Hamam Persian Baths

This guide to the Hamam Persian Baths in Zanzibar City traces the six-sided stone pool back to Sultan Barghash bin Said, who had Persian architects build the island's first public hammam sometime between 1870 and 1888. It follows the ritual bathers once went through here, steam, a hard scrub, then a massage, and the underground aqueducts that piped hot water through the stone channels beneath your feet. The baths worked as much for status and gossip as for getting clean, with separate hours for men and women and an entry fee only wealthier residents could afford.