The Turkish bath has been present in Turkey for hundreds of years. The Roman rulers of Anatolia (a.k.a Asia Minor) used to use the natural spas in Turkey as Turkish baths. The Seljuks and Ottomans built large Turkish baths in the most populated areas of Turkey for the Turkish people to use. Thanks to the never-ending demand for these facilities for hundreds of years, Turks have a great bath culture right now.
There are three main stages to the Turkish bath in Turkey. Firstly when you enter you will be given a cubicle in which you take off your clothes and wear the cotton cloth provided by the staff. You should never take off this cloth and go naked in the Turkish bath as this is considered rude, although it’s quite acceptable to wash your privates from underneath the cotton cloth. After changing you will be taken to the hot room of the Turkish bath in which you just relax and work up a sweat while your muscles loosen up. If you want, there will be a member of staff in the Turkish bath who will give you a Turkish massage. After the hot room, you go to the warm room of the Turkish bath where you can either wash yourself or a staff member will scrub you down using Turkish soap and a special cloth that gets out all your old skin blocking your pores. Once this has finished you are taken to the cool room and given lots of towels to wrap yourself in. Here you can just relax and order some tea or any other drink that’s available. If you’re feeling tired you can even go back to your cubicle for a nap. Almost all Turkish baths in Turkey either have separate sections or times for men and women.
