Sam’s trip to Bodrum’s oldest Hamam: Bardakçı Turkish Bath

It’s difficult to find information about the Turkish Bath experience in Bodrum, but here Sam recounts his trip to the Bardakçı Hamamı, which will leave you in no doubt that it’s a must-have experience during your next trip to Bodrum.

Bodrum and a Hamamı: A Trip to the Bardakçı Turkish Bath

We were escorted into a small changing room and each given a pestemal (a small cloth shown here on me) to change into. Lisa was asked to wear a bathing suit under hers while I was told to completely nude-up for my experience.

Domed Steam Room

We were escorted into the marble camekan (a domed steam room), in the center of which was a large square marble slab about half a meter tall about three meters on either side. The slab was heated in the center, where it was excruciatingly hot, and then cooled-off slightly toward the edge. Even toward the edge, though, it was almost too hot to touch, we had to ease ourselves onto it over the space of a few minutes.

The steam room was very hot and extremely humid, both of us were dripping with a mix of sweat and water within a few minutes but after 10 or so we got used to the environment and started to relax as our pores opened. About 20 minutes into the experience our masseuses entered and started their work.

Sand and Soap

The first portion of the bath involves being rubbed with an abrasive glove which has the texture of a fine grit sandpaper, the glove removed any trace of dead skin from our body. We were both amazed at just how much dead skin was sticking to us after being sandpapered for 10 or 15 minutes (the amount of skin was actually quite gross!).

We were then rinsed of dead skin with cold water while sitting on the marble slab, only to lay back down on the superheated rock again for the cleaning portion. Our masseuses (by now dripping with sweat themselves) used a cloth bag dipped in soapy water to lather us each in a cocoon of soap bubbles, probably the most silky smooth soap I’ve ever felt.

Once lathered we were cleaned with more vigor that I thought possible, for a good 20 to 25 minutes we were lathered and rubbed all over while laying on the marble slab. Lisa’s masseuse was a little more reserved than mine (I think because she’s female) but mine cleaned everything. I mean everything. He even cleaned up my nose, in my ears, in-between my toes. And remember this whole time I’m nude with my boys out for the world to see.

Before being escorted out of the steam room we also had our hair (and my beard) washed vigorously, Lisa’s hair ended up in a large blonde dreadlock by the time she was done!

Cool Off & Oil Massage

Once clean (and by now we are really clean) we were wrapped in towels and escorted from the steam room to cool off outside. This also gave the masseuses a chance to cool off and relax a little, the amount of effort they put into the experience was amazing, they have some seriously strong hands and forearms.

At this point I was so relaxed I actually fell asleep for a few seconds in my chair, while Lisa was the complete opposite, exhilarated and very awake. The final part of our bath involved an oil massage, Lisa’s from a woman this time, with aromatic oils for about 20 minutes. The whole experience took about an hour and a half, we’re glad we decided to do it, something neither of us will ever forget!