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Turkish Bath
& Turkish Restaurants
 No vacation in
Turkey is complete without a visit to the Turkish Bath. Most
public baths segregate the sexes, though nowadays there are many
Turkish Baths, especially in the larger hotels, where mixed
sessions are normal.
The soap massage that
follows is pure melting pleasure, leaving your skin refreshed,
tingling and your whole body rejuvenated. A warm dry towel, a
place to relax and a taste of Turkish delight ends the session,
unless of course you want to go the whole way and take a sauna
or Turkish massage.
Departure from
hotel to the Antalya.
Visit the traditional Turkish Bath. This Baths were built first
in 13.Century by Ottoman Sultans all around the Ottoman Empire
and so far called Turkish Bath. They were used by the Sultan,
his family and public. You can have a great soap massage by
Turkish Tellak and peeling (Kese). One of
the best way to relax and bathing in a historical atmosphere is
visiting a local Turkish Bath.
You will be offered a warm Turkish tea or coffee while you
resting.
Dinner at Turkish Restaurant after Turkish Bath. Enjoy one of
the best cuisine of the world.
Tour includes: Transfers, Entrance
Fee to the Bath, Professional Guiding Services.
Tour excludes: All drinks, oil
massage .
For your request please mail to us ;
info@bilyanagolf.com
The tradition of the
Turkish bath extends far back, to a time before Turks had
reached Anatolia. When the Turks arrived in Anatolia, they
brought with them one bathing tradition, and were confronted
with another, that of Romans and Byzantines, with certain local
variants. The traditions merged, and with the addition of the
Moslem concern for cleanliness and its concomitant respect for
the uses of water, there arose an entirley new concept, that of
the Turkish Bath. In time it became an institution, with its
system of ineradicable customs.
For the Turkish bath was much more than just a place to cleanse
the skin. It was intimately bound up with everyday life, a place
where people of every rank and station, young and old, rich an
poor, townsman or villager, could come freely. Women as well as
men made use of the "hamam", as the bath is known in Turkish,
although of course at separate hours.
For more information you can
get information about Turkish Bath from our text below.
A View of Turkish Bath
From the individual's point of view, the hamam was a familiar
place from the earliest weeks of life right up to its very end.
Important occasions during a lifespan were, and in some township
still are, celebrated with rejoicing at the bath. The newborn's
fortieth day, the brides bathing complete with food and live
music, and the Avowal are instances. The latter requires some
explanation, for it involved the custom common in Anatolia of
making a promise or vow, contingent on the fulfillment of some
important wish. The celebration of this in the hamam was
arranged and paid for by the person fulfilling his vow, and was
open to one and all.
The hamam ceremony of mourning, on the other hand, was far
different, but also widespread. The Hospitality bathing was
simply the taking of one's house-guest to the hamam for a wash.
Then there were the Circumcision, Groom's, and Off-to-the-Army
bathings, and others besides. As we see, the whole culture of a
people had the Turkish bath as one of its important nexuses.
Naturally, there was a range of equipment associated with a
hamam visit, and until recently one might count from 15 to 20
articles in the bundle which a woman brought along with her.
Let us rummage through this bundle and see what we find.
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The "pestemal"
(pesh-te-mahl), a large towel fringed at both ends and wrapped
around the torso, from below the armpits to about mid-thigh ,
as the woman made her way to the "kurna" or marble basin.
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The pestemal would
be striped or checked, a colored mixture of silk and cotton,
or pure cotton, or even pure silk.
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A pair of wooden
clogs or pattens, in Turkish "nalin", of which there were many
varied types. Carved exquisitely, these pattens kept the
wearer's feet clear of the wet floor. They would be
embellished in a number of ways, most often with
mother-of-pearl, or even sheathed in tooled silver. They might
have jingles, or a woven straw sheath, or be appliqued with
felt or brass.
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The "tas", or bowl
for pouring water over the body, was always of metal. Weather
silver, gilt or tinned copper, or of brass, the tas always had
grooved and inlaid ornamentation.
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One finds a soap
case of metal, usually copper, with a handle on top like a
handbag, and perforated at the bottom to allow water to run
out. Not only soap goes into such a case, but also a coarse
mitt for scouring down the skin, a webbing of date-palm or
other fibers for lathering on the soap, and combs both fine
and broad-toothed made of horn or ivory.
The "kese" (keh-seh), that rough cloth mitt carried in the
soap case, not only scoured the dirt out of the pores, but
served to deliver a bracing massage. The soaping web, on the
other hand, was specially woven out of hair or plant fibers.
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A small jewelry box
is often included, and depending on the region will be of
silver, copper or wood, sometimes covered with wicker, felt,
velvet or silver. As she undresses in the hamam, the woman
will remove her jewelry and place it in this box.
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There are three
towels for drying, one to go around the hair like a turban,
one around the shoulders, and one around the waist.
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The hamam carpet
would be laid on the floor, then another cloth spread over it.
Indeed, the name of the latter, "yaygi", contains the Turkish
root for Quotspread. The woman would sit on the mat so formed
to undress, and it was here that the bundle itself would be
placed. After each trip to the hamam the spread would be
washed and dried, then folded away in the bundle until the
next time.
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An inner bundle
cloth was made of cambric, which can be repeatedly washed.
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The outer bundle on
the other hand, heavily embroidered, might be velvet, woolen
or silken weave. In any case, it is always showy, suitable for
the uses to which it is put on feast days and other special
occasions.
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The mirror was an
indispensable item in the bundle, its frame and handle often
of wood, but sometimes of silver or brass.
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There might be a
bowl for henna, which the woman would fill on arriving at the
hamam. Aside from the color it lends, henna is considered to
strenghten the hair.
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A very small
container, made of tinned copper, was used to mash up an
eyebrow darkener known as "rastik", especially popular with
those of fair and auburn hair.
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There is another
box, this one for "surme", for the lids.
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Attar of rose in a
bottle, the bottle in turn kept in a wooden case, and
inevitably found in the hamam bundle: No other perfume was
considered proper for the newly washed body.
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Turkish Cuisine
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