Scrub-a-dub!

Eliff walked with me to Aziziye Hamami—just a few blocks from my hostel. We were taken to a small room where we undressed and wrapped ourselves in Turkish towels. We could leave our clothes, etc. in the changing room—no one else would use that cubicle. A small locker was provided for valuables, like our cell phones, money, etc.

Eliff led me to the bath chamber where hot water was run into large basins. We could temper the water with a cold tap if we wanted to. But you want to use it as hot as you can stand. There were plastic bowls to dip out the water and pour it over us until we were steamy. The marble seats and floors were heated to warm us even more.

Once our skin was softened, we went into the main chamber where a large stone plinth was in the middle of the floor. Women attendants came over to scrub our bodies to remove dead skin. Some people report that this is uncomfortable, but I found it relaxing. Then we rinsed ourselves and returned to the stone where we were soaped all over to further remove dead skin and poisons from our system. When you get up from this procedure, you must be very careful—everything is slippery. The attendant helps to make sure you don’t fall.

We could stay in the bathing area as long as we wanted to, lazing on the warm stone. Once we were satiated, we returned to the dressing cubicle to dress, or we could just relax in the reception room wrapped in our Turkish towels.

Talking with Zeynep

I don’t know what men do on their side of the hammam, but it is common for women friends to gather to visit, gossip and relax together here. After we dressed, I talked with Zeynep, the proprietor of Azizye. She and her uncle run the hammam and it has been in her family for 35 years. There has been a hammam in this location continuously for 170 years—until Covid reared its ugly head. They had to close four times in the last two years. But it looks like they are open for good now.