Hamam (Turkish Bath)

We are in Amasya, Turkey. We arrived two days ago and at about 5:30 in the morning we realized I had a terrible flu. I threw up quite a few times and the full morning was boooorinnnng because I had to stay in bed. Mom said that all the energy needed to go to getting my flu to go away. Luckily the flu only lasted the day. Today was much better. When I woke up we realised I was fine. So for the day, I will say these in order, first thing we went straight to a mosque (mom and I wore head scarves). The mosque was very cool. There were men going in and out praying on their knees facing east because they are Muslim. After that we went up a hill to a castle that was built-in the bronze age. It was very fixed up and looked like a building from only 1000 years ago. After that we went to the most exciting part of the day.

We went in the hamam ( I like to call them hamammis). First we got really sweaty and hot in the steam room. Then we doused ourselves in water and then finally we went in to a room and had a real scrub down. All of the dead skin came off and it was disgusting. After that we went for, yay, the massage. It felt so nice. When he did the choppy thing on my back I was making noises which made it seem like a bumpy truck. Then we got wrapped up in so fuzzy towels and had tea (only mom and dad had tea, we weren't allowed for some odd reason). I want to go for another one, it was great! Mom said we probably will go for another one in Istanbul.

Bye, Emilia

Amasya

Most o....I forgot to mention Hello everybody.
Most of the towns and places we go to are set up for tourists from the west region, but Amasya is set up so that mostly Muslims come to visit!! I think because of Ataturk's influence here many Turks come to visit (Ataturk was a Turkish leader who helped the Turks win independence- 80 years ago). Actually we are the only non Muslims that we have seen besides some loud American laughing about touching an old woman's head. Everyone else seems to be from the middle east. Don't forget to practice your Turkish charades before coming here.

There is not much to do in Amasya but we found four really interesting things to do:
- hike around in the tombs built in the side of the cliffs
- go to the castle at the top of the mountain
- go to a hamam ( a traditional Turkish bath)
- walk around the town (look at the awesome water wheel in the river)

The place we are staying is very traditional. It is an old Ottoman Empire house hanging over the river. There are lots of very Turkish things( besides the bathroom). The bathroom is definitely a WC (water closet). It is literally a closet with a shower, toilet and sink. Disturbing photo to follow, and some other pics of the place we are staying.