Morocco — Day 02
An early morning started off with a quick breakfast. We headed out towards the Royal Palace. On the way, we picked up our local guide — a tall lanky guy in a jacket and shades! He briefed us on what we would be doing through the day — the palace, a tannery, and finally the Medina.
Fez has served as Morocco’s capital four times in the past. The Royal Palace is where the king used to live, and covered close to 2/3rds of Fez’s total area! It had huge ornate gates with a lot of mosaic and bronze art work.
After a few pictures, we then started walking into the Jewish quarter. It was a market like area where we saw folks selling black soap, grain and spices. An interesting fact about identifying a Jewish quarter is the balcony — they are always in line with the walls, never protruding outwards.
Next, we headed to a panoramic view point, from where we could see the whole of Fez. The Medina was visible in its entirety. Our guide said that it had 40, 000 dead ends! Whoa! Wouldn’t be fun to get lost in there.
Next, we drove to a co-operative which made clay utensils and mosaic work. The manager there showed us around and explained the process of how they made clay vessels. Here is a video on pot making:
He then took us to the mosaic artisans who were doing intricate work with just a hammer. Very impressive. One finds such mosaic work all over Morocco on tables, fountains, etc.
Next we headed to the store to buy some of the clay utensils.
The most exciting part of the day was coming up next — the Medina walking tour. Our guide claimed that we could take any lane we wished and he could ensure we wouldn’t get lost. So it was fun to guess which lane would be a dead end and which wouldn’t. He told us about the doors that had two knockers — one for people walking and another for folks on mules!
Here is a short video on how the Medina looks:
We also went into a brick oven shop that would bake bread for people in the community for a Dirham each. Our guide explained how marriage proposals happen based on how good a bread a girl makes!
Next up was a stinker. Literally. The tannery. We were given mint leaves to subdue the smell. I seemed to get used to it in a while though ;). Huge UNESCO heritage site which is the old tannery on one end, and a fully functional, stinky tannery on the other side. We headed into a leather good store and everyone kinda went crazy here. Bags, belts, shoes, ottomans, etc — folks lightened their wallets. But also had a good experience bargaining.
Hunger pangs had kicked in by this time, so we headed to a restaurant, and had some great food.
We next headed to a hand loom store. They showed us different types of clothes that Moroccans wear like the Kaftan and the Jalabiya. Also made a couple of us try out the head gear. And this is what happened ;)
There was another short shopping spree, wrapped up and headed out to continue the tour. We went through narrow lanes, saw people living their daily lives, market area changing from clothes to groceries to spices to metal to meat. The architecture of the Medina reminded me of the Aladin video game we used to play as kids.
Our guide took us next to a Madrassa (an Islamic school).
After our tour, we said goodbye to our guide, and headed back to the hotel. The evening was ours to use to explore the city more. We headed to dinner to a place called Fas Vegas. Then went to Mounia bar. It had the most amazing atmosphere — live music, with people dancing and grooving to it. Had the local Fez beer which is quite good. It was fun to be part of the night life on a Tuesday ;)
Fez was great, but there were better things to come. Stay tuned for Sahara Desert Camp, Todra Gorge, Ait Ben Haddou, and Marrakech.
