Cağaloğlu Hamami.
The 4th Pleasure.

A Sultan built Cağaloğlu Hamami.

He insisted that its floor plan reflect an ancient Roman belief about physical pleasure: that its highest level can be reached only if one builds up to it somewhat slowly.

How did the Romans (and a few centuries later, the Turks) do that?

The slow build-up consists of three definite stages: 1st, the apodyterium; 2nd, the tepidarium; 3rd, and the most intense of all, the caldarium.

The Duke of Windsor came to Cağaloğlu Hamami. And, over the centuries, many others. Not surprisingly, Franz Liszt was here. (Well, he knew a thing or two. He always kept a box of rotting apples on his piano. It helped him to compose better, he said.)

Built in 1741, Cağaloğlu Hamami is not the oldest public bath in Istanbul, or the world, but it is unquestionably the most famous. And the most sensuous.

Anybody can show you how to find it.

Don't be surprised to see the Japanese here, happy in the immense, high-ceilinged rooms and echoing marble hallways.

The Japanese know a thing or two about bathing.

After you yourself have passed through stage one, two, and three, there is yet one more stage. The Turks invented it: a little something that has become world-famous. Perhaps you owe it to yourself.

It is the 4th pleasure.

It is the amazingly simple, sensuous Turkish towel.

Cağaloğlu Hamami Towel (No. 1691), the real thing, made in Turkey. 100% cotton. 1/2 inch looped pile (looped, not cut). 46,660 loops per square ft. Weight: 3 lb. Size: 5'9” x 3'3”.

Colors: White, Cream.