FES - Sept 21-22

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The ride to Fes began with squeezing into tiny taxis to get to the bus station, where we zoomed around corners with little regard to chickens, dogs or people along the way. At the bus station we had to go up a set of stairs to the office where someone came out to tag all our baggage with numbers, then we proceeded back down the stairs with our luggage to find our bus. Apparently in Fes our luggage would be taken off the bus like you would at an airport terminal and you retrieve it later. The coach we had, needed new suspension and shock absorbers, so we bounced and rocked our way over the windy and dusty roads to Fes. We had a stop halfway for a toilet break, it’s amazing if you have to go what you’d make yourself walk into - I’ll just say that the cockroaches here were plentiful!

After about 6 hours we arrived in Fes. Our hotel was just outside the Medina near the blue gate. We stopped for dinner before our orientation walk; couscous and vegetables and a tomato and cheese salad (which was exceptional and well worth the wait). We had a brief walk through the medina to get our bearings, but many of the shops were closing at this time of night. We were advised to not walk too far as there are over 9000 little streets and there were markers along the way to remember tourists that had wandered in, never to be seen again! (Or so the stories go).

Next morning we were collected to have a local guide show us around town. We visited the stunning golden gates of the Kings Palace in Fes (Fes has been the capital of Morocco at various times). Here we learned of the tolerence of the previous Kings of Morocco, who welcomed and protected Jews at various stages through history and including during WWII. There are not many Jews still in Morocco but we were advised this was through choice (many returning to Palestine when Israel was established) and that they were never thrown out of the country. We drove through the old Jewish quarter where there were buildings with balconies on the outside instead of the normal Riad style with internal balconies.

We then went up a nearby hill to get a view of the city, where you could really appreciate the scale of the Medina and beyond to the new town. The houses in the medina all had multiple satellite dishes on their roofs, giving the impression of a sea of dishes. We stopped briefly at a madras with more amazing tile work, archways and use of water features.

From here we went to a pottery making factory outside the medina (all the kilns were moved outside to prevent fire) where we saw the process of making terrines, plates and dishes as well as tiles. The tiles were either used whole, or broken up precisely to make mosaic fountains, tables or other decorative things. They stressed that we should not be fooled by red clay based ware which had lead in it and was easily scratched (“just take a coin into a shop and rub it on the dish” - which we all thought would get us in real trouble if we actually did it) and then they showed us how solid it was by standing and jumping on the plates.

Finally, our guide took us through the medina, traversing through narrow streets with inconspicuous doors with varieties of knobs and knockers. It was hard to imagine that these were the front doors and inside would be quite different from the outside. How anyone found a person's address here is hard to comprehend.
Finally we entered some lanes that took us past shops selling everything from meat to figs and all things in between. There were cats everywhere as they are seen as clean animals, unlike dogs. There were streets for silkware, for silver, for clothes and bags. We were taken into a labyrinth of a leather shop, where we were given mint to act like a gas mask, before moving out onto a terrace at the back of the shop were we viewed the leather dying works. Here men jumped into vats up to their waistes to help with the infusion of the natural dyes into leather. It was an amazing sight, and I’m sure this is one of the most difficult jobs around especially with the stench of it. Of course there were buying opportunities from the shop whose terrace we were on, and some took advantage of it.

Last stop was at an apothecary (chemist) type shop. Just like the chemists at home they sold health and beauty products too. We had an entertaining owner (a doctor he said) who explained many things about health products for your skin, for asthma and snoring, as well as some general beauty products (mascara, eyeliner, lipstick). One of the most unusual was the argon oil. Good for your skin, and for hair as a conditioner left in overnight. The unusual aspect was due to the process the argon seed goes through before being turned into an oil. The argon is a plant with a fruit like an olive but twice the side. They have trained goats to climb the argon trees and eat the fruit, and they the collect the excreted seeds to produce the oil, apparently being digested by a goat makes all the difference!

In the evening we set out to watch the sun set over the Medina from a hotel balcony, and listen to the call to prayer before heading out to dinner. We set out trying to catch taxi’s to the hotel. However, it was very busy and hard to get us all together. We split up and hailed what we could. Those that caught the earlier taxi’s were suprised to see our leader drop off some, and then tell his taxi to “follow that cab”! Apparently a police officer had got into a taxi that some of our group was in and told the taxi driver to turn around in the opposite direction. Some time later they all turned up ok. It seemed the taxi driver was driving without documents and he was taken to a police station. So we were a little late for the call to prayer. But grateful that all turned out ok. The view from the hotel balcony as the sun was setting was well worth the visit. As was the dinner in a local restaurant, set out to make you feel like you were in someone’s home. The best meal by far.

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Photos

A narrow lane way
Someone's front door on right, entrance to next lane on left

Leather dyeing
A colourful but dirty, smelly, and likely hazardous job.

Leather shoes
Every size and colour

Leather Dyeing
Nestled amongst the neighbouring households