Cleanliness has always been a priority in both Turkish and Islamic society. There have been hamam (Turkish Bath) or public bath houses in Turkey since medieval times. The tradition reached its height during Ottoman times. Bathing would become a social occasion, accompanied by a picnic and it provided the ideal opportunity for women to shortlist potential brides for their sons. Even today there are separate baths for men or women, or in case a town has only one hamam, different times of day or days of the week are allocated to men and women.

The only exception to this is the baths open to tourists in beach resorts and hotels, where it is not uncommon to have mixed bathing and even to be massaged by someone of the opposite sex, which would never happen in a traditional bath. When you enter the hamam you leave your clothes in a locker (just like entering a sauna) and wrap yourself in a towel or cloth called a "pestemal" which is provided along with wooden slippers. Once in the main bathhouse, you fill your bowl with water from the taps set along the marble walls and wash yourself by tipping the water from the bowl over yourself. When it is your turn you lie down on the central marble slab or "gobek tasi" where you are scrubbed with a rough cloth (kese in Turkish) and then lathered with soap and massaged.

The hamam combines the full functionality and the structural elements of its predecessors in Anatolia, the Roman thermae and Byzantine baths, with the Central Asian Turkish tradition of steam bathing (Finnish Bath), ritual cleansing and respect to water. It is also known that Arabs have built many of their own hamamstyle of the Greek and Roman baths they encountered following their conquests of Alexandria. However, the Turkish bath has a more improved style and functionality from these structures that emerged as annex buildings of mosques or as re-use of the remaining Roman baths. Hamams have largely gone out of fashion in modern Turkey. However many historical hamams still survive and a visit is highly recommended. In Istanbul the most popular hamams are the historic Galatasaray Hamam in Beyoglu and Cagaloglu Hamam near the Sultanahmet Mosque, though local baths are often just as good and much cheaper. Bursa is famed for its baths and spas.

Alcoholic Drinks and Raki

Alcohol is freely available in most Turkish restaurants. There are also many pubs or bars especially in big cities and touristic resorts. It is only if you are heading to particularly conservative areas that you may have to check whether or not restaurants serve alcohol.

The traditional drink is raki, an aniseed based spirit, which is sometimes known as lion’s milk. It is clear but turns cloudy when water is added. Most people do dilute it with water although some drink it only with ice. It is quite unusual for a Turk to drink alcohol without eating at the same time (unless you're in a bar). Raki traditionally accompanies a meal of fish and in-between meals, melon and/ or white cheese are often served alongside it. Raki has 40% alcohol and thus is considered to be a "strong" drink.
Turkey is credited with being the first nation to produce wine in history and in recent years this traditional art has experienced something of a renaissance. Turkish wine producers have been studying the latest methods used in other countries and importing or developing grapes. This, combined with the favourable local conditions has produced some excellent results within wine production. Most people will be pleasantly surprised by the varieties of both red and white wine available in Turkey. Two of the biggest local producers are Doluca and Kavaklidere. Those who prefer beer will not be disappointed in the well-known local brand, Efes Pilsen. There are also some locally produced vodka, brandy, whisky and gin, which are a quite cheaper than the imported brands although they can be a little rough when compared.

Nazar Boncugu - Evil Eye

Throughout the whole history, in almost every culture and religion, the eye figure has been considered as a powerful talisman to defy the evil forces. In Turkey, also, you'll meet plenty of eyes looking at you. It is very common in the Turkish culture to give a gift of a " Blue Glass Nazar Boncugu" or " Evil Eye Bead " as it is more widely known. Sometimes people hang a small evil eye amulet from the rear view mirror of their car, keep several small evil eye beads or charms on hand to give to guests, hang an evil eye near their door in the home or office. Glass evil eyes are worn, in the form of jewelry; evil eye bracelets, evil eye necklaces, evil eye anklets, gold or silver evil eye charms and pendants, blue evil eye talismans, evil eye earrings - rings and plenty of evil eye ethnic jewelry sets. The only aim is to protect themselves from the potential "evil eyes".

Nazar Boncugu is usually made out of blue glass with a stylised eye design and can be of any size, large ones for the home or office, smaller ones to hang in a car or a tiny one to pin on a child’s dress with a safety pin. According to the Turkish tradition, when someone praises something or someone they run the risk of attracting the ‘evil eye’ to whatever is being praised, by arousing envy in others. Thus it is believed that the "nazar boncugu" (evil eye) deflects this. Few Turks have blue eyes, so it was probably mistrust of foreigners which gave rise to the traditional blue colour of the charms.

Turkish Delight Lokum

Turkish Delight or "lokum" in Turkish is a sweet confection made from starch and sugar. Turkish Delight is often flavored with rosewater and lemon, the former giving it a characteristic pale pink color. Lokum has a soft, jelly-like and sometimes sticky consistency and is often packaged and eaten in small cubes that are dusted with icing sugar or copra to prevent sticking to the teeth.

Lokum or the Turkish delight is one of turkey's most famous exports. It is mostly served with Turkish coffee at the end of a meal. There are now some Turkish Delight factories where you can book a tour to watch it being produced and sample the wares after the production.

The recipe for turkish delight, as we know it today, using the new ingredients of sugar and starch, was invented and popularized by the Hacı Bekir Sekerleme company during the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century.

Turkish delight was introduced to the Western World in the 19th century. An unknown Britanian became very fond of the delicacy during his travels to the Ottoman Capital Istanbul, and purchased cases of lokum, to be shipped back to Britain under the name Turkish Delight. It became a major delicacy not only in Britain, but throughout Continental Europe.

Turkish Carpets

The first carpets were those made by the nomadic Turkish tribes who wandered central Asia, and bear a close resemblance to the cotton "kilim"s still available today. It is not exactly known when and where the first knotted-pile carpets were woven; however the oldest surviving pile carpets was discovered in the grave of a Sycthian price in the Pazyryk valley of the Altay mountains in Siberia by Russian archeologist (Rudenko) in 1947. This carpet is presently displayed in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. The carpet was woven with the Turkish double knot and contains a surprising 348.000 knots per square meter (256 per square inch); it is 3.62 square meters (6 x 6.5 feet) and has been carbon dated to the 5th century BC. It was loaded and subsequently flooded and froze to a wait discovery by Rudenko. The Pazyryk, or Altay carpet, is rather sophisticated, thereby showing that it is the product of a long history and tradition of weaving.

Turkish rugs are mostly made from wool or silk, woven and knotted on a loom. The density of the knots determines the quality of the carpet – the more knots per centimeter, the more hardwearing it will be. The colors used for the designs vary from region to region and usually stem from the indigenous plants which were available in that region for producing dyes. The symbols used to decorate the carpets also vary and most have a meaning attached to them – usually they are motifs taken from nature representing flowers, plants and animals. Most carpet sellers are well informed about the history of the carpet and will be happy to spend some time explaining it to you – often over a glass of black tea. In recent years, a number of carpet schools have been opened where the traditional arts can be preserved and the process of carpet making from dying the wool to weaving can be demonstrated to visitors.

Turkish Coffee

Turks were first introduced to coffee over 450 years ago. A while after an Ottoman governor to Yemen brought coffee to Istanbul and introduced the beans of coffee to the Ottoman Capital. Within a century, first Venice, than Paris and London were introduced to coffee by the Ottomans, which naturally acquired its name “Turkish” to become “Turkish coffee”. In some Western countries Turkish coffee is also known as Greek coffee as they were introduced to this type of coffee and coffee-making by the Greeks. Shortly after coffee was introduced to the Ottomans in 1543, it became so popular that many coffeehouses and small shops were opened specializing in roasting coffee. Coffee roasting is called “tahmis” in Turkish and to this day there is a street called Tahmis in the Eminonu (Golden Horn) neighborhood in Istanbul where the so-called Egyptian spice bazaar is located. Its name derived from the coffee shops located on this street 450 years ago.

Turkish coffee or Türk kahvesi (in Turkish) is the perfect way to finish off a good meal in Turkey. When ordering you specify whether you want your Turkish coffee sade (plain), orta (little sugar) or sekerli (very sweet) and it is brewed with the specified amount of sugar mixed in with the coffee granules. Turkish Coffee is served in small cups. It is an absolute art to know when to stop drinking as one sip too many and you will end up with a mouthful of the sludgy residue which falls to the bottom of the cup. However this sludy residue has its uses; as you may find a local fortune teller to tell your fortune from the coffee cup. Just cover your cup with the saucer, wait until it becomes cold and you will be asked to turn it upside down, turn it around several times and then your destiny will be divined from the shapes which are formed.