I've been to the hammams in Yemen and while they are an interesting cultural experience, the hammams here are not the same as the traditional Middle Eastern hamman. In Yemen, you enter an old bath house that descends under the ground with a towel or drape wrapped around you and proceed into a stone room with fountains spouting both cold and hot water. Usually you go with other women and you wash and scrub each other in that setting. Nudity is not tolerated so you have to try to wash yourself while revealing as little as possible.
The hammam in Syria (Hammam Ammounah) more accurately resembled what I'd heard a traditional hammam should be. When I entered, there was a beautiful sitting area with a fountain and tall elaborately decorated ceilings. The first stage was entering a steam room with a towel wrapped around me for five to ten minutes. Then, I was given time to rinse off and scrub down on the stone floor next to a small fountain which provided me with water, after which a very large Syrian woman proceeded to scrub down every inch of my body. I had no idea I was so dirty. She literally was scraping off skin, but if felt amazing, not painful at all. Afterwards, another large Syrian woman massaged my entire body with oil, and I do mean pretty much everything. This was followed by an intense foot scrub after which I went back to the wash area to soap down and wash my hair.
The experience ended with a cup of tea in the sitting room while drying off. The whole time the Syrian women working there were singing amongst each other while scrubbing me down. I've never felt so clean and relaxed; such a unique experience I wish I could relive on a frequent basis. Perhaps a future business endeavor in the US?
The hammam in Syria (Hammam Ammounah) more accurately resembled what I'd heard a traditional hammam should be. When I entered, there was a beautiful sitting area with a fountain and tall elaborately decorated ceilings. The first stage was entering a steam room with a towel wrapped around me for five to ten minutes. Then, I was given time to rinse off and scrub down on the stone floor next to a small fountain which provided me with water, after which a very large Syrian woman proceeded to scrub down every inch of my body. I had no idea I was so dirty. She literally was scraping off skin, but if felt amazing, not painful at all. Afterwards, another large Syrian woman massaged my entire body with oil, and I do mean pretty much everything. This was followed by an intense foot scrub after which I went back to the wash area to soap down and wash my hair.
The experience ended with a cup of tea in the sitting room while drying off. The whole time the Syrian women working there were singing amongst each other while scrubbing me down. I've never felt so clean and relaxed; such a unique experience I wish I could relive on a frequent basis. Perhaps a future business endeavor in the US?
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