me but they still managed to make me feel special as I filled out the form confirming that none of my infirmities would cause death during the next hour. I was persuaded that I should have a face mask made of up some rare mineral rich mixture in order to restore my skin to its pre steamed state. €20 I was happy to hand over and never regretted paying.

At this point I was introduced to Anatol my ‘therapist’ who then led me to a small room, complete with couch, where I was asked to change into a thin towel to be wrapped round my waist and a pair of slippers. Ok.

That done, Anatol was there to lead me to the steam room. This involved a walk through the core area with a central raised Dias under a perforated dome, all made up of a white and grey marble. The steam room was made of the same material, though with no door it felt only a little warmer than its admittedly hot surroundings.

Left here for 15 minutes had me both empty minded and very sweaty. Part sauna part meditation, the period sitting there enabled me to slip out of the day and out of Life’s pressures generally.

I could have sat there for much longer but Anatol, now stripped down to a similar towel and slippers arrangement, arrived to collect me and lead me back to the central space where a towel and pillow were laid out. I was asked to ‘sleep’ which I understood meant lie down. My towel was rearranged to shield the barest bits and then I was doused repeatedly in pleasantly hot water.

Thus clean, Anatol began to stretch, push and slap me before applying a granular soap inti every area of my skin, whereupon I was doused again before being stretched, pulled and pummeled within an inch of my life. It was glorious.

The rest of the experience involved a little more of the same before, butt naked I was baptized in ever colder buckets of water before being led back to my little room to dry off and lie down with a glass of tea and some Turkish Delight. To say I was beyond relaxed is so much of an understatement as to define the term. I could have slept for a week instead of which I emerged, renewed and squeaky clean to explore Istanbul. Tough day eh?