Yalova Hot Springs attract Turkish Islamist and Arab families

 

Yalova Hot Springs (Dunya) –More than 2,000 years ago, according to a popular legend, the governor of Byzantium (present day Istanbul) sent his much-beloved, but horribly disfigured daughter, to "Pythia," a settlement with little-known thermal springs 180 km (108km) to the southeast of the city, in banishment. The princess was believed to be suffering from leprosy, then viewed as a terrifying, contagious and incurable disease.

After months of self-treatment with the curative waters from the springs of Pythia, she returned home completely recovered from the bodily-wasting disease. In his gratitude, the governor had a popular spa constructed at the site with many new houses where nobility could stay for treatment.

Today, the Yalova Hot Springs (Yalova Kaplicalari as Pythia is now known in Turkish) and its mildly radioactive waters continue to attract tens of thousands of visitors every year seeking cures for an assortment of diseases, ranging from rheumatism, arthritis, liver and stomach-related diseases, obesity, and gout.

According to M. Zeki Karagulle, a professor of thermal medicine, medical ecology and hydro climatology at Istanbul University Medical School, the Yalova Hot Springs also helps relieve individuals suffering from kidney and urinal diseases, skin ailments, psychological and mental disorders, gynecological and dysfunctional women's diseases.

The hot springs are located only 18km (11 miles) from the resort town of Yalova, along the eastern shores of the Sea of Marmara.

The Yalova thermal springs were a natural outcome of a powerful land tremor that jolted the area around 2000 BC – and Yalova,  is located along a major earthquake-prone fault. 

 

Wearing chadors

These days, though, thousands of Islamist Turkish families and Arab tourists with their wives and children flock to the thermal baths, located only 18 km (11 miles) from the city of Yalova, a resort on the Asian shores of the Sea of Marmara.  

 

During a recent weekend, young girls and women wearing colorful headscarves or dressed in black chadors, covering their bodies from head to feet with only their eyes visible through slits in their veils, were strolling in the streets and trails of Yalova Hot Springs pushing baby carriages.

"Arab tourists have invaded Yalova Hot Springs," says cab driver Murat Birsoz. "They are enraptured by the surrounding woods and the plentiful water, which gushes out from everywhere" he says.

Traditional families from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were staying at the four main hotels at the spa this summer.

 

Yalova is one of the favorite destinations of the 2,088,314 Arab tourists who visited Turkey in 2011, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The spa is also a preferred choice of Russian tourists, who throng there in the thousands. The city has a population of 98,500.

Operated by the Ministry of Health, the hot springs are located in a wooded valley surrounded by rolling hills, reminiscent of the Black Hills of South Dakota.  A jungle of oak trees, beeches, and pines shades visitors from the sun.  Outdoor restaurants and cafes serve kebabs, tea, coffee and beverages. Numerous hot baths, hamams, and hotels, built over time and restored by the Romans, the  Byzantine Greeks, and the Turks, host visitors.

The Yalova Termal Hotel, the largest hotel operated by the ministry, has an open swimming pool filled with spring water that is circulated and drained constantly at about 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 F). Visitors can swim there comfortably even during a snow storm.

 

Ethiopian Emperor

Kemal Ataturk, the founder and the first president of the Republic, stayed  at Yalova Hot Springs, around 311 days during 27 visits, and hosted many heads of state, including the King Edward of England; Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia; and Venizelos, Prime Minister of Greece at his home, and made important state decisions there. Ataturk's house is now a museum.

Ferry boats, high-speed hydrofoil passenger boats and car ferries operate to Yalova daily from Istanbul's districts of Kabatas, Kartal and Pendik townships, disembarking passengers headed for the spa and the surrounding coastal towns.