Hi guys! Hi! Welcome to our channel. If youâre new here, my name is Eileen. And Iâm Marc. And in this video, we are talking
all about Turkish baths. That is the face because just thinking
about Turkish baths makes me feel relaxed. So relaxed! And itâs definitely one of the top things
that I would recommend doing in Turkey. Absolutely, as a cultural experience⌠as a way to spend your time and your moneyâŚ
you really need to see a Turkish bath. Yup. We had never been to one before
so we really didnât know what to expect so in this video, weâre going to take you
through the entire experience and also give you some tips that hopefully would make
your time at the bath go very smoothly. Come out feeling⌠Just like this. Squeaky clean. The bath that we went to is called
the SĂźleymaniye Hamam and itâs very old. It was built between 1550 and 1557. And itâs been operating almost continuously
for over 450 years as a bath. So thatâs pretty incredible to be part of that. It was built by Suleiman the Magnificent and the architect is very well known and
he built more than 400 buildings in his lifetime. And I believe almost 200 of those buildings are still standing â one of which is this bath, which was commissioned
by Suleiman the Magnificent. And Istanbul is a huge city of more than 15 million people. Thereâs a lot of traffic and noise and excitement so when you enter that lobby, it really does hit you that this is a place where you've left all that behind in the street and something very good and relaxing is about to happen. And it helps that we were there at night
so thereâs just no one else around. Yeah we were the only people there which made it nice. Actually thatâs another thing we should point is that
traditionally men and women would bathe separately and one of the reasons we chose to go to this bath is that
we wanted to experience it together for the first time and they allow that at this bath.
-We thought it would be more fun. And it was. It was. Anyway so in the lobby they have different couches,
seating areas for you to relax. Thereâs soft music playing in the background,
rose petals and all sorts of things to kind of calm your senses. And you take your shoes off and
put them in a little cubby they provide and then upstairs are where all of the private
lockable cabins are where you head up to get changed. So you come up these stairs. You have to take your shoes off. And then youâre on the upper level. You can look down and see the lobby area
and they have all these places to sit. And if you donât have your own bathing suit
or you donât want to wear your own, for women they give you a bikini top and then these shorts. And these are the kinds of shoes that you wear. And theyâre a little tricky to walk in. And these are the towels. So women also get a towel and this is what
they give men to wrap around their waist. And then they have all of these private change rooms that have a key with a lock that you put around your wrist. So you get your own sort of cabin here and you can leave everything in there while youâre in the bath. And itâs so pretty. This is a really old one. And I think itâs the only one in Istanbul
that both men and women can go to because traditionally theyâre separate. And then afterwards, they have a little area here to dry your hair or if you just want to kind of relax, thereâs some seating. And then of course downstairs,
they have this whole area set up downstairs so you just relax afterwards. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to film
inside the actual bath chambers so weâre going to describe it all so you can picture it. When we entered the bath itself, the first
thing that I was immediately struck by was just how hot it was. Yes! I mean obviously you know itâs going to be hot but I donât think I was prepared for how hot
and steamy it actually would feel in there. It almost took the wind out of me. Oh it definitely took the wind out of me.
-You know like when itâs really cold in Canada,
itâs sort of the same thing in this bath. You just feel a little bit winded
so I had to kind of just stop for a second. Sit down for a second. No I couldnât sit down because it was too hot. Oh yeah, true! Because, thatâs the second thing I was going to say is that once I had recovered from how hot it was, the next thing I noticed was that
every surface is covered in marble. Itâs absolutely stunning. And thereâs this huge dome in the middle
and then smaller domes around the outside. And then whatâs cool about it is that off of that centre dome, there are little private bathing areas and each one of those areas,
which is under one of the small domes, has two separate marble beds
with marble columns and a wash basin. And one of those â thereâs a sign
where it says that that is where Suleiman the Magnificent liked to take his baths. I guess he used to like to be
in the same place every time and because we were the only ones in the baths,
we thought letâs go where Suleiman the Magnificent went. -Weâve got to bathe in that one! So we were going to lie down each on one of these marble beds
but truthfully it was so hot. Way too hot.
-I could barely touch the marble like even just putting my hand on it, was way too hot. So we did a bit of a tour first. We were still trying to adjust. We were trying to adjust â familiarize ourselves and just really take in the beauty
and the history of the atmosphere. But it was also starting to feel really good so as my body was getting more used to the heat,
I started to feel really good. And I think thatâs probably the detox process, right? Yeah so the idea with the bath is that you sit
in this steamy chamber for about 40 minutes. And you can of course leave if you need to but thatâs how long they give you to, you know,
release toxins and sweat it out as they say and just try to relax also. So after a while, we worked up the courage
to actually lie down with our bare skin on the marble, which was really hot. And soon after that they came to take us over
to another area where we had the actual bath. And they sat us down at theseâŚwashbasins.
-Washbasins. Yeah, of marble again so we sat
directly beside it on the floor. He had sort of a silver bowl and started just
dumping bowl fulls of water on my head and all over me and it felt really shocking and he was doing it to himself at the same time
probably to cool down and wash himself at the same time. And then they have the exfoliation. So they have these exfoliating mitts or pads. They did arms, legs, stomach, chest, backâŚ
just everywhere and it feels wonderful because you've sweat so much that having that
feeling of the exfoliation afterwards is wonderful. After they finish doing the exfoliating,
they ask you to get up onto one of the marble benches so we climbed up on there and then
this was one of my favourite parts. This is where the fun really begins
because you get covered in bubbles. And Iâve never felt or seen bubbles like this in my life. They were so silky and soft and the best way I can describe it is that
they dip it in some sort of bucket and then theyâŚitâs like theyâre wringing out a bagâŚ
a magical bag full of mystery bubbles. And there are so many bubbles. And I kept peeking over at youâŚI donât know if you
were doing the same because we couldnât film it, and I wanted to see what was happening and all I saw was a giant pile of bubbles
with a vaguely human foot like peeking out the back. I really couldnât see anything but a foot. He was completely covered in bubbles. *this is Polly! You want your dinner? And once youâre covered in these soapy bubbles,
then they give you a massage and the massage is pretty rough. It might not be the kind of massageâŚ
like gentle massage that you are used to. It doesnât put you to sleep. No and they, you know, they might like hit you
with an open hand or chopping action or something. Just so that you know. And he did ask me a couple of times,
âare you okay?â or âokay?â and it was fine but⌠My guy didnât ask me. And then once youâve been rinsed on your back,
then they ask you to turn over and they repeat the process so you get covered in bubbles and another massage and then rinsed off again. And I had to hold on at some points because
the marble got so slippery from the soap that it was a little bit like a slip-and-slide where I was having to just make sure
I wasnât literally going to just fly onto the floor. I was like, âIâm going to be the first person to just fly off
while heâs giving me a massage.â Anyway so that added to the fun of it. So when all of the fun with the bubbles was over,
they got us to sit back by the washbasin. Yeah and asked if weâd like our hair washed and I wanted to experience the whole thing so I said yes and I had my hair up, which Iâd recommend
if you have long hair just so it doesnât get in the way. So I took that out and then he used
those same bubbles to wash my hair and then again used the silver bowl to dump
just buckets of water over me just everywhere. Once he was finished rinsing my hair
and indicated that he was finished and, you know, we could head towards the door,
I was absolutely sopping wet dripping everywhere. My towel was sopping, my clothing, everything and we were trying not to slip as we exited again on those marble tiles. And once we left the hot area of the bath,
there was someone waiting for us outside the door and he told us that we should go and take off our things so for women like the bikini top and the little shorts and your towel. To take them all off and to wrap ourselves
in a fresh Turkish towel. And when we came out,
he put my hair in another smaller towel and then more towels in this very specific way that I felt like a little kid after the bath
when youâre so snug you can barely move but you feel really cozy. Thatâs how I felt. And I didnât put my towel on right
so he just stripped me down and put it on for me in a proper manner and sent me on my way. Itâs a very specific way of tying up the towels
and the different sizes of towels and everything so it was really neat to see how
you should actually use Turkish towels. And then he rubbed rose oil on our wrists,
which was so luxurious and I love the smell of roses. And then they brought a menu
so we could order some food or drink items off of there. Yeah so thereâs a little chamber where itâs all marble again with cushions and these beautiful murals of people bathing
and we ordered apple tea, which was so good. Just sipping our apple tea and feeling so snug and warm and having just had this wonderful experience, I felt so content. Like I couldâve sat there forever it felt like. I just felt really good in that moment. Weâve just completed our first Turkish hamam experience. Ever. It wasâŚitâŚI didnât really know what to expect
but it surpassed any expectation I couldâve had. It was so relaxing and it was so wonderful
to just lie on the hot marble slab. Iâm very hot as you can see. Yeah! We spent about 40 minutes just sweating it out
and this hamam is from the 16th century. And inside is all marble with columns
and theyâre playing music and itâs so hot. And yeah there are these sort of marble
tabletop beds that you get to lie down on. Theyâre really hot. And we got to be in the section of the bath
where the Sultan used to bathe. His own personal section for bathing. So that was pretty cool. Yeah. And then yeah you get exfoliated
and they dump water all over you. They washed our hair. We got a bubble bath! Yeah theseâŚIâve never felt bubbles like that. They were so silky and smooth feeling. And a massage. A massage, yeah. And still my face is so red. We came out a while ago and I still look like a lobster. And then they come out and they wrap you
in these Turkish towels. Weâre both wearing three
different-sized towels right now. And then you sit in this very calm area
and they serve you whatever youâd like to drink so we had apple tea, which was delicious. Iâll always think of this experience now
whenever I have apple tea. Yeah. So I just loved it so much. I already want to do it again. Go for round two. When we left and had to reenter the real world again, there was a man by the exit who was holding a big bowl of candy and he also had a bottle of rosewater
that we put all over our hands and so when you exit, you just have this wonderful reminder
lingering of the amazing experience youâve just had. I cannot recommend this bath enough. I know there are lots of options for Turkish baths especially in Istanbul but we really loved this one. I love the history of Suleiman the Magnificent and just, you know, being inside that marble dome
and looking up and knowing that, you know, so many people throughout time haveâŚ
-Centuries of bathers. âŚof seeing the exact view that you are including
the Sultan who was in that exact area that we were. It really just feels special. The whole experience was fantastic
and Iâm glad that we were able to go together. Especially for the first time experience it so I will link all the information below to their website
for the Suleymani Hamam if you want to check it out. It is cash only so make sure that you have cash. You can pay with lira and euros and I believe American dollars. Itâs 40 euros per person. Fully worth it. And I would also recommend for women if youâre wearing makeup,
remember to bring makeup remover because otherwise itâs very sweaty and I donât think youâll have as good an experience if youâreâŚ
if youâre not barefaced when you⌠If your mascaraâs going everywhere. Yeah itâs just not going to be as pleasant
so try to bring a hair elastic and also some makeup remover. And I would just use, you know,
the garments that they provide you. 100%. Definitely. You want to be able to breathe. Yeah. If you have any questions at all,
please let us know in the comments below. Weâll do our best to answer them. And if youâve been to a Turkish bath, we would love to hear how our experience
compares to your experience. Let us know does this sound familiar? Or not? Did we do things right? Should we have tried something else on the menu? Yeah or just, you know, how it compares really and if there are any particular baths that youâd
recommend going to, we would love to hear that. So leave us a comment down below and if you like this video, which we hope you did
then remember to give it a like. And subscribe for lots more travel adventures
and perhaps more baths along the way. I hope so. And weâll see you in our next video. Bye! This is our favourite little doggy in the world. Say hello. *the door opened
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