Friday, June 6

Big day today! First, we went to Sultanahmet, or the Blue Mosque (or is it Muss, Emily?) with a historian that Prof. Shields knew. He was very knowledgeable, and since the only other time we had been there had just been us exploring by ourselves, it was very useful to have someone tell us about it, especially because the sultan who built it, Sultan Ahmet II, was a very interesting ruler. He came to the throne at age 13, and ordered to have Sultanahmet built (later in his life) despite the fact that he had not achieved any military victories, which was the traditional reason/criteria for a sultan to build a mosque.

After lunch we headed to the true gem of Istanbul after a full two and a half weeks in the city - Hagia Sophia. This Byzantine church-turned-mosque was built about 1500 years ago, and you can feel its antiquity immediately. It has a quiet but powerful presence that I imagine comes from its history steeped in religious significance. Although any outward sign of prayer is forbidden, I couldn't help but feel the compulsion to at least think about the amount of religious devotion, both Christian, Islamic, and otherwise that has occurred in this building. Not to mention its unmatched size - Hagia Sophia is by far the most impressively big building in which I have ever been.

So after visiting two of the biggest attractions (not necessarily best, but certainly biggest) that Istanbul has to offer, we decided to tack one more on: going to a Turkish hamam. Now, clearly most of us are seasoned hamam-goers after our experience with the very authentic Bursa hamam, but it was very exciting to go with the whole group to a hamam in Istanbul this time, and especially with the excellent information with which Amanda and Edward provided us, as it was their site project.

Hamams are the Turkish equivalent of Roman baths. Built on a smaller scale so as to better comply with the Islamic standard of cleanliness (less people = less gunk in one pool for everyone to swim in), hamams still served the social purposes that are also associated with the Roman baths. They provided an especially important role in the lives of Muslim women, as they were cloistered and secluded in a way that European women were not. Sometimes brides were even chosen in these important social places.

The hamam we went to was called Gedikpasa Hamami, commissioned to be built in 1475 by the Grand Vizier of Sultan Mehmet II. So we were taking a bath in the same place that Ottomans did more than 525 years ago! Pretty cool. Edward and Amanda gave us their presentation in the waiting place of the hamam, before the women and men are segregated. When we were trying to determine how the guys and girls would meet back up after our respective baths, one of the Turkish men who worked there informed Yekta that the women would probably take longer since "women like water more."

After entering into the women's hamam and playing around in the hot water, we were instructed to lay on the marble slab to receive our massages. As soon as I lay down on my stomach, my masseuse/bather came by, said "Hello!" and untied my bathing suit top. Then she proceeded to give me a wedgie so she could better exfoliate my entire body. It was worth the discomfort, though, and after only the exfoliation process my skin felt the softest it had felt probably since I was a baby.

Then the washing/massaging began. My bather squeezed what looked like a huge shopping bag full of suds (although it was really some sort of washcloth) onto me. After a good rub, I was sent to wash off and we spent the rest of the time in the hamam having water fights, swimming in the cold pool, and singing songs for the Turkish women who worked at the hamam. We were the only customers there, so the women kept coming in, banging on plastic bowls and instructing us to sing for them. We happily complied, and they later told Yekta that they loved us and wanted us to come back.

After our rebirth from our dead skin cocoons at the hamam, we decided to head up to Istiklal for some kumpir. I'm not sure if I've described this wonderful Turkish dish before, but in case I haven't, it is a baked potato with its insides mashed with salt, butter and cheese. Then, you choose from a buffet of options what you want on your potato. It's magical. For the first time it started raining while we were at the kumpir place, so we had to run from there to the our favorite nargile place, where we spent hours in deep discussion.