Hammam!

We went to the rep meeting on the first morning (Wednesday) and listened to Mustafa give us a lit bit of local knowledge and describe the trips that we could book on. I was never interested in these before I started going on holiday with Jason and now, I really look forward to getting out and about into the local area and going for wee historical site visits. First up was on the Wednesday afternoon. We decided to go to an Hammam. Turkish Bath to me and you. The minibus picked us up and took us into the centre of Lara where we went to Topkaki, an authentic Turkish Bath. It was a wonderful way to start the holiday. We were greeted by the owner and we went into what was essentially a large tiled room. In the centre at the bottom of the stairs was a kidney bean shaped swimming pool with loungers surrounding it. The changing rooms were on the ground floor but everything else was on the basement floor where the swimming pool was. In the changing room we picked up our Peshtemel (Turkish towel - I'm bringing some of these home, I love them) and went downstairs. I said goodbye to Jason at this point as it is split into men and women. From now on, when I say we, I mean all the ladies. We all went into the steamiest steam room I've ever seen for 10 minutes, then an excellent sauna for another 10 minutes. This is to loosen you up and start the relaxing process. After this, we were taken into the Hammam. This is a marbled room with a marble bench all the way round, interspersed with sinks and taps. In the middle of the room is a large marble stone plinth that 6 of us were lying on. Two head to toe down the longer sides, one along the narrower side and repeated on the other side. There is a masseuse for each client. The masseuse puts on a gentle sisal glove and begins to exfoliate you, first of all splashing you with lovely lukewarm water. For about ten minutes. Then she reaches into a bucket and brings out a wet pillowcase. She starts swinging this from side to side, it looks like it's full of air, then she brings it over to you and squeezes down the pillowcase and all of these millions of soapy bubbles come out through the fibres and cocoon you in a bubble of soap (I later learned this was a silk pillowcase). She then massages this on to you for your soapy bubble wash. After 5 minutes or so of this, she rinses the soapy bubbles off you, you go out to the pool and you are free to relax on the sunloungers for a few minutes while the masseuse dries off and changes out of her swimming costume into her uniform. The piste de resistance is the oil massage. It's a wonderful experience. I can't adequately describe the intimacy but clinical delivery of the Hammam. There are about a dozen women each being attended to but you are not even really aware of their existence, it's just you and your masseuse. If I lived in Turkey, I'd go and have one of these once a week. Good for your soul, as well as your skin. It was a great way to exfoliate for sunbathing.