Hammam in Baku

While I’m on a roll I’ll cover the hammam I visited in Baku in Azerbaijan.

This was the first hammam that I had ever visited. I was curious and interested to find out what the fuss was all about.

The hammam in this picture is the hammam in the Old Town buy the Maiden's Tower which is not in use any more... But it is at least authentically an Azeri hammam!

What did the LP say about it first?
The hammam we found wasn’t in the LP guide. The ‘Aga Mikail Hammam’ was pinpointed on the map of the Old City. In finding the building, it seemed to be a former Palace hammam, turned into a number of different apothecary outlets.

Easy to find?
One day we saw a big blue sign with yellow writing saying ‘hammam’. I think it is the corner of the turn of Quliyev Kuc on the Eastern point of the Old City

Easy to enter?
Western tourists seemed to be a fascinating and unusual diversion from the norm. However an guy who seemed to be the owner had some English and managed to tell us the price for the baths and a massage.

Easy to understand what was on offer?
A dog eared plastic wrapped menu was found so we understood what was available.

Pricing:
The prices we were told about were for the hammam facilities and the massage. The soap, mitt, towels, tea and the wash down by the attendant were all extras that were added to the bill afterwards… As we had only drawn out the AZM50 (£50) we needed for what we had been told about, the guy who owned the place had to shrug and take what we had!

Welcome Room:
The reception area was down a dark corridor from the front door and was pretty dingy. A small room with a rank tang of stale cigarette smoke was divided around by the edge by changing cubicles with wooden saloon style doors. Each cubicle sat about 6 with a table in the middle which made it awkward to change.

Facilities:
Soviet sanatorium style!

There was one main room in the hammam with two cool plunge pools in the middle. Around the far side there were lots of medical style curtains on rails to partition off the massage tables. There was a large sauna to the left, a large steam room to the right and showers off to the far right. There were no washing basins at all in what I came to understand as the traditional hammam style.

Massage:
The massage was excellent. A good 25 minute thorough all over rub down with good manipulation of my dodgy shoulder.

Steam:
The steam room and sauna were typical facilities in a gym changing room.

Post hammam facilities:
Loud Azeri telly and some hot sweet tea.

There was no mummification wrapping service here. You just use the towel you are given to dry yourself and sit on it until you finished your tea.