Well, it is about 45 and rainy in Eskisehir today. So what do you do? Well first you go to the Starbucks like bakery and have a long and lovely brunch with tea, pastries and great old American music. Then Carol’s goes off with another teacher who is from here and they shop of course. So I was left with staying in our cold apartment or trying the Turkish Bath House tradition. So I made a choice. The century old tradition won out. I went off to get a massage and enjoy the steamy haman. Well as with most efforts here it was more of learning than doing. I went in and paid my 6 lira or $4 for use of the facility. I was told the massage would be 20 TL (Turkish Lira). As with everything here people really want to help, but the lack of Turkish on my side and English on their side kept me in a state of confusion. Finally one person explained the process to me, but is was at the time of a shift change and I had already been there for an hour and it seemed to me that I would be better to take the knowledge and try again.
So what I learned is that the tradition if still very popular. A very crowded place with many fathers with their sons getting an early start in the tradition. It seems that the way it is done is to take at least 2 hours and maybe 3 to relax, steam clean, massage, rest and take nourishment with friends for long conversations. So I can see why people like it a lot.
As you can imagine no pictures to go with this post
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