July 12

Today we went to the Hamam, Turkish baths. It was an interesting experience. There are both a men’s and a women’s section and it is a good thing! Apparently the Turks realized the benefits of bathing long before the stinky Europeans. The bath we went to was almost 500 years old. It was all built out of marble with clay tiles on the top. First you go in, are assigned to a wood lined changing room to strip down and then wrap yourself in a linen towel. You move to the steamy bathing room and immediately question the wisdom of doing this on a day when you are already hot. It is steamy! You then sit on the marble bench that runs around the perimeter and park yourself next to a marble basin filled with hot water. You are given a bowl and motioned to dip and pour the water over your body. As you sit, you converse and socialize. There were about a dozen of us so you can imagine the noise level echoing off those marble walls. Then the muscular attendant motions you over to the heated marble slab in the middle of the room. I was the first to go and let me tell you, it was very uncomfortable when she took my towel off, leaving me naked as the day I was born! Shit, this isn’t quite what I expected! I then lay down on the towel and got the scrubbing of my life and then a soapy massage. Then they throw a bucket of water on you to rinse off and lead you back to the bench where you can continue to rinse off. Eventually they get around to tossing the towel back to you and you can sit around as long as you want and relax. My skin really was…. soft as a babies behind! Throughout history, this has been a place for women to socialize, look for possible daughter-in-laws, share recipes, relax, get clean, AND escape their husband and dreary household duties! Often they were attached to a mosque and were one of the first buildings to be erected when the Ottomans took over an area. Good idea!

Before this we had visited a little town that is soon to be a UNESCO World Heritage site, Yoruk Koyu (the last seven slides). It was very interesting and people still live there. The houses are quite large because the clan that settled there were excellent bakers and would live in Istanbul part of the year, ply their trade, and make money to take back home. While we were there this woman was driving her cows down the road from the pasture. We visited the old laundry building, also a social hub for the village woman. It too contained a 12 sided marble slab in the middle and wasn’t too different than the Hamam except the clothes were beaten with sticks and thankfully, I wasn’t!

We also had a chance to wander the streets of Safranbolu (the first fourteen slides), which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is so cute and reminds me of towns in the Swiss Alps. We ate at a Caravansary (pictures 11-13) in a restaurant on the first floor where the camels used to be housed. I’m glad that information was imparted after I ate dinner. As you would expect though, it was very clean and with its thick brick and plaster walls, was nice and cool on a hot day. Later, we had Turkish coffee in a cute little cafe with a grape arbor shading us. It was loaded with grapes but unfortunately they weren’t ripe yet. As we sat in the shade, one of our directors read the coffee grounds left in the cup. It was quite entertaining!

I also walked around, ate some great local candy, flavored with saffron, and yes, bought some saffron to take home.

It was another very full day!