A trip to a Turkish Hammam

 As part of our Turkish Adventure, we knew we would have to visit a Turkish Hammam to get a massage and body scrubbing.

We went to Cağaloğlu Hamamı, which is 300 years old, and has hosted some of the most famous people in the world from Kaiser Wilhelm, to Harrison Ford and Cameron Diaz.  It is a trip through history.




As you enter off the street, you can immediately smell the soap.  And there is a large display of soap in a fountain at the front door.










It is listed as one of the top "1000 places to visit before die".  I'm hoping we've managed to visit a few of these in our European travels.





You check in, and they assign you a changing room, where you slip out of your street cloths and into a little towel that you wrap around your waist.  You also wear these amazingly uncomfortable awkward wood shoes that are an experience in themselves.  From there you go to the steam/treatment room.

  It is basically a large round dome shaped room, with water everywhere.  I signed up for a massage, while Tony did the full massage/exfoliation treatment. 

I'd definitely recommend this experience as part of a Turkish adventure.

Istanbuls Underground Cistern

One of the more unique sites we visited in Istanbul is the recently renovated subterranean cistern.  It is a wonderfully atmospheric place to visit.















It was built and forgotten by the Byzantines.  It's construction made use of repurposed Roman columns from around Istanbul and held upwards of 27,000 gallons of water. 













It is probably most famous cinematically for its appearance in James Bond's, From Russia with Love, but all I could think of was the subterranean temple of Medusa from Clash of the Titans.

 There is even two Medusa heads hidden at the back of the Cistern supporting 2 smaller collumns.  Evidently, they needed to boost up two slightly shorter columns to match the others.

 

Sad to see a statue relegated to being a stepstool.