a in M - hammam

i discovered hammams in November last year - well, the version you find in Swiss 'hotsprings', i mean: a steamroom. and i loved it. but now i was in Morocco and a hammam there is quite an experience. my friend and i went for the 'classic' version, which included a scrub, a massage and a shampoo. and it was great!

first, we walked into the steamroom, where i didn't feel it was that hot (i had trouble coping with the sudden drop in temperature from Marrakech to Essaouira), but everyone else did. we were then asked to lie down to be scrubbed clean. this was no gentle scrub, but it was more effective than most, i discovered, when i was made to touch how much dead skin had been taken off. i was then given a simple but all-body massage with Moroccan black soap, followed by a rough shampooing. after that, we were left to 'simmer' in the room, feeling cleaner that we probably had in a long time and enjoying the heat.

to be honest, i have nothing against the simple steamroom version, but i understand why they say it's not really a hammam.