Scott & Kerry's Southeast Asia Adventure: Turkish Bath and Dinner

I was able to convince Scott to go to a Turkish Bath. It's a bit touristy and a little expensive but we won't get the experience anywhere else. Take note all, he agreed that he enjoyed it a lot more than he thought he would! We obviously couldnt take photos inside the actual bath but we took some in the area of relaxation which we have attached. We chose this one because it is in the neighborhood we are staying, is relatively affordable, still has some history and allows for mixed sex communal areas so we could be together for most of it.

Here's some history of the place we went:
The Historical Ağa hamamı (turkish bath) was constructed by Fatih Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror (the 7th Ottoman Padishah). Ağa turkish bath was used as a private hamam by Mehmed the Conqueror and his sons. At that time, Beyoglu District was not a settlement area and the Padishahs would come to Beyoglu District for hunting. Mehmed the Conqueror constructed this building as a hunting house in 1454. Ağa hamamı was designed as a hamam below the two flats above. It underwent a large-scale renovation in 1844 by Abdulmecid (the 31st Ottoman Padishah). It was used by the Padishahs and their sons until the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Ağa Hamamı is first mixed turkish bath in istanbul.

So here's how it goes: we walk in and they give us a private changing room. We put on a "pestamel" - a sarong type thing - and went into the main area which is an octagon with a large dome and heated with a even hotter large stone in the middle and several mini tubs (sinks) along the walls with separate (fancy) hot/cold knobs and a small metal bowl sitting on the side. We "showered" - used the sinks and metal bowl to rinse ourselves. Then we went into a separate and very hot sauna. All the rooms are made of marble on the floors and walls with small ledges around the edges of the rooms to sit on. Once we couldn't handle the sauna anymore, we returned to the main room and relaxed on the hot octagonal stone in the middle. Then we were separated and went to enjoy the actual "bathing" - man for Scott and woman for me. The women go into a separate room since they completely remove the sarong. The woman who bathed me was also naked except for some granny panties. A little strange, yes. She first used an exfoliating glove and rubbed off all the dead skin (bc of the heat it was removed very easily - its gross how much I could see!). Then she used a tshirt like material rag that was in a sudsy bucket which she filled with sir and then squeezed which created a ton of foamy, sudsy concoction which she spread all over while also massaging a bit. Scott's guy not only massaged him but fiercely cracked his back which had been bothering him. They also washed our hair! After, we got back together in the main room to relax as much as we wanted. Rinsed off with cold water and felt great! We went out into the relaxation area where we were given dry pestamels and real towels which they arranged on our heads as you'll see in the photos. They also gave us apple tea which was very good. We just did the traditional package but another very common thing is to also receive an oil massage afterwards. All in all, very relaxing!

We followed up a traditional practice of the Ottoman Empire with a very traditional Turkish dinner. Scott order the Minced Sandwich which was minced lamb and I got the chicken.. Both were cooked on skewers over fire and then put in a wrap. The best part was the sides brought out on a huge platter. There were just two of us and we got wraps but the 5 people next to us had a platter that was completely full with sides including tortillas with the skewers of meat as is. Pretty cool. I didn't get a picture but a common drink here (besides coffe and tea) is this whipped yogurt/milk concoction out of a machine that looms like a cotton candy maker. It tasted like whipped Greek yogurt!

Turkish tea is extremely popular and they drink it all day long. We finished our dinner in style.

One block over from where we are staying is Istikial Caddesi which is a very wide pedestrian Road which is a life line of the city. Shops, restaurants, bakeries, coffe shops (including two Starbucks) and more. It's been wall to wall people every time we've been on it. There is an old-time Trolley that goes the length of the street. I took a few phone pics that don't do it justice, but gives an idea.