Day 162: Wednesday 27 August – Istanbul Day 5: A Visit to a Hamam and The Grand Bazzar, by Ken

Today was our last full day in Istanbul and we planned to make the most of it by visiting places close to our hotel in the Old City followed by an evening dinner cruise on the Bospherous. During our morning ritual on the hotel’s terrace we decided the evening cruise was going to be a bit much after a busy day and decided we would stay closer to home and eat at Al’s place again.

Breakfast Buffet

Our first appointment of the day was at 10:00 at the Süleymaniye Hamami where we were booked in for a Turkish bath. The hamami was located close to the Süleymaniye mosque situated not too far north of our tram stop at Beyazit. We decided to walk leaving the hotel in plenty of time to find our way. From Beyazit we walked along the west side of the Grand Bazaar that was already waking up for the day. Shortly afterwards a shopkeeper spotted us looking at our map and pointed us in the right direction. His name was Ahmed and we were welcome to return to his leather goods shop at any time. After trying to enter the Istanbul University campus thinking it was the mosque we eventually found the hamami.

Skirting The Grand Bazaar

Suleymaniye Hamami

We were far too early and visited a nearby café for çai. It was the smallest café we’d ever been in with just three tables and the only other customer was a man who dropped in for soup dispensed from a large pan.

Tea Break

Just before 10:00 we walked over to the hamami where were shown to our own private changing room, given a towel each and told to strip off. Jane was allowed to put on a bikini and her towel, I was allowed just a towel. Once we were ready the changing room was locked behind us and I was given the key. Next, we were shown to a large room under the central dome and asked to take a seat on a large marble slab. A thermometer on the wall read 38° - just like Turkey’s Mediterranean coast we had experienced not long ago, only slightly cooler! Unlike the coast, it was a very dry heat. We were left there for a good twenty minutes.

Just as we were feeling neither of us had a drop of sweat left in us two young men arrived and we were shown into a room in one corner with pairs of stone slabs and benches. If anything, the room was even hotter. A plaque on the wall showed Süleyman the Magnificent bathed there in the 16^th century. One man showed me to a bench and asked me to sit down while the other did likewise with Jane. Without any warning we were doused with buckets of breath takingly cold water. While still seated that was followed by a good scrubbing and more cold water. After that we were asked to lie face down on the stone slabs where we were covered in a thick layer of soap bubbles and washed with a flannel followed by a massage and stretching of arms and legs. The whole process was then repeated with us lying on our backs. After that it was back to the benches and more cold water treatment followed by a hair shampoo – mine was optional, but It seemed worthwhile cleaning what little hair I had.

We left the hot room and were shown to a changing room where we were given a clean, dry towel. After that our bodies and heads were wrapped in more towels and we were shown to a cool room to re-aclimatise. There we drank çai and had a long conversation with a young Spanish couple who had just received similar treatment in a room adjacent to ours. Afterwards we wondered if the men doing the bathing had drawn lots to see who got the young attractive Spaniards and who got us!

Here we are all wrapped up after our baths:

We were back on the street inside approximately 1½ hours feeling very reinvigorated. Next stop was the Grand Bazaar – something Jane had been looking forward to since we got to Istanbul. Much to her surprise, I made the first purchase at a stall outside the bazaar proper – a leather man bag, something I had hankered after for a while and I spotted a stall with a good selection. The deal was done after a spot of haggling with the owner professing to be heart broken with the price we agreed.  We then plunged into the bazaar. Jane was absolutely in her element!

The bazaar was enormous with everything she could possible need, and then some. There was no rhyme or reason to the street layout within the bazaar save that stalls selling similar goods were clustered together in the maze of tangled streets. 

Here's a few general shots of the bazaar:

Jane showed remarkable restraint, certainly compared with Morocco two years ago when some traders would have been able to retire after a visit from Jane. Her first purchase was some cushion covers for home. She was quickly into haggling mode and loving every minute of it. As she said a few times during our time in the bazaar “they were such lovely young men”. To give Jane her credit she resisted things such as very attractive silver bracelets that were put on her wrist and we seriously upset a jeweler with a derisory offer on yet more bracelets. It was so low it got the Turkish equivalent of “you’re having a larf” and we were shown the door. Just before lunchtime Jane got into some serious haggling over some pashminas and walked away when the lovely young stallholder wouldn’t come down to her price.

Stallholder Winces At  Jane's Opening Offer For Cushion Covers

Jane Doesn't Buy A Bracelet

Pashmina Negotiations Break Down

With shopping not being high on my list of things I like to do (in fact it’s not on the list at all) Jane was very surprised that I agreed to return to the bazaar providing we could take our time over lunch. After two ice cold Efes and a plate of mixed kebabs I was ready to rejoin the fray. 

Just What Was Needed After A Hard Morning In The Bazaar

First stop was the pashmina stall where the lovely young man was pleased to see Jane again and eventually saw things her way. Next came stalls where we bought a few gifts for friends and family as well as Turkish Delight. Then Jane was tempted to have a pair of slippers made for her as there were none ready made that fitted her. The deal was they would be delivered to our hotel the next morning, but Jane thought that was all a bit risky.

Pashmina Man Pleased At Jane's Return

Which Pashmina?

Next came my second and last purchase of the day, a red tee shirt with the crescent and star of the Turkish flag emblazoned on the front. From there Jane haggled over the price of a pair of earrings and was happy with the deal she settled at. And so it went on, there were no further purchases although we were very tempted by lights that would look really good in our hallway at home.

Which Earrings Do I Like Best?

Haggling Over The Price

By mid-afternoon we had just about done our dash in the bazaar (at least I had) and we made our way to the tram stop at Camberlitaş, one along from Beyazit. From there we planned to take a tram over the Golden Horn and visit the Galata tower – we had just enough money left to do that on our Istanbulkart. Jane felt in need of an ice cream. We sat in the shade while she ate that and I took a look at my man bag. The shoulder strap I had been shown when I bought it wasn’t there! I left Jane with her ice cream and walked back around the streets to the bag stall which I found more by luck than judgement. The stallholder was extremely apologetic having found the strap shortly after I left. Armed with the confidence gained by finding the stall I decided to take a short cut back through the bazaar. I stopped on the way to use the toilets and found that the Istanbulkart let me through the turnstile. Amazingly, I had no problem working my way through the bazaar’s maze of streets and back to Jane.

By the time I got back the time was gone 16:00. We decided to abandon the plan to go over to the Galata tower. Instead, I agreed to go back to the bazaar for a third time on condition there would be a glass of Efes for me at the end of it.

More Haggling

We wandered around some more and finally reached the carpet bazaar. In the window of one shop was a carpet woven in the form of the Australian flag. As we were looking at it a man standing in the doorway said the shop owner had visited Australia numerous times to sell carpets and would we like to go in for tea. We told him tea would be great, but we were not in the market for a carpet. That was fine by him (Yeah right!). Anyway, we went in and started sipping tea. The owner of the shop came over and on hearing we were from New Zealand greeted us with a “Gidday cobber” which we corrected to “Kia-ora bro”. We talked about his Aussie flag carpet in the window which he said he could easily convert to New Zealand by removing one of the stars. “Two, I think” was my response which got an “Oh yes” – “And you would need to change the colour”, I added, which just drew a blank look.

Aussie Carpet

While we were sipping some very refreshing apple tea the first man proceeded not to sell us a carpet. Instead, he talked about a tax dodge whereby we could “borrow” a carpet which would eventually become ours in New Zealand. The differences between carpets were explained while his colleague laid out carpet after carpet. Interestingly, some were a single colour and the pile had been cut to different heights to give a pattern.

We finished our tea and reminded the man we weren’t going to buy a carpet. Unlike Morocco where accepting tea has the inevitable outcome of spending money, Turks will take no for an answer and let you walk away.

Carpets We Didn't Buy (Note Plain Coloured Variety On Top)

We walked back to the café where we had eaten lunch where I ordered a much needed Efes and Jane a glass of wine. While we were taking our time over our drinks a shoe shine man appeared and did a good job on a pair of shoes belonging to a Japanese man. He came over and asked if I wanted my shoes polishing. I pointed to my very grubby Tevas thinking that would be an end to the conversation. Far from it, he thought he could rejuvenate them, so I let him have a go, and he did!

My Tevas Get A Shine

We made our way back down the hill to our hotel for the last time. Instinctively, the neighbourhood cats knew they would not be seeing Jane again and were out in force to say goodbye.

Goodbye Jane

Later, we set off for our last meal at Al Pacino’s place. Waiters en route were even more persistent on previous nights offering us cheaper meals than at Al’s. We weren’t swayed and received another warm welcome with handshakes as we arrived at Olympiat 2. Al said that Mehmet, the waiter with poor English, but a great sense of humour wanted to look after us himself tonight. That was fine by us. We took the same table outside as the previous evening and two glasses of raki were on the table almost before we sat down.

We opted for the same melon and cheese starter to accompany the raki as previously with the addition of an octopus salad. I followed that with lamb shish kebab while Jane went for sea bass. As before the meal was rounded off with a complimentary plate of fresh fruit and helva. Being our last night in Istanbul we ordered raki to finish followed by another courtesy of Al.

Jeets and his fellow musicians were playing again. This time there main audience was a group of three men who sang along with real gusto. This was clearly appreciated by Jeets and co. who danced, clapped and climbed on the tables. It is clear that singing and having fun is an important part of life in Turkey.

Musicians Ready To Play

Jeets On Drum

Jeets Joins In Singing With Gusto

Dancing On Chair While Diner Sings With Gusto

When it came time to leave I asked Al if he could get one of his staff o take a photograph of us with him and Mehmet. He handed my camera to a waiter who then immediately ran off with it! When he came back he started taking shots holding the camera at all sorts of crazy angles, it was a good way of getting us to smile. And he even took a selfie!

Angled Shot

Selfie

Mehmet And The Photographer

We tottered back to the hotel feeling sad this was our last night in Istanbul. There was so much more to see and do and we could happily have eaten at Al’s for a good while to come. However, there were more adventures lying ahead of us and we really had to move on.

Goodbye Al, It's Been Great