Speaker 1:

Dear Jennifer, have arrived in old Istanbul, as directed. I have to say, it's an extremely pleasant change from the places the boss usually sends us. Are you sure he's feeling okay? Anyway, seeing as we're here, I might as well take a long, hot, Turkish bath. I may be some time.

My guide is man about town and Turkish bath aficionado Ali [Katicus].

Ali:

Well really, there's a lot of things to tell you about Turkish bath.

Speaker 1:

But first, we must evade the notorious shopkeepers of the bazaar.

Speaker 3:

Want to buy a watch? Rolex, genuine imitation Rolex. $10 Rolex.

Speaker 4:

Take your camera of my gardens. Please. See my gardens.

Speaker 1:

We think he means luggage.

Ali says all is not well with the bathhouses of Istanbul. In fact, they're rapidly disappearing, victims of modern, in-house bathrooms, and changing taste.

Ali:

They're losing and a lot of Turkish bath, small one, historical one, some of them getting close, some of them doing something switch, they're changing the shop or something breaking down and building something different, that's what's happening.

Speaker 1:

The Turkish word for bathhouse is hamam. And this is one of the most famous in Istanbul, built in 1584 by the wife of Sultan Selim II.

Well, here we are.

Ali:

Yeah, here we are. This is it.

Speaker 1:

Who are these guys over here, they're [inaudible].

Ali:

Kind of necessary, they know what they're doing, you have to be really careful they can crack your bones. Definitely. When you come to Turkish bath you have to give about three hours away.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Ali:

You have to spend time here. Ready.

Speaker 1:

Okay? Yeah. A quick costume change and it's time for the full three hour experience. As much a history tour as a tonic for the body. It's easy to imagine the heavy weights of the Ottoman Empire lounging around here in centuries past.

I feel like I'm on low heat on a frying pan.

Ali:

Yeah, but shifted more [inaudible].

Speaker 1:

These days, most of the patrons are tourists. The price is far too high for the locals, even if they do have the time to spare.

Starting to sweat here.

Just as I was beginning to mellow out, I met Ahmed, one of the old hands so to speak. The origins of the Turkish bath lie in Islam's strict dictate of personal cleanliness. In an age when in-home plumbing simply didn't exist.

Ali:

Tell me, how do you feel?

Speaker 1:

I feel good.

But not everyone is a hamam enthusiast. The sons of the nineteenth century British empire, fresh from the cold showers of the English boarding schools, declared that Turkish baths would lead to the effeminacy and degeneracy of the human race. But then they never got slapped around my Ahmed.

Okay. Thank you.

Most of Istanbul's hamams have now vanished. Some bulldozed in the night. Others encased in the concrete and glass of the modern world.

What have they done here?

Ali:

That's a new generation of Turkish bath. You'll see. Would you like to go in?

Speaker 1:

So they've turned it in to a jean shop.

Ali:

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1:

So how does it make you feel when you see something like this?

Ali:

Really shit. Really, you know ...

Speaker 1:

Let's have a look.

Ali:

Have a look.

Speaker 1:

But few seem to share Ali's concern over this loss of Istanbul's heritage.

Ali:

Unbelievable.

Speaker 1:

Across town, hidden away in a quiet street on the city's Asian shore, we find the owner of this once-thriving community hamam, battling the odds.

Speaker 5:

[Turkish].

Speaker 1:

This 80 year old man has been coming here every week for a lifetime. Today he's the last patron on the last day of business for a hamam that's been operating since 1635. It will close its doors tonight for a planned renovation. No one's sure when they will open again, but the owner is an eternal optimist.

Speaker 5:

[Turkish].

Speaker 1:

Compared to the splendour of the great mosques of Istanbul, it is perhaps difficult to get excited over a steam bath. After all, the tradition will live on in rural Turkey. And visitors like me can still get the boutique treatment in the tourist areas. But for the purists, hamams are as much a part of this ancient city as the nightly call to prayer.

My guide and man-about-town in Turkey [inaudible].