The Turkish bath (hamam): what happens, step by step

The hamam is the Roman bath as the Ottomans refined it, and Turks still go for the same reasons as their great-grandparents: to get properly clean, to warm up, and to talk. It is an optional activity on our tours, and the best time for it is the day the gulet comes back into Fethiye. Here is what happens so that nothing surprises you.

The rooms

A hamam has three parts. The camekan, the cool entrance hall with changing cubicles, where you start and finish. The warm room, often skipped now. And the hararet, the hot room: a domed marble chamber with a heated marble platform in the middle (the gobek tasi, "belly stone") and basins with hot and cold taps around the walls, lit by small glass stars in the dome.

What happens

You change into a pestemal, the thin cotton wrap, and plastic sandals. Underwear is optional under the wrap; most people keep it on. You lie on the hot stone for ten or fifteen minutes to sweat. An attendant - a man for men, a woman for women, in separate sessions or separate rooms - then scrubs you with a coarse mitt (kese), which removes an amount of dead skin that is both alarming and satisfying. Then the foam: a cloth bag is whipped full of soap bubbles and squeezed over you, followed by a wash and a short massage. You rinse at a basin, wrap in dry towels and go back to the cool room for tea or sherbet and a lie-down. Forty-five minutes to an hour; a longer oil massage is an extra.

Historic or hotel

The historic baths in Istanbul - Cagaloglu (1741), Cemberlitas (1584), Kilic Ali Pasa (1580, beautifully restored) - are the ones to see for the architecture, and they are priced for visitors. Neighbourhood hamams cost a fraction and the scrub is the same. Fethiye's old hamam in the bazaar quarter dates from the 16th century and sits between the two. Hotel spas offer "Turkish bath" treatments in modern rooms; fine, but not the real thing.

Tips

Go before dinner, not after. Take off jewellery. Tip the attendant at the end. If you burn easily, go on the day you arrive somewhere rather than after a day in the sun. And do not plan anything energetic afterwards; the intended effect is total limpness.

On our route

Optional in Istanbul (any evening), in Fethiye (the Friday the boat comes in) and in Cappadocia. Ask your guide to book; the hotels know the good ones.