A More Sustainable Spa – in Istanbul

It's the holiday week, so the topics will be light--partially out of convenience, as GreenGoPost is in Aptos, CA, visiting family for the holidays.  This site has over 250 postings now, and I realize my topics have cast a rather wide net.  I actually have a pretty wide definition of "sustainability" . . . to me, sustainabilty is in part holding on to some of our past ways and traditions.  One of them is an experience I had earlier this year in Istanbul, a visit to the hamam, or Turkish bath.

 

Turkish baths were once all the rage in Europe, but have declined in numbers or various reasons.  Now the modern day "spa" is all the rage, which, yes, of course, I enjoy.  I have to say, however, that all the waste, from towels, to water, often gnaw at me.  Visiting more of a local place while you are on holiday may not be as luxurious, but to me, it is more comforting and genuine.  After visiting spa after spa, most people would be turned off by a visit to a hamam, as the facilities are relatively spartan.  But in any country, if you want to get down with the locals, you've got to get wet, whether you visit an on-sen in Japan, a mok-yok-tang in Korea, or . . . a Turkish hamam.

 

The process for experiencing a hamam is simple:  you pay your fee and then are taken to a camaken, a central changing area where you'll have a little cubicle to store your belongings.  Then you wander into the , a huge steam room with a marble slab in the middle, where you can sweat those toxins out.  This is where the massage occurs--an attendant will rinse and soap all those tensions out of you.  Depending on where you go or the level of service you request, a 20 or 30 minute massage may be part of the offering as well.  If you have our luck, you may watch another attendant bend another visitor like a pretzel while spinning him around like a dreidel--as what we watched happening to an unsuspecting Japanese tourist when we visited the ancient Çemberlitas Hamami, on the edge of the Sultanahmet neighborhood.  You hang out as long as you can, tip your attendant, and then you are off to enjoy the rest of your Isanbul day.