Fascinating Fez

Trip Start Jun 29, 2008

Trip End Nov 27, 2008

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Where I stayed

Batha Fes

(Fes hotels)

Flag of Morocco Fes, Morocco
Sunday, October 19, 2008

Fez is the spiritual and cultural capital of Morocco, and it was here that I was finally able to experience the exotic Morocco I had been looking forward to. Having previously had a tantalisingly brief visit to Tangiers in Morocco, as a day trip from Spain, it was the other-worldliness of the food and spice markets that had inspired further travel to the country.

The medina at Fez provides one of the greatest opportunities in the world to explore a preserved medieval Islamic city. It is not merely a historical site, but a living city full of craftsmen, souks and living quarters. There are over 80,000 shops within this walled area of narrow passageways, through which the only transport is in the form of donkeys and mules (the "small and big trucks" respectively) or loaded small carts which could be wheeled through the melee. I could have quite happily spent more time in this wonderful labyrinth, soaking up the atmosphere and watching as people went about their daily business.

There are many butchers selling their meat within the medina. Those selling chicken have live stock, so people can buy their meat fresh and ensure the chickens are killed in the right manner (facing Mecca naturally). The other meat sellers advertise the type of meat they are selling with a photo of the animal in question (cows, lambs, camels). Often large portions of the animal are hanging from hooks and sliced as required. You would also hope all of this meat is pretty fresh as there is no form of refrigeration used. Mounds of aromatic spices are on offer, as well as olives, nuts, and buckets of the Moroccan version of beef jerky (take my word for it, this does not look appealing).

The souks offer all sorts of handicrafts: leather babouches (these were really irresistible - such comfortable, colourful footwear), Berber jewellery (especially silver jewellery), carpets and rugs (of course), metalwork, pottery and woodwork. We visited some of the craft factories, including a pottery factory, a weaving workshop, and naturally the tannery. We also went to one of the shops selling the brass light fittings and appeared to have finally perfected the sport of bargaining. The shop seller said to our guide, in their local tongue, that I bargained like a Berber (a compliment indeed!). We had a great experience and came away with some nice souvenirs of our time there.

The following day we went on a trip in the morning to Sefrou, a small old walled town about an hour drive from Fez. This town was host to a large community of Jews until 1967 (Six Day War) after which the Jewish community emigrated to Israel en mass. The Jewish community had been living on one side of the river while the Muslim community had lived on the other. The architecture is distinct as they had wooden balconies, whereas the Muslim women do not show themselves from windows or balconies. Slowly, the houses on the Jewish side are becoming occupied by Muslims, however many of the shops have remained unoccupied for the last 40 years as the population is unable to support the number of shops that were previously there. We were shown around by one of the locals, and visited the site of one of the old caravanserais as well as one of the bakeries where the locals take their own bread mix to be baked in the wood fire ovens, having only gas or electricity in their homes. If they take extra bread mix to make additional bread for selling by the bakery, they do not need to pay to use the bakery..