Fez; The Soul of Morocco

We secured a first class compartment on the train to Fez, one of Morocco’s four Imperial cities. A driver from our hotel, the lovely Maison Bleu, met us at the station. Three guesses what his name was.

Yes, Virginia, there is a heaven and it is the Hamam at the Maison Bleu. A hamam is a traditional Moroccan steam bath that can be experienced at various levels of luxury. The neighborhood hamams are the equivalent of drive-thrus where you pretty much serve yourself, bring your own towel, soap and scrubs and apply them on your own. Maison Bleu would be the equivalent of a sit-down white tablecloth affair where all I had to do was change into a biodegradable paper thong and allow Fatima to work her magic. My two hours of bliss started in the steam bath where Fatima liberally applied a henna/black soap goo to me. I zoned out in the steam for about 20 minutes after which she returned to rinse me off and escort me to the scrubbing salon next door.

Here there were two polished stone tables (yes, couples can enjoy this procedure together but my better half files this sort of treatment under “T” for “Torture”). Fatima donned a scrubbing mitt and proceeded to remove about 16 layers of skin. I asked if the mossy green tidbits were remnants of the henna application. “No, she responded, “That’s your skin.” I’ve been described as olive-toned before and here was proof.

To heck with sulfate free shampoos to protect my recently Brazilianed hair. I let Fatima go to town with whatever sulfate-infused shampoo she used on my locks. Two shampoos and a conditioner were good enough to remove the orange oil she had applied in the steam room to moisten my dried out wig. I later tried to explain to Rob how good it felt to have my hair shampooed and conditioned. He countered that I have it done once a month in Atlanta at the salon.

After recovering from my Hamam ecstasy, Rob and I ventured into the New Town and ate shawarma in a Vietnamese restaurant. He then splurged on ice cream heavily laced with maraschino cherry (that’s us at the ice cream store) and a chocolate torte.

Big thanks to Tammy Zacks from Group Travel Plus for suggesting we stay at the Maison Bleu. We love our gossamer draped bed and spacious seating area.

- A Happy Traveler