Medina Maze In Medievil Imperial City
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
142
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Fes,
Morocco
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Despite young guides who were trying to get us to go to their hotels telling us our choice in hotel was bad, we checked into the Hotel Cascade which is a long-standing backpackers favourite and located right amongst the action. We opted for the roof terrace top sleeping arrangement again and were given some mattresses
mosque in medina
. The rooftop positon is good because you can "see all the shooting stars and make some wishes" promised Abdul. It is also cheap and has wonderful views of the market and rooftops and is surrounded by mosques. Plus, we can eat food; smoke and drink coca-cola without feeling sinful or having to hide under a table or be chased down the street by locals reminding us that it is Ramadan. This not eating is public is a hard one because i am an all day food grazer. Abduls father owns the hotel so he said and is also who we decided would be our man for a tour so we could get accquainted with the city without being followed by hustlers. These guys are brutal. Everybody in Fes seems to have a satelite dish on their roof and Abdul tells me it is so they can watch Spanish football. So, we sneak out to the roof and eat our sandwichs made from goats cheese, onion and tomato and watch all the market action below. It is still one hour until the eating time. During the day the people still sit in the restaurants but dont eat or drink, bizarre. Now there is people with carts and stalls selling all kinds of snacks like breads, cheeses, boiled eggs with cumin, pastries, cactus fruits, dates, prunes and drinks being sold in preparation for breaking the fast. There are black and white swallows darting around our heads and we have the best view of the sunset in the city. Nadine and Mareke go down to buy the Fes speciality of Bsara which is butter bean and garlic soup with chilli and olive oil on top and served through a funnel into a plastic bag, nice one
oasis? Chefchaouen to Fes bus
. Next day we bought some fabulous Nougat from a guy here too.The prayers finally started to boom out over the city and the feast began. We are offered to share in a snack of some dates. Even though it is very difficult, most people actually like Ramadan time because they detox their bodies and feel calm plus kids are on holidays and there is lots of time spent with friends and family.
Later on the rooftop we meet Elizabeth from the US who lives in Rome but has been living with a family in Rabat. We are jealous to learn she knows five languages and is learning Arabic now. The four of us go for a walk around the medina and drink mint tea but we start to be harrassed by hustlers trying to get us into their stores and retreat early.
Next day: The city is separated into three parts, Fes el Bali (the old, walled city), Fes-Jdid (new Fes, home of the Mellah Jewish area), and the Ville Nouvelle (the newest section of Fes). The medina of Fes el Bali, the largest of the two medinas of Fes, is believed to be the largest contiguous car-free urban area in the world and is UNESCO Heritage listed. Luckily Our hotel is just inside the intricately designed Babbou Jeloud gate that marks the old and new Fez and the entrance to the medina so we are right amongst it. Only problem was that the next day Abdul, our intended guide for navigating us through some of the 9500 alleyways and streets that make up the medina passed us off onto his so-called cousin who turned out to be a miserable bastard
in the Berber Cafe with Berber Rastafari
. We checked out the outside of the mosques although non-muslims are not allowed in and went up, down and through alleyways and streets looking at shops that sold silver and brass teapots, carpets, medicine, natural perfume oils and all kinds of other things in the Bazaar. Being the spiritual capital of Morocco, there are 350 mosques in Fes. The mosques had ornate doors and hardwear; most were painted or intricately carved and nearly all had that Moroccan doorway shape with the rounded, temple type archway at the top. The tour gave us an overall view of the medina but we will be happier to cruise around at our own pace next time. The guides presence means that the vendor will hike his prices up to pay the guides commission fee for taking us into the shop and this guy Mohammed was grumpy from lack of sleep during Ramadan. We left him no tip. Of course we had ended up at a couple of carpet shops where polite men in robes had their assisitants roll out all kinds of carpets for us to admire and perhaps buy. We were served mint tea as a sweetener for the deals but none of us bought anything. The rugs were beautiful and well made but you would need a space at home that could take the elaborate colours and then there is the shipping costs. I wanted to buy an Alladin type teapot but the vendor was too pushy and i didnt want the guide to get any commission on it.
We visited a tannery where leather is softened and naturally dyed into beautiful colours. We used a sprig of mint to mask the smell of pidgeon poo droppings that they use to stretch and soften the leather
cute brass Alladin teapots
. There was an old water wheel for washing the skins and large round tubs built into the ground filled with dye made from things like mint, henna, cedar, saffron and flowers. Donkeys would bring the fresh skins in through the medina then the workers would wash the skins with limestone and salt. Next they would wade around in the tubs of dye colouring the skins then some other flattening and smoothing processes and then the skins were laid out to dry on the rofftops. Of course the guides then take you into the leather shop where there are jackets, bags and shoes lined up for sale. I got into an argument with a poof vendor of all things and then we got the hell out of dodge after telling the guide we were leaving. But Berber carpet! Berber carpet! the guide said and we went to one last shop before retreating to a restaurant to eat and drink cold water in Holy Ramadan sin. No beers though, nobody sells them. We all consider getting a taxi to a ritzy hotel in the new part of town to buy cold beers but we are too lazy.
The days are exhausting in the heat and you become easily tired if active during the day.
This same night we ate the special only-available-during-Ramadan soup, bananas and eggs. Merete and us put in a long battle in bargaining to eventually come out the proud owners of two red, goat leather poofs for around AU$30, nearly one third of the first asking price. Now we know the best time to buy any Moroccan shopping is after the fast of the day has been broken and everyone has slept, eaten and drunk something
prunes and dates
. Everyone is much happier at night time and we just happened to meet one fellow who was very happy. We were wandering around looking for food when we noticed a small sign on the wall that read Berber Cafe. Then before i knew it a man with a giant smile came bouncing down a little hallway that was lined with comfortable and colourful Moroccan cushions. The man was dressed in a flowing blue robe that was embroidered with gold thread around the neck. A Berber outfit. The man introduced himself to us as Rasta-Berber and invited us in. Rasta-Berber is the owner of a tiny Amsterdam style cafe where the motto is Get High Before You Die hippy rugs cover the walls and Bob Marley DVDS are on replay all night. We shared some way too sweet mint tea with him and he had lots of fun with Mono Loco. Rasta-Berber is a camel trekking man and was so much fun we even considered hiring him as our guide for southern Morocco. We left him lounging in a haze of hashish smoke before we got too high.
I love Morocco one moment and hate it the next. We meet good people and bad people and it is hard to tell which they are.
Later on this evening Nadine and i see Rasta-Berber again who gets his friend to make us a small sandwich with a strange meat on it and gives it to us. Turns out to be spleen. Br-Yuuukkkkk! Next i buy a piece of a giant pimp my crumpet bread for dinner. This was just like the Australian style breakfast crumpet but was about 50cm in diameter. Cool food
just before breaking the fast time
. Next we got to an 80s style fairground carnival that was set up just outside the medina entrance. There was a snake charmer guy with two snakes and there tricksters and carnies with their gambling type games that nobody ever wins at. There was one young kid with a small, metal, horizontal chocolate wheel. There were prizes sitting on each numbered panel. Kids would place their shrapnel on the table but then the ball the prankster would throw onto the table would always land on an empty panel leaving him with the coins and the kids empty handed. You kinda knew it was a stitch up when the prizes on offer were an 89 model Donkey Kong game or a cassette walkman. There was a game where the contestant had to use an air rifle gun to shoot at cigarettes and a few fancy thriller rides too including one called the Kanguru that had a weird fibreglass kangaroo on top of it. There was a fishing game where you could ook a bottle of soft drink and some cool dodgem cars.Tomorrow we leave with Merete for the quieter town of Azrou where the weekly market is happening.
If we forget someones name we can always just hava a stab at it because every man is named Mohammed after the prophet, Hassan or Abdul in that order of frequency.
