Page 102 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2019 PORTUGAL

Previous page: The view
from the Karaköy district
of Istanbul, (Galata
Bridge) photo provided by
the 10 Karaköy Hotel.
Left The famous Camondo
stairway, in the Karaköy
district of Istanbul.
Right: Looking down on
the hammam area,
preserved in the hotel.

W e’ve all had our hair shampooed, but
our bodies?
In the vibrant and historic Karaköy
district of Istanbul, just up the hill
from the sparkling Bosporus, I climbed a steep street,
stopping to gawk at the serpentine Camondo stairs on
my right, that wound up to the street above.
I had booked a Turkish hamman, a centuries-old
cleansing custom, and chose Tarihi Cesme Hamami,
1720. The numbers,1720 represented not a street ad-
dress, but the year that Grand Admiral Kaymak
Mustafa Pasha, the naval commander of the Ottomans,
founded this hammam. In 2017, the hammam under-
went a complete restoration, preserving its original
structure and is now tucked inside the Galata Istanbul
Hotel MGallery by Sofitel.

102 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE WINTER/SPRING 2024