Yesterday, while reading through my favorite blogs, I stumbled upon a lovely post about a new spa in Fez. I bookmarked the website for later, figuring that with my birthday coming up, I might sneak the link into my husband’s files.

Today, May 1st, was a day off here in Morocco - Labor Day (as an American, I’m used to Labor Day falling somewhere around the first day of school in September, although I must admit I never paid all that much attention). Around 1:00 pm, my mother-in-law telephoned me to invite my husband and I to Fez, to visit some new spa.

Spa? I thought. Okay!

It wasn’t until we walked in the front door that I recognized, from a photograph on The View from Fez that I was in Nausikaa, the very spa that the story was about!

And lovely it was…My mother-in-law and I ventured into the women’s side while my husband and father-in-law went to the men’s, of course. We all went in for just the gommage and savonnage (saving the massages for my birthday, I hope!), which cost only 100dh each - but boy, was it worth it!

Entering, you are first lead to the vaporium, where you sit in the heat for as long as you can stand it, and apply sabon beldi (traditional black soap). You are then treated to a gommage (scrubbing), just like in a regular hammam but on a stone table rather than the middle of the hammam floor. Next, you may wash your hair at the sinks if you wish (personally, I waited until afterward, since the room is quite hot) then take a soak in the hot jacuzzi. Finally, we were lead back to the stone tables for savonnage (during which you are gently washed by the attendant with soap, and massaged a bit, Moroccan-style, which includes stretching your legs to your arms).

After that, I washed my hair at the sinks, then took a nice cool shower in one of the several cubicles placed in each corner of the room. Last, I cooled down in their lovely reception room (see photos at The View From Fez) before changing into fresh, clean clothes I’d brought along.

For more information, visit Nausikaa’s website or call (+212) 035-61-00-06.

Massages cost 250dh, savonnage and gommage only 100dh. The facilities include a gym, swimming pool, and saunas as well.