Turkish Bath (Part III)

Sorry folks, no pictures here.

A trip to Istanbul wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Turkish Bath. We went to a bath which priced for the tourists. Their claim was that Suleiman the Magnificent used to be bathed at their facility. The only sure thing was that our concierge was getting a kick back for every guest he sent to this bath. I should note that bathing suits were worn throughout this entire event.

After getting over the initial embarrassment, we were ready to head into the great marble steam room and bathe. We were given wooden clogs to walk around in. I kept thinking I was going to fall over and split my head on the stone. Other than that fear, the experience was very relaxing – except for one thing. My "bather" turned me over on my back and slapped me on my stomach. Then said something to me in Turkish which could have been anything from, “Hey, hot stuff” to “You need to work on that six pack” (the latter more likely of the two). Regardless, being talked to in that position of vulnerability was humiliating.