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Published: July 30th 2023
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It’s a slow start this morning as we recover from our long and sleep deprived two day sojourn out into the desert. I am however pleased to note that I do seem to be slowly learning to walk again after the several hours I spent astride a camel.
I head bravely off alone yet again into the maze that is the Medina. The impossible dream is to somehow make it the two kilometres or so through to Bab Boujloud, the Blue Gate, which is at the opposite end of the maze. The walls that surround the Medina are somewhere around eight kilometres long and there are lots of gates. The original Bab Boujloud was apparently nothing special, but when the French took over they decided the city should have a grand entrance, so in 1913 the current blue structure was built. And it does indeed look quite impressive.
Next up are the very peaceful Jnan Sbil Gardens with their long avenue of massively tall palm trees and all the usual offerings of pools and fountains.
I’m hoping to visit the Mellah or Jewish Quarter a bit further on from the gardens. So what’s this impressive looking gate near
the entrance? It’s called the Bab el Mechouar, and it’s certainly worth a photo. As I line up my award winning shot it’s a bit hard not to notice a gentleman in military uniform waving at me. So I do the polite thing and wave back. That was very friendly. I line up the shot again. So why is he still waving; did he not see me wave back, and why does the waving now look not quite so friendly? Now that I’ve looked a bit more closely it’s also a bit hard not to notice that he’s carrying a very large and serious looking machine gun, and that as well as waving he’s now also blowing a whistle very loudly … at me. Oops. I‘m now thinking that perhaps he doesn’t want me to snap my award winning shot. I slowly put down the camera, and the waving and whistle blowing stops. That was a bit off-putting. So two questions come quickly to mind. Firstly, why then are there lots of pictures of what looks suspiciously like this very same gate on Google Maps, and secondly and probably more importantly, are the people who took them still alive?
I read that Fes had had a significant Jewish population since its original founding in the eighth and ninth centuries, and the Mellah is believed to date from the fifteenth century. The Jewish population waxed and waned over the centuries depending on contemporary political and community attitudes and prejudices. It peaked at more than 20,000 in the late 1940s, and at one time there were some 15 operational synagogues here. It’s subsequently declined to no more than around 150 people, and no synagogues. Many of the buildings are very different in appearance to those in the Medina. A lot of them have wooden balconies and overhanging windows, most of which seem to be in a fairly poor state of repair.
Back in the Medina and I take a minor detour off the main “thoroughfare” to visit the Nejjarine Museum of wooden arts and crafts. It’s housed in an early eighteenth century building on three levels, with a central courtyard and all the usual moorish architectural trappings. The displays are nothing special but the building’s impressive.
Now I thought I’d memorised how to get back onto the main drag, but it seems I’ve failed spectacularly. I’m now completely lost.
I try to look confident and pretend that I know exactly where I’m going, but I know the game’s up when I head a long way down a dead end and then have to do a U-turn, all under the watchful eye of a rather disheveled looking local who can smell a free meal or six. He leads me out of the maze, and after much haggling and pleading we negotiate his “fee” down from 100 to 40 dirham. I tell myself that it’s all just part of the cultural experience ….
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Fes
The souks of Fes are amazing. We had a marvelous lunch in a coffee house. Morocco is experienced through all of the senses.