Scrub up
WHETHER YOU’RE A local who gets scrubbed and covered in soap suds regularly, or a nervous foreign visitor who is disrobing to sample the ‘human carwash’ experience for the first time, the hot stone slab of the hammam is ready and waiting for you. Hammams, also known as Turkish bath houses, are found all over the Middle East and North Africa. Visiting one [...]
alt="Kerman, Iran: The baths here were built in 1631 by Ganj Ali Khan, who was governor of the province from 1598- 1619. Transformed into an ethnological museum in 1971."
src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/june/voyager_june_075.jpg">
WHETHER YOU’RE A local who gets
scrubbed and covered in soap suds
regularly, or a nervous foreign visitor
who is disrobing to sample the ‘human
carwash’ experience for the first time,
the hot stone slab of the hammam is
ready and waiting for you.
alt="Tripoli, Lebanon:The colourful ceiling of this Lebanese bath house, Hammam Izz Ed Din, was painted as a status symbol of luxury."
src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/june/voyager_june_076.jpg">
Hammams, also known as Turkish bath houses, are found
all over the Middle East and North Africa. Visiting one of these
distinctive saunas has long been a rite of passage for travellers
passing through not just Turkey but other countries including
Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Iran.
alt="Cairo, Egypt:A local man enjoys a back massage at a bath house in Cairo. Hammam Al-Malatili has been here for more than 500 years, but the Egyptian bathing tradition itself is thousands of years old."
src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/june/voyager_june_077.jpg">
Lying on a stone floor, nude or in one’s underwear (there’s
no room for modesty here, but hammams are divided into
men’s and women’s areas), the heat, and the calming visual of
pinpricks of sunlight streaming down through small holes in
traditional dome-shaped roofs, soon make it easy to mentally
tune out ahead of being washed, pummelled and then
massaged by a no-nonsense staff member.
alt="Aleppo, Syria:The Hammam Yalbouga Al Nasri in Aleppo was being used as a felt-tip pen factory when the Syrian Tourism Ministry decided to restore
and reopen it as a bath house in 1985, with great success.."
src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/june/voyager_june_078.jpg">
