Wanna whip em’ down and get fresh with a grand old dame? Right this way then…
Originally designed by Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan in the C.16th, Istanbul’s Ayasofya Hurrem Sultan Hamami made its glorious return just a while back, after a 100-year hiatus and 3-year facelift – and lo and behold, she doesn’t look a day over 500!
Now painstakingly-restored and opulent to the max, the Turkish bathhouse has a vast services menu featuring delightful therapies like the basic Pir-I Pak bath package including a body cleanse and head massage, right the way up to the full-service Abi-Hayat ritual, combining the traditional Turkish scrub and bubble wash with a Judas Tree essential oil peel, clay mask and full-bod aromatherapy massage. Or, if being flayed in the raw by a swarthy bathhouse mistress or master has you feeling vaguely apprehensive, there’s also a range of reflexology and stress-relieving rubs to choose from. Bloody marble-ous!
Ayasofya Hurrem Sultan Hamami, Cankurtaran Mahallesi Ayasofya Meydani 2, Sultanahmet, Istanbul, +90 212 517 3535, ayasofyahamami.com
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