re: Turkey - Weekend in Istanbul August 2009

At the end of the day we headed off the peninsula to the Bosphorus bridge. Near the base of it on the European side there are a bunch of hookah bars, bars, cafes, etc. I was led to believe you could walk across to Asia..Nope. English isn't widely spoken so we were ushered on some ferry by a nice lady who thought she knew what we wanted. The ferry just kinda drives around the bridge area, which ended up being pretty cool as we enjoyed Ephesus beer. Back on land, I watched professional hookah smokers billow smoke like the animal headed guy from the 300 movie.



Getting that hookah action:




Drinking beer on the top deck of the boat:


I also recommend hitting the Turkish bath house. We ended up walking into one that was about 500 years old. How cool is that? Now, I didn't take photos in here because that would be creepy, but I'll use some stock photos and describe it.

As you walk in, you come into the foyer where you decide what kind of bath you want. Essentially there are separate male and women's areas with either a self service option or someone "bathing" you. In hindsight I should have done the latter but it sounded awkward.



You strip down to your skivvies. As we entered there was a wash room area where the baths occur. Here hairy Turkish men sat on the floor as the bathers scrubbed them down with big horse brushes, soap building all over the place. It looked kinda rough but also might feel nice at the same time.

As you pass through that area you come into the domed sauna area, which has little booth like areas around a central raised slab. Everything is marble and it is hot. Each booth has a faucet that pours cold water, which you use the metal pan they give you to collect and pour on yourself. This hot and cold mixture feels incredible.

This is what the room looks like:




After you are done, you exit and they wrap you up like a mummy.


My beautiful hookah: