A visit to a Turkish bath on a Sunday
evening is just the thing, although probably best avoided if you have a problem
with public nudity, either yours or that of the very fat Turkish man sitting
opposite you.
The bath house in the Antakya market can't have changed at all for the last 100
years, apart from the electronic massage chair just inside the entrance. It is open to both men and ladies, only at different times, and I believe the opening hours for ladies are a little restricted.
You are given a loincloth, and first you
hang around lying on marble slabs in a very hot room. Then a man attacks you with a brillo pad and removes about a
pound of skin from your body. His
friend then washes you all over with some sort of carbolic soap – this is a
little disconcerting as they begin by covering your face with soap so you can’t
open your eyes and then suddenly whip off your loin cloth or hurl hot water at
your chest or give you a good thump on the stomach with a wet sponge.
The end result is that you are so clean
that surely there is no need to wash for at least another week.
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| The outside of the bath house - you really don't want to see any photos from inside. |
