Hamam (Turkish Bath)
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Cleanliness has always been a priority in both Turkish and Islamic society. There have been hamam (Turkish Bath) or public bath houses in Turkey since medieval times. The tradition reached its height during Ottoman times. Bathing would become a social occasion, accompanied by a picnic and it provided the ideal opportunity for women to shortlist potential brides for their sons. Even today there are separate baths for men or women, or in case a town has only one hamam, different times of day or days of the week are allocated to men and women. The only exception to this is the baths open to tourists in beach resorts and hotels, where it is not uncommon to have mixed bathing and even to be massaged by someone of the opposite sex, which would never happen in a traditional bath. When you enter the hamam you leave your clothes in a locker (just like entering a sauna) and wrap yourself in a towel or cloth called a "pestemal" which is provided along with wooden slippers. Once in the main bathhouse, you fill your bowl with water from the taps set along the marble walls and wash yourself by tipping the water from the bowl over yourself. When it is your turn you lie down on the central marble slab or "gobek tasi" where you are scrubbed with a rough cloth (kese in Turkish) and then lathered with soap and massaged.
The hamam combines the full functionality and the structural elements of its predecessors in Anatolia, the Roman thermae and Byzantine baths, with the Central Asian Turkish tradition of steam bathing (Finnish Bath), ritual cleansing and respect to water. It is also known that Arabs have built many of their own hamamstyle of the Greek and Roman baths they encountered following their conquests of Alexandria. However, the Turkish bath has a more improved style and functionality from these structures that emerged as annex buildings of mosques or as re-use of the remaining Roman baths.
Hamams have largely gone out of fashion in modern Turkey. However many historical hamams still survive and a visit is highly recommended. In Istanbul the most popular hamams are the historic Galatasaray Hamam in Beyoglu and Cagaloglu Hamam near the Sultanahmet Mosque, though local baths are often just as good and much cheaper. Bursa is famed for its baths and spas.