Fes Festival of World Sacred Music Tour
Hammams: a Story
My guide Abdu'llah asked me what I wanted to see in Fes. I replied without hesitation, "a hammam."
Hammams are the communal steam baths used by most Fassis for bathing. At the hammam you can go in and sweat for as long as you like, and for an additional fee get a vigorous scrub down and massage. You will need a guide or clear directions to find a hammam, as the locations are usually unmarked. Fes contains separate hammams for men and women. In smaller Moroccan cities the local hammam will have hours set for men and different hours for women. Be prepared to exhibit more modesty than you would find in the steam room of your local YMCA, at least for the men's hammam.
Abdu'llah took me to his neighborhood hammam. His local hammam had three rooms heated by huge earthen basins of water kept at specific temperatures for each room. As we moved deeper into the hammam, each room became hotter. My masseur, Hamid, was a tiny, wiry fellow in his late 50s. He was not in a good mood. Abdu'llah had negotiated the price for my massage and obtained the locals' rate. Hamid gruffly instructed me to lie face down on the wet tile floor. He proceeded to pour bucket after bucket of hot water over me. Once warmed up and washed down, he slipped on a rough rubber mitt and began to scrub me down.
After the wash and scrub, Hamid was in a better mood but maybe because this was the point where the process got serious. He proceeded to inflict a deep tissue massage, to put it mildly. I silently said to myself, "no pain, no gain." Hamid beat on me for a good 20 minutes, then, when he felt satisfied that I had had enough of his deep tissue work, he laughed and sent me on my way. Stepping out of the hammam into the afternoon heat of Fes I felt light and cool. The hammam experience is the ideal way to refresh yourself after a full day of walking through the alleys of Fes el-Bali. The cost for 90 minutes in the hammam, massage and tip included, came to $12.