A Week in Fez. . . . in One Day

     Of the many highlights of our visit to Morocco, Fez just might top the list.  It's a rich and sumptuous place that has to be experienced to be believed.

      Our day started with our typical royal breakfast.  No king or queen would eat better.  Not satisfied with the buffet of homemade yogurt, meats, cheeses, breads, pastries, fruits, juices, etc?  Order whatever you want and it will be custom made for you.  (Included with the room, naturally.)

     Thus fortified, we met our guide at the door of our riad at 10 a.m.  Good thing too.  Had we turned left or right out the front door and walked more than 100 yards we would have been lost immediately.  There are 350,000 people in the old medina of Fez.  It is a maze of narrow alleys, 4-10 feet across on average and twisting and turning every 25 yards. 

 

     We were extraordinarily lucky in our guide -- Galid.  Galid has lived his whole life in Fez.  He told us we would be seeing the "real Fez" and that we should expect a very long day.  He was not exaggerating.  Galid took us everywhere -- off the beaten track, where few, if any tourists ventured.  We saw behind hidden doors   We were out from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m.  It was extraordinary in every way.  Galid was a wealth of knowledge and gave his tour in a mixture of excellent French and English. 

Lobby of our Riad Before Departing on Tour

Outside Riad on Commencement of Tour

Galid Explains Something

     We saw behind hidden doors -- into hobbit-like homes and the tiny artisan workshops where real residents of Fez work every day in rooms no larger than a small bedroom and many as small as walk-in closets.  We saw embroiders, tailors, woodworkers, metal workers and craftsmen of every kind working by hand alone or in small groups.  We saw communal ovens where residents take their bread to be baked for them.  We saw real food markets where residents buy their food -- from butchers of camel meat and goat meat, to live chickens and snails and pigeons.  We saw traders of wool, sellers of ruit, nuts, dates, mint, vegetables and other herbs.  We saw makers of cookies and confections.  Although many merchants and workers spoke only Arabic, we were able to speak French with some of them and ask questions of the rest through Galid.  We looked into the courtyard of an elementary school.  We saw palaces, former grand homes, orange blossoms, spices, mosques and minarets. 

     We saw mosaics of amazing detail.  We went inside a madrassa.  Ford bargained for, and purchased a Fez for his friend.  He bargained for and purchased a candle-holder from a merchant (and got a great deal, btw).  Asha and Le General bargained for and purchased Moroccan blouses inside the shop of a dress seller. 

 

Snails for Sale

Live Chickens for Sale (Turkeys and Pigeons Too!)

Women Sort Snails Into Different Sizes

Mint for Sale

 

 

     We went to the INCREDIBLE and famous tanning pits of Fez, which have to be seen to be believed.  Pits of lime and dyes, where leather is softened for days on end and soaked in cow urine and pigeon droppings in a process essentially unchanged in this location for 1000 years.  We were given sprigs of mint to hold to our noses to kill the smell.

 

Tanning Pits -- 1000 Years Old

Worker in the Pits

Skins on Back of Donkey Being Removed from Tanning Area

Worker in the Pit

 

 

It was sight after sight, smell after smell . . . 

In Madrassa

 

 

One of Many Minarets

Goat Head and Brains

Human Head and Brain

Camel Meat for Sale (Note the Sign)

 

 

     We saw pottery and tiles being made and mosaics being laid.  We ate cookies and coffee about 1:00 and had the most amazing feast of cooked Moroccan vegetables and cous couse and chicken and almonds and pastilla and fruit and tea at 4:00 -- gorging ourselves while we sat on cushions in what could have been the interior of a palace. 

 

After Candle Holder Purchase

Tiles Being Made by Hand

 

 

    In contrast to Marrakesh, Fez is surprisingly clean.  There are few if any motor vehicles inside the old medina -- animals are used for transportation of goods.  There is little diesel or dust and it is far quieter and less unnerving, given the far lower likelihood of being run down by a motorcycle or tuk tuk.  The "roads" are simple too narrow to allow vehicles to pass each other.

 

     But the most amazing feature of all was the friendliness of the people.  Everyone in Morocco has been friendly and welcoming, but the residents of Fez were the warmest of all.  Everywhere we went, we were greeted in French, asked where we were from, and given a warm welcome and a huge smile.  This applied not only to merchants, but to random pedestrians who had no ulterior motive and sellers of meat and other products and who knew we would not possibly buy anything and that there was no prospect of renumeration.  One butcher engaged Ed in a broken conversation about bodybuilding (consisting of nothing other than the mutual offering and recognition of the names of famous bodybuilders) and then offered his bloody hand for shaking as Ed parted to rejoin to group.

 

     In the evening we were taken high above the city for views of the city through which we had walked:

 

 

     Then, finally, it was back into the maze, through a warren of alleys until, suddenly, we rounded a bend and there we were at the door of our riad.  A tip of 150 Dirham to our guide . . . goodbyes said . . . and we flopped into bed, still stuffed from our afternoon feast.

 

     Wow!