The land of healthy spas

There are nearly 2,000 geothermal springs in Turkey. Suzanne Swan wonders why they are not basking in status and topping tourist agendas, as they are in less well endowed parts of the world Turkey is underpinned by several tectonic plates, whose stresses make it prone to tremors and earthquakes. The same geological substrata has endowed the country with about 1,800 geothermal springs, often pulsing out healthy waters at temperatures of 60 and 70 degrees C. Some are channelled into hedonistic Ottoman hamams, some serve wayside bathhouses, and elsewhere the hot water simply bubbles out of the ground – in places you could bathe in the open even when snow is all around. These hot springs have been in existence since the genesis of time, but most have remained obscure because few people saw their potential. It is not as though these hot waters have sprung up as a surprise. Long before Turks (and centuries before the Turkish bath, or hamam), Persians and Roman armies were bathing in the steamy waters specifically to relieve numerous ailments or battle wounds. Several are documented in early travelogues, and thermal spas were part of Turkish culture throughout the Ottoman centuries. But local people are inclined to take them for granted and marketing has been poor outside the country, There are also unresolved legal problems related to naturally occurring resources. Many thermal spas are little more than brick huts by the wayside and have insufficient infrastructure and run-down accommodation, despite being national treasures, priceless in terms of tourism. continue