Other popular types are Finish sauna and Hammam.
Hammam origin is Turkish or Arabic. I never visited a hammam in those countries so it might be that I can speak about a localized version.
In the case of hammam I can see a few key difference from other types of sauna:
1. It’s not as hot as Russian banya. 30-50 C degrees normally.
2. It’s wet, ultra wet, the main substance of transferring heat is the water steam.
3. There must be a massive stone bed or play to lay down.
4. As I got it hammam usually implies massage.
My kids like hammam very much, we alway visit the same one.
Because it’s a lot of steam inside it looks like thin fog.
And they ask me: father let’s go to play hedgehogs.
Here is a picture of the hammam that we usually visit:
It has tiled walls, floor, and ceiling. It has a tap with cold water.
And there is a big stone bed in the center and stone benches on the perimeter.
The process is quite simple: you get in, lay down on the warm stone, and the steam generator starts working.
In a few minutes, there are so many steam that you can’t even see your own nose. It’s hot and wet because of steam.
The ceiling is not flat. It has the form of the dome. And it makes an interesting effect. The steam is precipitated on the highest part of the dome, in the center and drop down on you as a cold rain. Not too much a few drops per minutes but it’s good for contrast.
After 5-10 minutes steam generator stops working and air begin to cool down, that is the time for relaxing. You can just lay in the cooling room and relax.
I’ve read on the Internet that people spend a lot of time sitting in hammams, but I don’t think that those are the same types that we have.
In our hammam I can’t lay inside more than for twenty minutes.
Then I have to jump into the cold pool.
Tell me about your favorite type of sauna?
Do we do our hammams close enough to the original?
