Turkish Delight

Turkish Delight is a confection. It’s also an apt description of my third day in Istanbul.

The hotel breakfast once again was a great way to start the day.

On the Bosphorus

Seyhan was my guide again, and Rachel and Steve completed our group. Seyhan drove his car, since traffic on Sundays isn’t too bad. Soon we arrived at the Eminönü waterfront, where we boarded a boat for our Bosphorus cruise.

To be entirely honest, this two-hour excursion up and down the Bosphorus (the strait that separate Europe from Asia) was a tad underwhelming. There were some attractive homes and monuments on the waterfront, and it’s always nice to be out on the water, but the boat was crowded and not particularly comfortable, and the sights didn’t quite provide the Turkish delight I was expecting.

Spice Bazaar

Our next stop was the Egyptian Market, also known as the Spice Market or Spice Bazaar. Here I literally got some Turkish delight. We visited one of the market vendors who gave us samples of the confection, as well as nuts, herbs and spices, teas, and dried fruits. I loved the colors, smells, and of course the tastes.

The medieval spice trade ran on several maritime routes from the Far East to Europe. Spices were highly prized for their culinary and medicinal value, and the spice trade was highly lucrative. When the Ottomans captured Constaninople in 1453, they took control of the spice trade, blocking the route. In the 1660s they opened the Spice Bazaar. Although the spice trade with the east continued, the Ottomans forced Europeans to look west. It is fair to say that the Ottomans were responsible for European Imperialism.

We still love our spices today, but the Spice Bazaar is as much a tourist attraction as a center for the spice trade. It was, well, a delight!

After the spice bazaar, we went to get a Turkish coffee and then we parted ways. I wasn’t ready to head back to the hotel yet, so I decided to wander around a little more. But then the rain, which had been threatening since we were on the boat, started coming down. It didn’t last long, and I visited a few shops around the area, but then I decided to head back to the hotel for a short break before my evening activity.

Hamam

When I was in Finland, I never did a sauna.

I wasn’t going to make the same mistake in Turkey. So I booked a Turkish bath. I shopped around some, and considered going for the ultimate luxury experience, but reviews I read suggested you can get just about the same treatment for a lot less money. So I settled on Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı. They open for women during the day and for men in the evening, so I booked a 5:30 appointment.

Before

The experience lasted about an hour. I had a seat in the waiting area, where I was brought a glass of sherbet (essentially a fresh juice; the flavor of the day was plum). Then I was brought upstairs to a private changing area, where I stripped down, stowed my belongings in a locker, and wrapped a towel (called a peştamal) around my waist, and slipped into a pair of sandals.

Back downstairs, I was led into a first room where I was drenched with hot water while cool water was poured on my feet. Then the attendant led me to the main room, a large hexagonal space. All around the room were individual bathing stations; in the middle was a large hexagonal marble slab where I was told to lie down with my head on a folded towel.

I lay there for maybe ten minutes. The slab was very warm, and the room was steamy. All around the room, men were having their scrubs, or waiting their turn on the slab along with me.

During

Finally my tellak (that’s what a male bath attendant is called) brought me to my bathing station, where I had a seat on a marble bench. He introduced himself (I want to say his name was Hörüz, but I might be way off) and asked me where I’m from. Then he started.

The bath was a combination soak, scrub, and massage. He started by filling a mesh bag with warm suds and squeezing them all over my body. This felt almost mystical. He worked with a soft cloth, an abrasive mitt (called a kese), and his bare hands. He washed and scrubbed me all over, sometimes gently, sometimes finding kinks in muscles I didn’t know I had.

Between each rub or scrub, he poured water over me to rinse me. Somehow the water was both hot and cool at the same time. The experience was simultaneously invigorating and relaxing.

After

When he finished, he wrapped me in a dry peştamal and led me into another room where he carefully dried me and wrapped my upper body and my hair with towels. Then he took me back out to the waiting area, where I lay on a soft couch with lots of pillows. An attendant offered me a refreshing herbal iced tea and some almond cookies. I lay there for a while to enjoy the feeling of having been pampered. Finally I went back upstairs to don my street clothes.

They should have Turkish baths all over. Someone needs to open one in Ajijic. But if they did, I’d go all the time.

Maybe I’ll get another one later in the trip.

Dinner and a “Show”

On the way to the Hamam I passed a Lebanese restaurant that looked nice, so I went in for dinner on the way back.

The food was so good!

I thought the dry ice thing was a nice touch, but I got the real show on the walk back to my hotel. I walked past the Galata Tower, and they were projecting a video show onto the tower. It was an advertisement for a video game or a concert or other event, and it was very impressive. I took some video. You can find them, along with all the other photos from Day Three in Istanbul, in my Google photo album.