Fes Festivities

Every town we went to had a market, usually supplying spices, vegetables, random decorative items, etc. However, I have never experienced anything like the markets in Fes.
We arrived to the city around sunset and somehow managed to dodge the kamikaze boys on scooters flying at us and trying to convince us to stay/eat/drink/shop at their father’s/cousin’s/uncle’s/neighbor’s hotel/restaurant/tea café/material store. We stopped at the top of a hill overlooking the city and I was shocked at how enormous it is! When we finally braved the insane traffic (mostly due to the aforementioned kamikaze solicitors) it took us forever to find the hotel and check in, so that it was fairly late by the time we decided to head into the medina- the old part of town- for some exploration. It was almost eerie- full of dark, quiet and abandoned streets with tiny little alleyways we weren’t sure we would even fit through if we tried.

At the top of the hill a few restaurants and snack stands were still open so Angel bought me some tasty little almond pastries that I love and then we sat down to eat a private, delicious tagine dinner. We had the traditional sweet mint tea, tabouli and lamb. By the time we headed back to the hotel there was hardly anyone at all left on the streets.
The next morning we started off with what may be my favorite part of traveling- a huge hotel breakfast buffet. The thing about traditional Moroccan breakfasts is that they are 90% delicious pastries. I ate heartily.

After breakfast we headed back to the Medina, which was unrecognizably different in the daylight. The streets were packed with people, not very many tourists but quite a few with donkeys.

In every possible space there are stands and stores selling everything including shoes, textiles, vegetables, meat, live baby chickens, live adult chickens, severed goat heads,

pharmaceuticals, musical instruments, religious items, carved wooden animals and other art, underwear, spices, etc.
Absolutely Incredible.

We passed one particularly beautiful building which turned out to be the Medersa Bouinania- built in 1350 as a mosque and residential theological college. This was a building full of colorful tile patterns and alabaster carvings, the same traditional Arabic style as the Alhambra.
We wandered around for a while and eventually asked several shop owners where we could find the areas used for dying cloth and leather. A man (who we think was named Rashid) appeared out of nowhere and offered to show us the dye areas and around his neighborhood in general.

We walked past the bread bakery where we saw a man pulling the typical pita-like dry bread out of an enormous oven.

Then we visited the textile house and met the man who weaves the blankets and tapestries out of silk, cotton or wool. (We bought beautifully bright silk ones- a red and a green.)

Next was the dye pools. We entered and were immediately greeted by a very strong stench. The ground floor was full of sectioned rock pools, mostly full of white lye but also a few shaded pools colored by spices such as paprika and cumin. There was also a water wheel where a man in very tall boots was stomping and churning the bleached hides.

Up some very narrow and rickety steps was the top floor, full of small shaded rooms used for stretching, texturing and detailing the hides. The roof was crammed with dyed hides drying in the sun.

From there we walked via other roofs to the top of a hill where ‘bric-a-brac’ and antiques were sold, as well as workshops for carpentry and musical instruments.

We spoke to several men who were making guitars and drums. Continuing up the hill we climbed past a cave that has been used as a stable for centuries up to the top for a stunning view of the city.

When we wandered back down, Rashid took us to his neighborhood spice guy, who let us smell the contents of every beautiful glass jar and explained some of his favorite combinations. He seemed particularly excited as he was not used to tourists coming into his shop so far away from the main market.

We ended up buying a few spices and a block of musk but politely declined several offers of henna paintings.

 The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering through the streets and back to the market. Truly a completely new and exciting experience for me!