Morocco Day 3: Hammams & Souks at Chefchaouen

The next day we had originally planned to go hiking (Chefchaouen is surrounded by the Rif Mountains and has many hiking trails), but with the rain, we thought it best not to. Instead of staying indoors doing nothing (weather forecast was rain again the whole day), we decided to look for a hammam or a bath house. To start off the day, we had some breakfast at a small café.

I wanted to try some Moroccan coffee. It wasn't that great, and I decided to stick to mint tea after that. I also had some Moroccan crepes with honey.

Another traditional Moroccan breakfast (which Bel tried), was fried eggs with some goat cheese and black olives.

We then went to buy bus tickets for Fes. For Tangier to Chefchaouen, the bus wasn't full, but when we arrived at Chefchaouen the day before, we noticed that many people were getting on the bus to continue on to Fes. So we decided to buy tickets since the bus would be full. We forgot to buy at the bus station when we arrived, but luckily, there's a CTM ticket office right outside the medina. (Upon exiting the main gate (Bab el Ain) of the medina, take the street on your right. Walk up and there's a small cybercafe called Cafe Cyber Andalucia).

After buying our tickets, we stopped by our hostel to change, then set off to look for a hammam. The receptionist told us about the local hammam, but said to go after noon, as that is the time slot for the women. We also looked around the city for some hammams we had researched for online, but they were more of the luxury and spa type (and more expensive), so we decided to try the local one. It took us a while to find the hammam, as it had no address, and people just pointed us at the general direction. We finally found it before noontime, but we couldn't go in yet to inquire because at that time, it was men only. Luckily, we saw two other female foreigners waiting outside (their male companion was inside). They told us what they had found out -- how much it would cost, roughly, and that they were told to come back at around 3pm.

The time slot seemed quite late for us, but we really couldn't go inside yet to inquire, so we decided to go back past nooon. (There were some local women already lining up after all). We ducked into a nearby café, but just sat there without ordering anything. We headed back to the hammam at around 12:15, and this time around we were able to go in. We tried our best to communicate what we wanted. The ladies made us sit and wait until 1pm as they set up. We weren't sure if they understood us or not, but in the end it all worked out and we had an authentic hammam experience.

The entrance to the local hammam

Basically, a hammam is a bathhouse. Some hammams have separate rooms for the men and the women, some are only for men or only for women, and some (like the one we went to), have sepcific time slots for men and women. The locals go to the hammam often to cleanse, and for us it was an interesting cultural experience.

We were first made to wait at the changing rooms, were there are just benches and hooks to hang your clothes. We were able to leave our things with the woman behind the front desk. The first thing to get used to is the nudity. Everyone in the hammam strips down to their bottom underwear. This was quickly easy to get used to, as it is a bathhouse after all. So we undressed, wrapped ourselves in our towels, then followed the ladies downstairs to the bathing rooms. Second thing to note is that you don't bathe yourself, you get bathed. At first I thought that we would have to borrow our own bathing materials (a stool, bucket, soap) and then just sort of copy what everyone else was doing, but instead the local women were the ones who bathed us. First they collected water in buckets (I think from a sort of well that was naturally heated. Either that or taps, I didn't get to see closely.), then they brougth the buckets to where we were and poured the hot water all over our bodies. Next, they gave us black and oily soap to coat ourselves in. When we were done, the women took a hand towel (more of like a glove) and scrubbed us raw.  Initially, I felt a bit awkward, but again, it was easy to adapt to, as all around us, women were really helping each other bathe. After scrubbing our bodies they washed our hair, and ended with a short but relaxing massage. (Not really a massage like when you're lying down, but just a massage around your shoulders while seated).

A third thing is that, expectedly, the hammam is quite hot, like a steam room. The room we were in though wasn't that hot. If I remember correctly, there were several rooms, and one of them was most like a steam room, though we weren't brought to this room. Nevertheless, I found the temperature of the room we were in to be just the right amount, and made the experience very relaxing.

Last, and most interestingly for me, was the noise level.  It was very loud in the hammam, full of chatter, and also of the playful noise made by some young children. It was like a gossip house. We obviously couldn't understand what the women were saying, but that's what it felt like. Women would be catching up with each other and telling stories, and their conversations weren't limited to their companions; they would sometimes shout across the room.

When all was done we poured water on ourselves one last time, then towelled off and headed back upstairs to dress up. We paid 80dh each plus a small tip to the two women who bathed us (we definitely, but understandably paid more than the locals), and left the hammam feeling extremely clean. It was definitely one of the more interesting cultural rituals I've experienced!

Feeling clean and relaxed but by then quite hungry, we went to have a late lunch at Casa Hassan (their menu sets were 95 dh each). This time around we had some salad and harira for our first plate.

Cheese salad, harira, Moroccan salad

And for our second plate we tried a mixed meat skewer, meat tajine, and vegetable couscous. (I loved the rice that came with the meat skewers).

Kebabs, a tajine, and cousous - three Moroccan staples

Our dessert. Again, nothing special.

After lunch we dropped our things back off at the hostel, then wandered around the medina to check out the souks. Even if we didn't buy anything (we were saving most of our shopping for Marrakech, our last stop, so we wouldn't have to carry much while still traveling), it was still nice to look around and see the local and artisanal handicrafts. We saw many different and beautiful goods, here are a few below if you'd like to see. :)

Admiring some woven carpets and rugs

woodworks and mirrors

earthenware tajines

soaps

more soaps

woven bags

teapots for the famous mint tea

ceramics

wooden utensils

colorful dyes

leather bags and sandals

While you will see similar goods all over Morocco, certain cities specialize in certain goods. For example, leather goods are best bought in Fes, jewelry in Marakech, wooden goods in Essaouira, silver in Tiznit or Taroudannt, pottery in Safi, so on and so forth. Popular in Chefchaouen are woolen garments, and we saw plenty stores selling woolen djallabas, the traditional robes that the men wear. They looked so warm and comfortable, and I really wanted to try one on because of the cold weather!

djallabas - traditional robes

While we just looked at most of the goods, we did buy some postcards. The owner of the store we bought postcards from was quite friendly. We engaged in some small talk, and after finding out where we were from, asked us for a greeting in Filipino. We taught him "Mabuhay," and he wrote it down to remember. (He had several other greetings in different languages written down too).

Friendly store owner

The store owner writing "Mabuhay"

After looking around, we bought some bread, cheese, and olives at the market then headed back to the hostel. For dinner, we had that, along with some leftovers from our past meals (Casa Aladdin and Casa Hassan bought had generous servings). 

Cheese

Cheese and olives

The next morning we had breakfast at a café, then walked to the bus station to catch our 10am bus to Fes.

Mint tea and rghayef for breakfast

The bus was late, and we ended up leaving at 11:15. But we didn't stress over (just be warned not to depend too much on buses being on time). We arrived in Fes in the afternoon and set out to explore, but that's a story for another day. :)