Today we wake up eager to start over with Istanbul. We wanted so badly to love it here, but our exhaustion and frustration got the better of us yesterday. We wake, shower, and share coffee with Figen. She tells us to go to the Cinili Hamam, one that is nearby. She explains that it was once beautiful inside, with mosaics covering the walls, but it had been stripped of the tiles years ago. How awful! She calls us a cab, tells him where to take us, and we hop in.
He drops us off and we shyly approach the entry-way, having no idea what to expect. We find the women's entrance and gather the courage to enter. I am thrilled and excited to have a second chance at this experience (I passed it up in Morocco and regretted it), but I am still quite nervous. I have very little understanding as to how things will unfold and what little I do know is based off the stories of the girls who went to a hamam in Morocco. A Turkish hamam could be very different.
Exterior of Cinili Hamam
We walk into a lobby-type area where 3 or 4 women are sitting around chatting. One who seems to be the owner/leader ushers us in and asks what we want (I think). We try to explain that we want a peel and massage. She gets the idea and pushes us into a dressing/undressing room and gives us towels. Weird thing: the changing room has a giant glass window into the lobby. Why bother sticking us in a room? Christine and I wore bathing suits, though most go nude or at least topless. We, of course had no such intention. We take off our clothes, wrap the towel around our bathing-suited bodies, and slip on some water proof sandals they left for us in the room (I don't even want to begin to think about how many people have shared these shoes).
The old lady then guides us through the maze of halls. The deeper we go, the hotter it gets. Finally we walk into a huge open room with niches all around the walls and a big marble slab platform in the center. Below are pictures of this room in the hamam...I guess it would be considered the main room:
The woman takes us to one of the niches where we are told to sit down on either side of a large sink on the floor. The marble is heated. She turns the sink on and sets down a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo. She hands us plastic bowls like the red ones in the second picture above. She stares at us, waiting. Waiting for what? Finally she grabs the bowl from my hand, sticks it under the faucet and then pours it right on my face. A splash of hot water. (It probably would not have been so "in-the-face" had I not been looking up at her questioningly. Rather, it would have been over my head.) As this happens, Christine breaks into wild laughter which echoes in the big empty room. Apparently my facial reactions were worth such laughter. The woman dousing me began laughing too. And then I joined. She continued to poor water over me and then Christine for several minutes, effectively soaking us.
Once she finishes, she says something in Turkish and leaves. So we wait, and wait, and wait. We have not idea what we are supposed to be doing, especially with no other women in the bath for us to observe and learn from. The sinks have no drain so the hot water begins to pour over the sides of the sink. We decide to continue to pour water over us with our bowls, I suppose to feel like we are doing something useful, and talk and laugh. Mostly laugh. Our outbursts echo throughout the hot, empty room. Anything was funny. The woman comes back, accompanied by another woman, both of whom are now topless. The original woman takes me to the large slab tabletop and lays me down on my stomach. The other woman takes Christine and does the same.
She begins to "peel" me. Essentially rubbing my entire body down with a rough sponge-type thing. Literally everywhere (my rear end...unfortunately she pulled down my bathing-suit bottom, my armpits, etc.). She tries to remove my bathing-suit top, and fails, luckily. She rolls me over, then sits me up. When she takes my hand to do my arm, I gasp. I can see the dead skin covering my arm. I couldn't believe it. She laughs at me and takes me back to the sink. More water pouring begins, then she washes my hair and takes me back to the marble slab. Next comes the best part. The soft message. This was my favorite part. It felt amazing. Just what I needed after a week of sleeping on a bus and lugging around my backpack. When she was done, she sends me back to the sink and instructs me to pour water over myself.
Once Christine joins me and we finish, the lady guides us back to the main room where the changing room is. We step in and quickly dress in our fresh clothes, pay, and walk outside. I CANNOT believe how relaxed and clean I feel. I have never felt so clean in my life. I also didn't realize how dirty I had felt throughout this trip. No offense to Istanbul, but it is one of the dirtiest cities I have yet to visit. We decide to walk back to Figen's, using a map she had given us with her location circled. We walk...a lot, but eventually make it back. We recount our experience at the hamam with Figen and tell her we are now planning to visit Topkapi. This will be our first venture over to the European side of Istanbul so Figen tells us how to catch a ferry from Kadikoy to Eminonu.
So, off we go. We catch a dolmus to Kadikoy and a ferry to Eminonu. I really grew to love the daily 20 minute ferry rides. It is only about 3TL (roughly $1.75) to go from one side to the other. Riding on the blue water with the wind blowing across your face. It was one of those simple moments that I grew to deeply appreciate. We arrive in Eminonu to crowds, throngs, swarms of people with the backdrop of domes and minarets towering over us:
We wander aimlessly toward the direction that is away from the port and masses of people and find ourselves walking by shops, restaurants (nothing cute or special, this part of the city is pretty commercialized and boring), and small roads leading off who knows where. We are hungry for lunch so we stop at a place that makes smoothies on one side of the "restaurant" and sandwiches, burgers, etc. on the other. Like most restaurants in this area, rather than having a door, there is a big opening. The walls on either side offering different choices and tables for sitting in between. We both get a fruit smoothie and a pita sandwich. Delicious! We chow down on the yummy food and we are off to Topkapi.
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