Fes Medina
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2009
1
25
41
Trip End
Mar 19, 2009
Fes,
Morocco
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
We stopped first at the Royal Palace (we missed the king by a few days) with its 7 ornate doors and guards in fancy uniforms. We managed to get some pictures in spite of the rain before a huge busload of tourist arrived. We walked through a small market area where we saw stalls of olives, sweets and nougats (I bought a small pack to sample and they were all delicious), then stopped and went inside a khoranic school.
Entrance to the Royal Palace
Drove to the top of a hill for a panoramic view over the city and medina area. It was funny to see the old buildings with so many satellite dishes on top. Next stop was a ceramic factory where we had a guide explaining all the stages. I really enjoyed seeing the workers (mainly women) painting the ceramics in beautiful designs just by hand without using any patterns. I bought some ceramic pieces (after seeing them being made I couldn't resist even though I'm sure I could have bought them cheaper in Casa or Marrakech).
Then we were dropped at the entrance to the medina and began wandering through - Fes medina is the largest and oldest medina (old city) in Morocco. And also the most easy to get lost in - so many narrow laneways, twisting turning little streets and dead ends. I'm glad we had such a wonderful guide - there's no way we would have found our way through otherwise.
We walked and walked, stopping to look in little stores occasionally. Amazing sights and smells - meat hanging in doorways, animal heads, legs etc, snails (in baskets, bags and even climbing the walls), homemade pizza like bread (which we watched them make - the dough was draped over a piece of marble shaped like a balloon with a fire under it, then tomato, onion and cheese(?) added, folded and rolled into a pizza shape, it was delicious)
It was raining - guards didn't want to come out
. We had to side step mud, donkey droppings and dies running down a narrow street at one point. The men were dyeing silk made from agave plants.
Passed a blacksmith who was sitting sharpening a huge pair of scissors, turning the sharpening wheel with one leg. All the time we had to watch out for donkeys or mules coming up behind us, the men or boys leading them calling out "balak" - look out.
Next stop was a leather shop and we were led up stairs past leather clothing and jackets to a display area with lots of bags, shoes and pouffes then given a sprig of mint. This was to ward off the smells from the die pits below. Apparently the leather hides are first placed in a solution with water, limestone and pigeon poo (because it contains ammonia), before being dyed the colours. We had a browse around the shop section but Mike and I didn't buy anything (Sandra bought shoes and English Mike bought a pouffe).
We stopped for lunch about 1:30 and were led into a restaurant with an amazing character who took a particular liking to Sandra (even asked her to marry him). The food was excellent - most of us had kofta tagine (meatballs), but they also brought out an amazing array of dips, bread, lentils and beans
Market stall
. We then had a lovely hot mint tea. Into a carpet factory and upstairs to see the ladies making them. Their fingers were moving so fast I couldn't really see how they were making the knots and cutting off the ends. They were amazing - I'm glad I took a movie so I can watch it later in slow motion.
We also went to a store/factory which made scarves - silk, cotton, and wool. They wrapped scarves around all of us for a group pic.
We then saw a herbalist who had all sorts of herbs/spices for many different ailments (including something for Mike's cold) We left the medina and got the bus back to the hotel about 5pm.
Mike and I wandered down the main street and found a pharmacy to buy some cold and flu medication. We stopped at a lovely cafe and had cafe au lait for me, mint tea for Mike.
We met the rest of the group (minus Abdul) and walked up and found a great little restaurant (fantastic soup). Shared a couple of bottles of red wine with some of the group so it was a chatty time. They even had some live music (really good, not too loud like the one in Meknes). Back to the hotel for more mint tea before bed.
