Sultans of Sweat

Turkish baths are much better than anyone else’s baths. So much better.

Until today it hadn’t quite hit me how wild it is that I’m in Istanbul about to spend the next 7 weeks traipsing around the rest of Europe. Don’t get me wrong, our first two days were absolutely incredible: wandering through the 1,500 year old halls of Hagia Sophia, strolling the grounds of the ornate Topkapi Palace, eating way too many kebaps, and standing atop a 700 year old tower with 360 degree views of Constantine’s old stomping grounds. It finally hit me when I was sipping apple tea after my Turkish bath marveling at the ancient tradition I had just experienced in a 500-year-old building.



We chose the Kilic Ali Pasa Hamami. If I had to do it again I would go to this one over and over again. Turkish baths are divided up among men and women, and this one does women for half the day and men for the other half. Jessica did hers first and I asked her for every detail before I went in even though I had read up a lot on what to expect.

They brought me into the domed, hexagonal, steamy room made of marble, white plaster, and gold and sat me down with only my hamam towel around my waist while they dumped bowls of water on my head. I just let them have their way with me. They laid me on my back on this warm, giant slab of marble to sweat. And sweat I did. For about 30 minutes I lay there staring up at the sunlight coming through the rings of star, hexagon, and circle shaped skylights that dotted the dome. Then a 60 year old man had me sit against the walls next to the marble basin and he gave me a good scrubbing from head to toe, dumping buckets of water and buckets of soap suds on me for 15 minutes and scrubbing me some more. Then he dumped a refreshingly icy bowl of water on my chest, back, and head and toweled me off. He led me to the relaxation room where I sat wrapped in my towels marveling at how incredible it was.



It’s so amazing to me that this building was built almost 500 years ago for the reason I went there today. It was incredible to lounge on a divan and think about the half a millennia of people who have sat in the since restored building and sweated, bathed, relaxed and sipped. It felt lavish, luxurious, and extremely Turkish. A once in a lifetime experience that I never dreamed I would have.





You can’t take photos inside so I’ve stolen the rest of these from Google to give you a taste: