Post by yenilira on Dec 27, 2011 15:37:49 GMT 1
The last slice of turkey and mince pie have been eaten, the presents all been opened to the delight (or dismay) of the receipants
[I was hoping for a laptop but all I got was a fookin' magnifying glass from 'Poundstretchers' – is somebody trying to tell me summat?],
Her Maj's Speech a dim and distant memory, Grandad's settled back for a snooze on his favourite armchair; (actually, it's mine, but I'll let the auld codger have it for the one day a year), Sis, who has been hitting the vodka since ten o'clock, and 19-stone Auntie Maude with a double sherry in her hand, share the sofa, yakking nineteen to the dozen, Uncle Bob squashed in between them like a sardine, (it's a two-person sofa, please ffs! good job the Sales are on next week), kids are out testing their new bikes, (playing 'wheelies', no doubt!) whilst Big Joe, our eldest, is exchanging vocals with the loo, (looks 'orrible, it does – what the hell has that lad been drinking?)
which leaves me and the Missus.......
A bit of pampering wouldn't go amiss, lass?
Immediately, our thoughts stray back to our last trip to Alanya, and in particular, the Big Blue at the end of our street, the Kleopatra, even,.........
where we indulged in a couple of hours 'pampering' in their Hamam.
The Hamam, or Old Turkish Bath, is a holy grail for personal hygiene fanatics, masochists and those who just like the feeling of someone else’s hands working to unlock tense muscles (although how anyone gets ‘tense’ holidaying in Turkey is beyond me, but that's another story).
It has made a resounding comeback in the last couple of years or so, and it's largely down to the growing popularity of spa and wellness resorts.
Indeed, the Turkish baths are the precursor of such facilities and consequently are of major importance once again. Apart from the fact that a treatment at the hamam is just as beneficial as a visit to a luxury spa, it often only costs a fraction of the price.
The Turkish hamam tradition is centuries old. In Islamic countries, bathing and respect for water has always been a regular part of day-to-day life. People do not go to the mosque without first having cleansed themselves thoroughly. It was common for the original baths to be located in an annex to the mosque. Subsequently more luxurious complexes were built, using lots of marble and mosaics.
When the Turks arrived in Anatolia, they came into contact with the bathing traditions of the Romans and the Greeks. Combining these with their own variation, the modern-day hamam was born.
The hamam gradually became more popular in the Islamic world, not only as somewhere to cleanse the body, but as a social venue. Men and women, kept strictly segregated, would visit the hamam to make friends, do business, exchange gossip or simply chat about daily events. The hamam became a place where peace and relaxation were the focus.
For women in particular, it was the ideal place to meet without being disturbed by men. Originally, women were not allowed in the hamam. They could only go there after an illness or having given birth. As the hygiene benefits became better understood, they were also allowed into the warm baths. From that point on the baths became an essential part of the lives of women.
It's even said that there was a time when a woman could ask for a divorce on the grounds that her husband forbade her from visiting the baths.
Mothers also used the baths in their search for potential brides for their sons, as they could see at once how shapely a woman's figure was!
Men and women are strictly segregated in a traditional hamam. Often there are separate opening times for men and women. However, in tourist baths men and women are often allowed in together.
A traditional hamam has three areas: a changing room, the cold room and the hot room (hararet).
The changing room is where you are provided with a coloured towel (pestemal). Men wear this around the waist and women wear it under their arms.
Swimwear, for example a bikini, is normally worn during a treatment in the tourist baths.
You're also provided with flip-flops (nalin) to be worn in the different rooms.
In the cold room, you wash yourself with water and olive soap, before moving on to the hararet. Here you lie on a large slab of marble and get scrubbed down by the tellak (masseur). The scrubbing session removes dead skin cells, resulting in soft skin. Between scrubbings you're rinsed off with lukewarm to warm water.
The soap ritual is a special experience of its own. The soap is contained in a large cotton bag which the tellak squeezes out and rubs in, until you are covered in a white, foamy lather. The treatment concludes once you have been rinsed clean. Back in the changing room, large hand towels are wrapped under your arms and around your head and you're allowed to warm up again. This is followed by a relaxing oil massage. The whole ritual takes about an hour and a half.
You leave the bathhouse feeling as if you have been reborn and ready to face the world once more.
www.kleopatra.com.tr/en/index.asp
A few dos and don'ts:
Wear underwear or swimwear
In contrast to European saunas, you are not required to strip entirely in the hamam. Everyone either wears the hamam towel provided in such a way that one's bottom, genital area and breasts are covered or, in the more touristy hamams, it is common to wear swimwear.
Wear flip-flops
Wooden flip-flops are required to be worn for hygiene reasons. The hot room floor is also usually very slippery, so it is safer to wear these flip-flops to avoid having an accident.
Before sunbathing
Visit the baths before sunbathing. The treatment cleanses your skin thoroughly and you will tan more quickly. You will also burn less quickly.
Visit one at the start of your holiday, not at the end – you'll end up more peely-wally-looking than those coming into the country on your way out if you don't.
Do not visit if you have sunburn
Avoid the hamam entirely if you have bad sunburn, as the treatment can be very painful, especially the scrub session.
Avoid moving round too much
The temperature in the hot room can reach 50 degrees Celsius. Consequently you should avoid excessive movement, instead trying to keep still and relax.
No alcohol
It is better to avoid drinking alcohol before visiting the hamam, or at least to avoid heavy drinking; the temperature can reach 50 degrees and this does not mix well with alcohol.
YL.
[I was hoping for a laptop but all I got was a fookin' magnifying glass from 'Poundstretchers' – is somebody trying to tell me summat?],
Her Maj's Speech a dim and distant memory, Grandad's settled back for a snooze on his favourite armchair; (actually, it's mine, but I'll let the auld codger have it for the one day a year), Sis, who has been hitting the vodka since ten o'clock, and 19-stone Auntie Maude with a double sherry in her hand, share the sofa, yakking nineteen to the dozen, Uncle Bob squashed in between them like a sardine, (it's a two-person sofa, please ffs! good job the Sales are on next week), kids are out testing their new bikes, (playing 'wheelies', no doubt!) whilst Big Joe, our eldest, is exchanging vocals with the loo, (looks 'orrible, it does – what the hell has that lad been drinking?)
which leaves me and the Missus.......
A bit of pampering wouldn't go amiss, lass?
Immediately, our thoughts stray back to our last trip to Alanya, and in particular, the Big Blue at the end of our street, the Kleopatra, even,.........
where we indulged in a couple of hours 'pampering' in their Hamam.
The Hamam, or Old Turkish Bath, is a holy grail for personal hygiene fanatics, masochists and those who just like the feeling of someone else’s hands working to unlock tense muscles (although how anyone gets ‘tense’ holidaying in Turkey is beyond me, but that's another story).
It has made a resounding comeback in the last couple of years or so, and it's largely down to the growing popularity of spa and wellness resorts.
Indeed, the Turkish baths are the precursor of such facilities and consequently are of major importance once again. Apart from the fact that a treatment at the hamam is just as beneficial as a visit to a luxury spa, it often only costs a fraction of the price.
The Turkish hamam tradition is centuries old. In Islamic countries, bathing and respect for water has always been a regular part of day-to-day life. People do not go to the mosque without first having cleansed themselves thoroughly. It was common for the original baths to be located in an annex to the mosque. Subsequently more luxurious complexes were built, using lots of marble and mosaics.
When the Turks arrived in Anatolia, they came into contact with the bathing traditions of the Romans and the Greeks. Combining these with their own variation, the modern-day hamam was born.
The hamam gradually became more popular in the Islamic world, not only as somewhere to cleanse the body, but as a social venue. Men and women, kept strictly segregated, would visit the hamam to make friends, do business, exchange gossip or simply chat about daily events. The hamam became a place where peace and relaxation were the focus.
For women in particular, it was the ideal place to meet without being disturbed by men. Originally, women were not allowed in the hamam. They could only go there after an illness or having given birth. As the hygiene benefits became better understood, they were also allowed into the warm baths. From that point on the baths became an essential part of the lives of women.
It's even said that there was a time when a woman could ask for a divorce on the grounds that her husband forbade her from visiting the baths.
Mothers also used the baths in their search for potential brides for their sons, as they could see at once how shapely a woman's figure was!
Men and women are strictly segregated in a traditional hamam. Often there are separate opening times for men and women. However, in tourist baths men and women are often allowed in together.
A traditional hamam has three areas: a changing room, the cold room and the hot room (hararet).
The changing room is where you are provided with a coloured towel (pestemal). Men wear this around the waist and women wear it under their arms.
Swimwear, for example a bikini, is normally worn during a treatment in the tourist baths.
You're also provided with flip-flops (nalin) to be worn in the different rooms.
In the cold room, you wash yourself with water and olive soap, before moving on to the hararet. Here you lie on a large slab of marble and get scrubbed down by the tellak (masseur). The scrubbing session removes dead skin cells, resulting in soft skin. Between scrubbings you're rinsed off with lukewarm to warm water.
The soap ritual is a special experience of its own. The soap is contained in a large cotton bag which the tellak squeezes out and rubs in, until you are covered in a white, foamy lather. The treatment concludes once you have been rinsed clean. Back in the changing room, large hand towels are wrapped under your arms and around your head and you're allowed to warm up again. This is followed by a relaxing oil massage. The whole ritual takes about an hour and a half.
You leave the bathhouse feeling as if you have been reborn and ready to face the world once more.
www.kleopatra.com.tr/en/index.asp
A few dos and don'ts:
Wear underwear or swimwear
In contrast to European saunas, you are not required to strip entirely in the hamam. Everyone either wears the hamam towel provided in such a way that one's bottom, genital area and breasts are covered or, in the more touristy hamams, it is common to wear swimwear.
Wear flip-flops
Wooden flip-flops are required to be worn for hygiene reasons. The hot room floor is also usually very slippery, so it is safer to wear these flip-flops to avoid having an accident.
Before sunbathing
Visit the baths before sunbathing. The treatment cleanses your skin thoroughly and you will tan more quickly. You will also burn less quickly.
Visit one at the start of your holiday, not at the end – you'll end up more peely-wally-looking than those coming into the country on your way out if you don't.
Do not visit if you have sunburn
Avoid the hamam entirely if you have bad sunburn, as the treatment can be very painful, especially the scrub session.
Avoid moving round too much
The temperature in the hot room can reach 50 degrees Celsius. Consequently you should avoid excessive movement, instead trying to keep still and relax.
No alcohol
It is better to avoid drinking alcohol before visiting the hamam, or at least to avoid heavy drinking; the temperature can reach 50 degrees and this does not mix well with alcohol.
YL.