Steam power fuels a skin-deep treatment

The Life: Since the days of the Ottoman Empire, visiting public bath houses otherwise known as hammam has been a popular pastime in Turkey. Kadir Mortepe, 33, runs the hammam at the Eastern Mangroves. He speaks about a typical day.

Kadir Mortepe runs the hammam at the Eastern Mangroves Hotel & Spa by Anantara in Abu Dhabi. Lee Hoagland / The National

Since the days of the Ottoman Empire, the public bathhouse, otherwise known as hammam, has been popular in Turkey. Kadir Mortepe, 33, started his career as a cleaner at a hammam in Turkey and has since become a spa expert, running the hammam at the Eastern Mangroves Hotel & Spa by Anantara in Abu Dhabi. Here, he talks about a typical day at work.

8am

I wake up.

9am

I start work. I check the steam and sauna. [Hammam have been around for] 600 years. It is really very historic. It started in Ottoman times. They took hammam from the Roman empire. It is most popular in Turkey and Russia.

10am

We open for guests. If it's really good we have 10 or 15 guests but at the weekends we have 18 or 20. I meet them in reception and we give them a consultation form and a medical form.

We must know that he or she is healthy. If they have had any operations or back [issues] we need to know because inside the hammam it is hot and we need to know that [the guest] is OK with the hot temperature. We take him or her to the steam room to soften the skin.

After that we go to the sauna for five minutes. Then they lie down on a heated marble platform. We [pour water over them] and do a scalp massage. Then we do a scrub for the whole body. When we remove the old skin we wash them again. We put the olive soap in a [pail] and mix it with hot water. We put the foam on the guest. Then we start a full body massage.

Mid morning

After that we ... take the guest to the relaxation room. Then we bring a Turkish drink for them. I can do three hammam back-to-back and then have a one hour's rest. [We have other people working here] I have three men and three women. I brought the men from Turkey.

Afternoon

More treatments. When I started this job I was a hammam cleaner. Our family has worked in hammams for more than 100 years. [My uncle and my uncle's sons] worked in an older hammam and I wanted to work at a luxury hotel, so I needed a certificate. I decided to go to a school ... for spa and hammam in Turkey. After studying I became a hammam therapist and I worked for two years and became a hammam supervisor. I have been here in the UAE for almost two years.

7pm - 8pm

I leave work. I go home and then I read sometimes and watch TV. But I must go to sleep early because hammam really is a difficult job. You use a lot of effort so I need to relax in the evening.

10.30pm - 11pm

I go to sleep.

* Gillian Duncan