The boys and I went to the Nureddin Hamman (Turkish baths) and we had a ball. The boys absolutely loved it. The hamman is in the middle of the bazaar and dates back almost a thousand years. You go in to a carpeted changing area and remove your clothes very decorously from under the sheet you are given to wrap around yourself. One immediate difference from a Russian banya is that in these baths nudity is discouraged. In a Russian banya it's quite the opposite (Gordon!!!). You are given a pair of clogs and then you go into the sauna to warm up, followed by a cold shower. This is repeated as many times as you want, before you head to the steam room where you are given olive oil soap and a scrubbing sponge and you scrub clean every part of your body. After this, you go for "abrasive" where a large Syrian gentleman uses a sandpaper-like glove to remove more layers of skin. This is followed by more cleaning, a massage and finally a relaxing cup of tea. I also had the full cut-throat razor shave to boot. By the end you feel like a million dollars. Fantastic.
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