Bab Boujloud – Blue Gate in Fes
When I first arrived in Fes, Aziz picked me up at the train station and took me to his house, a riad in town near the Bab Boujloud (Blue Gate) where he lives with his family. He has a couple of homes here in town which he rents outs to travelers. This evening, he took me to see one of his other houses.
Ceiling in Aziz’s Guesthouse
It was a beautiful riad, with amazing mosaic work on the inside. My room at his house is up higher in the building. I couldn’t tell you what floor, since the home seems to have rooms popping off the stairwell at all sorts of heights. The stairs here, and all over Morocco are each different heights, rather than uniform, which can make for a challenging ascent and descent. On the roof, there are tables and couches set up where I was served the ubiquitous Moroccn mint tea upon arrival and where I’ll get breakfast in the mornings. Aziz and his family live just below the roof level of the home.
Upon arriving at his house initially, Aziz immediately suggested that I go to a hammam that afternoon with his wife Fatima. Since I’d been traveling on the train that day and was a bit tired, and because I thought it would be an interesting experience, I decided to go. I had never been to a hammam before, but was told to bring shampoo, a towel, and a pair of underwear that I could get wet…okay, let’s see how this goes.
Engravers hand-chiseling on Streets of Fes
So Fatima came to pick me up and we walked through the maze of streets and over to the hammam. Hammams are public bath houses. If they are co-ed, they are open at different times for men and women. On the way, we met another woman, Maia, who would be staying at the riad as well and she decided to join us.
At the hammam, I stripped down to my underwear and left my belongings in the front room, which reminded me of a locker room with benches and hooks to hang your stuff. There was a woman at the front who took people’s money and also sold shampoo, razors, etc. Another woman who worked there came for me and took me into the back room. She, like me, was topless (although she wore shorts) and gestured for me to lie down on a mat on the ground which was surrounded with buckets of hot water. There, she first washed me and massaged my muscles, then scrubbed me with a black soap. She left that on me for a while. The room was steamy and hot, and opened up my pores. When she returned, she rescrubbed and pumiced my body with the black soap, removing all dead skin. My hair was washed, a couple of times too. After I was all squeaky clean, she covered me with another goop and then took me into the next room which was also warm, but not quite so steamy. There were many women in that room, some on mats, some on little stools. Since I was covered in that new stuff, I sat there in the warm room, letting the magic hammam steam and soap work its magic. I didn’t have my glasses on, so most of what was happening in the room was blurry. Other women were shaving, rinsing, chatting. Maia came in after a while and sat next to me. We chatted for a while until the woman came back and rinsed me off. I was brought, shiny and clean to the front room where Fatima was waiting.
I must admit, I felt great! A full body massage, exfoliation, scrub and clean? No complaints here! I also thought it must be an interesting job to have, the woman who scrubbed and massaged people. What must it be like, to come to work every morning, take off your shirt, and start massaging other women, topless? Makes sense, since you’d just get wet anyway, but still…different. How many jobs are there where you get to work topless and don’t have to sell your body? She seemed so comfortable. I found it such an interesting contrast between this relaxed atmosphere and the way women are percieved here with their headscarfs and long clothing. I wish I could speak Arabic or French to have asked her about it. I couldn’t even ask Fatima because she barely spoke any English. Nonetheless, it was a great experience. I enjoyed it and am glad I went.
Aziz and his youngest daughter, Sharouk
I decided to book a tour guide through Aziz for tomorrow. There are many things to see in Fes and I will only be here for a couple of days, so I might as well get someone to show me around. Aziz will be able to get someone who knows what he’s doing, is licensed, and won’t super-overcharge me. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!