How to Enjoy a Turkish Sauna?
If you want to experience a sauna, treat yourself to a hamman.A
hamman is a Turkish steambath, much like the early Greek and Roman
baths.The facade of a hamman is typically in marble, painted
brightly with traditional designs.And once inside, it’s pillars,
arcs and arches, and more marble all around.Hammans, which are
considered a softer more smoothing version of the sauna, offer a
low temperature, high humidity level.
Step 1:Put on your swimsuit and a pestemal (cotton wrap), and
your terlik (a pair of slippers).Once inside the hamman, take a
shower, and rub your body down with a brown concoction, which
smells sweet, and evokes thoughts of honey.
Step 2:Go to the harara, which is a very humid heat room with
wooden seats, heated to 40-50®Celsius.The room will steam up
periodically in spurts, and it’s in here that you’ll break into a
decent sweat.It’s for this room that you’re well-advised to bring
in a water bottle.Then you can lie on a raised marble slab or
platform, one meter above the floor, in a warm, humid room, called
the goebektas.
Step 3:Wait until one of the hamman attendants calls you over to
the massage table to do your body scrub.These ladies are often
scantily clad and chatting away in Arabic, while they put some
elbow into the task.The scrub, performed with a coarse mitt, helps
rub off the dead layer of skin.This is almost as relaxing as a
massage itself, and once you’re done, you’re asked to stand up so
you can be gently rinsed with a small hose.And then it’s time to
take a dip in the pretty colored quartz tile bathing alcove.You may
wish to opt for a massage before or after your scrub, however this
is treated as an extra.
Hammans have a religious feel to them and in large part because
they are considered a sacred place for purification.You will leave
feeling refreshed and reflective.