East Eats West

Naked in Istanbul

Picture: Inside the Cagaloglu Hamam in Istanbul.

Having often travelled through Asia I regularly get rejuvenated in spas. Therefore I got to see a wide variety of spas from the luxurious Thai spa in Chiang Mai to the very traditional outdoor hot-spring Onsen in Japan. So when I read about the legendary Turkish bath (or Hamam) I knew that I had to go one day. Upon my recent visit to Istanbul the opportunity came up and I went to the famous Cagaloglu Hamami on Yerebatan Road near the Grand Bazar in Istanbul. This marble-clad Hamam under a dome with little holes for light features in Patricia Schultz’s book “1000 places to see before you die”. It was built in 1741 and has been visited by royals and modern-day celebrities. Today the Hamam is a tourist attraction and this is where the problem starts: the Hamam gets swamped by tourists. They are greeted by the grumpy Turkish staff with “Turkish courtesy”, aka an inefficiency that shows the deep-rooted disinterest in the foreign tourists. Therefore the staff prefers to bark orders; no warm Asian greetings here! After changing in a small wooden cubicle I wrapped a towel around me and tried to walk to the Hamam in the awkward wooden clogs provided to me. A big Turkish masseur with a generous tummy manoeuvred me to a marble pedestal and made me sit down before vigorously scrubbing me with a rough glove. I also got shampooed and scrubbed all over while sitting on the wet floor. After about ten minutes the treatment was over and the Turkish masseur indicated to me that he expects some generous tipping after before leaving the Hamam. By then I was glad that I did not go for a massage as I saw other tourists literally being pummeled under the strong hands of pot-bellied Turkish masseurs (almost all of them had big moustaches). I soaked a bit longer in the marble-clad room before gladly leaving. Would I recommend going again? Well, if you like being touched all over by a grumpy pot-bellied Turkish brute with moustache, go ahead. Otherwise I can recommend any other Asian spa!

http://www.cagalogluhamami.com.tr/ 

Istanbul – where East meets West

Picture: The ancient Hagia Sophia church in Istanbul.

For almost four years now I have been blogging about my travels to Asia and I wrote about the rise of Asia and how this affects us in Europe. So what better place there is to witness this rise than in a city where East and West meet geographically: Istanbul? One half of Istanbul is built on Europe and the other half sits in Asia. The city, formerly known as Constantinople, was once the seat of the Roma Empire before it became the seat of the Ottoman Sultans. It is a city of over 14m that features over 2500 mosques and almost 200 churches. The heyday of the Ottoman Empire was in the 16th century when the Sultans tried to invade Austria twice, and failed. Istanbul is one of the oldest cities in the world and the change from Christianity to Islam can still be seen today. The Hagia Sophia, a former Christian Orthodox Church, was built almost 1500 years ago and was for almost 1000 years the centre of Orthodox Christianity. It was then transformed into a mosque. Today Hagia Sophia is an impressive museum where one can still marvel at mosaics of Jesus and Maria that where done almost 1500 years ago. Next door the Ottoman Sultan Ahmet built the Sultan-Ahmet Mosque that is also known as the Blue Mosque due to its blue tiles inside the mosque. Other attractions are the Sultan-Suleyman Mosque that reminded me of the desert fortress of Jaba-the-hut in Star Wars and the Grand Bazaar. And if you want to stay in Ottoman-style go to the Ciragan Kempinski Hotel right next to the massive Bosporus Bridge (shortly after we stayed in the hotel Mr.Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, stayed in the hotel as well). For more pictures of Istanbul click here: http://easteatswest.typepad.com/photos/istanbul_turkey/index.html 

Picture: The impressive "Blue Mosque" in Istanbul.