Our Golden Triangle on the Golden Horn (from mosque to sea to hammam)
Even though we were bordering on being churched-out on our trip, mosques are all new to us, so each one seems unique and interesting. We started the day off at Suleyman Mosque built in the 1500's by a generous and magnanimous sultan. 
The mosque has no mosaics, no art but is filled with beautiful painted domes and walls. And since it was early in the day and less visited than the Blue Mosque, no smelly feet, just a real treat.
From there we headed down to the water to hop on our Bosphorous ferry. The ride would take us up the strait almost into the Black Sea (we could see it), passing palaces, mosques, summer homes and grand hotels. 
Ninety minutes later we disembarked in a small seaside town lined with fish restaurants for a late lunch. As the boat pulled in, waiters were standing on the sea wall waving and beckoning the new arrivals, hoping to fill their tables. Every ice cream stand had a hawker as well as every tea house and fish grill. 
We opted for a quieter place, Ali Baba's, for some meze, a salad and a small shrimp dish. The brochure had described the town as cosy and charming, but mostly it was just small and kind of gritty and dirty, nothing to write home about. We managed to fill the time and had a lovely sun filled ride back to the adventure awaiting us.
Hopping off the boat at 7:35, we briskly walked back to Suleyman, but this time to the Hammam for our 8:00 bath appointment. 
Now we have been to the Turkish style baths in Granada, Spain, the beer baths in Plzen,Czech and the spa/mineral water baths in Marianske Lazne but they were nothing like these.
These were the baths that Suleyman the Magnificent actually built and bathed in ( in the 1500s!). 
We had read what to expect but...wow, this was the real thing. We chose these, as opposed to the fancier, more touristy ones as these were the only coed ones nearby and it sounded like it would be more fun to do together.
First we entered into a large lobby with low sofas and tables. We checked in and were shown to our changing room. In there was a red striped linen fringed towel for Steve to wear wrapped around and tucked in at the waist, nothing else. For me, a striped fabric bikini top and loose matching boxer shorts. I also got a towel like Steve's, an extra in case I want to wrap up more.
We got wooden sandals, impossible to walk in on carpet, let alone slippery floors. We had a good laugh as we looked in the mirror, snapped a quick photo ( no photos allowed in the actual hammam) and headed out through the lobby and into the Hammam.
We were guided through a door, then through a few small rooms we would use later, and into a larger domed, hot, mildly steamy marble room with a large raised marble slab in the middle for us to lay on. We got lucky and we were the only ones on the slab. It takes about 20 seconds to start sweating, another minute to sweat profusely. We lay there, mostly in silence, turning over like meat on a spit, to sweat out the toxins on all sides. 
*****Kind of like this, but less fancy...this is somewhere else. No Photos allowed at the Suleyman Hamam******
About thirty minutes pass and two very handsome, young, swarthy, thin, well built Turks, clad only in the same striped towel as Steve but perhaps looking a bit more buff, enter the dome and ask if we are ready. We follow them into a corner semi-private room/area with a low sitting area, a couple of spigots and basins and two large marble slab tables. We sit down on the low step and our ritual begins.
Bowls of warm water are poured on our arms and legs and bodies and head. Inky blue scrubbing cloths, like flat loofahs and pretty rough, are used to scrub every inch of our bodies from the back to front to arms, legs and feet. It feels great to me, just short of abrasive.
Another rinse and we hop onto the slabs, face up. I close my eyes and try to just use my senses to feel the warm water rippling over. It feels thick and soft and when I finally look, both Steve and I are covered with masses and masses of soap bubbles, with just our heads peeking out, like the biggest bubble bath, sans the tub and the water.
After being 'washed', the soap massage starts. This is not a soft, relaxing type of massage where you zen out and come close to sleep. This is hard and slippery - every brochure about every hammam comes with warnings that it will hurt, but be good for you, so tough up. Turns out it was very firm but short of painful. Actually, it felt great!
Then we turned over and started all over on the back side. It was intense and wonderful, so much so that just getting off the table and back onto the sitting slab so relaxed and wobbly was a challenge. Bowl after bowl of warm water is poured over your head to rinse you. Your hair is shampooed for you. You sit a moment, then stand and then a surprise- a bowl of very cold water is poured over your head, runs down your body and wakes up every nerve ending you have. Just as you absorb (and for me, LOVE) the shock of it, the next bowl of warm spills over you.
Your handsome attendants check that you are okay and lead you back to the marble slab to sit and steam and recover for a few minutes more. We then go to the marble changing room and strip and put on a new yellow fringed linen towel. As you come out the drying attendant awaits you to place a second towel around your shoulders, fan you dry and wrap you tight. Another small towel does the same thing on your head and then wrapped and turbaned, you go to the rest area to sit and have a drink and get our wobbly legs back for the walk home.
Our walk home is through really dark small streets and alleys, a walk we would kill our kids if they did, but there are no cabs anywhere near the hammam, so we just walk fast and snake our way back to the hotel in a record ten minutes, huffing and puffing but safe and sound. We head up to the rooftop, wet hair and no makeup, and have a nightcap to toast another great golden day in Istanbul.
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