- Title: SYRIA: Traditional public baths gain popularity among tourists
- Date: 17th February 2009
- Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) WOMAN WALKING INTO PUBLIC BATH ON OLD DAMASCUS STREET DOOR FOR PUBLIC BATHS TOWELS STACKED ON TABLE CHANDELIER HANGING FROM ROOF VARIOUS OF WOMAN IN PUBLIC BATH FOLDING TOWELS VARIOUS OF PUBLIC BATH (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOUAYYAD KOUBAB, OWNER OF PUBLIC BATH, SAYING: "The new generation started to ask: 'Is there something like this? Did
- Embargoed: 4th March 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVADXMJUEDYRSBS7ROLD30B5XHQD
- Story Text: After seeing their popularity decrease in recent decades, Syria's traditional public baths are becoming trendy once more, especially amongst foreign tourists eager to relax and soak up some of the country's traditions.
The owner of one 14th century bath says his business has improved as a new generation of Syrians take an interest in the Old City, and more foreign tourists visit the long-isolated country.
"The new generation started to ask: 'Is there something like this? Did people used to do this? Why don't we do it?' So they've returned a little to the traditional habits and customs," said Mouayyad Koubab, whose family have worked at the bath for the past 130 years.
Syria's Baathist government has implemented Chinese-style market reforms in recent years, slowly liberalising many sectors of the economy.
Cultural tourism has been particularly encouraged in Damascus -- the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world -- and other locations like Antioch, Palmyra and Aleppo.
Most of Syria's historic bathhouses date back to Roman times and flourished under the Islamic Caliphate in the 7th and 8th centuries.
The Romans, who brought the baths to the region, used to excavate canals to link the baths with the Barada river, the largest crossing Damascus, in order to supply them with the water needed.
Experts on Islamic archaeology have voiced concern that many public baths are often neglected and left in a poor state.
Lately, Koubab renovated the baths and added a massage table and a jacuzzi to modernise the facility and attract more customers.
The European Union have reportedly funded a project to help preserve and renovate Public Baths in cultural cities like Damascus and across other cities in the Arab world.
The bath is open to women during the mornings and to men in the evenings to prevent mixing of the sexes in the majority Muslim country. Many public baths in the Middle East are exclusive to men.
Bathers use plastic bowls in separate basins before some opt for a massage in the steam room.
They need to wear special wooden sandals once inside the bathing area, and traditionally change to a different coloured towel after finishing their baths.
Samira Afifi, a Swedish woman living in Syria, says she is always keen to recommend the baths to her friends.
"Always, always, as soon as I have someone visiting me we always go to the Hammam, especially in winter when it's very cold," she said, using the Arabic term "Hammam" for the Baths.
But the services of the public bath are not limited to bathing, tea is served to the tourists and is often followed by a main meal where customers can sit around and socialise in the baths. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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