Fes

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29 April - 3 May

A very short train ride east brings me to Fes - the granddaddy of all Moroccan cities. Fes (alternately spelled Fez) is old - really old. Moulay Idriss and his son built the city at about 800 AD as the new capital of the new kingdom, and for over 1200 years it has been still here, occasionally sacked or partially destroyed but always surviving. Fes is said to be the pulse of Morocco, even though the capital city has shifted over the centuries (it is now in Rabat) and ruling powers have changed. Whatever the mood or trend in culture or politics is in Morocco it will first be felt in Fes.

Like all cities and many large towns in Morocco Fes is divided into the old Arabic section (the medina) and the newer French section (the ville nouvelle) set up by the colonizing French government in the 20th century. The medinas tend to be characterized by narrow twisting cobble streets crowded with adobe style buildings, shops and mosques. The ville nouvelles were designed to be a little bit of France in Morocco and feature broad tree-lined boulevards, wide sidewalks with large cafes and boutiques, fountains and public sculpture of famous French personages. Invariably the main street in any ville nouvelle is Avenue Mohammed V (the reigning monarch from 1956 to 1961) and the other major street will be Avenue Hassan II (the monarch from 1961 to 1999). Most importantly is that any bookstore with the slightest chance of carrying English language books will be in the ville nouvelle, and lately I have been on tear reading books and so have made frequent trips into the villes nouvelles.

Fes is famous for its crafts, including blue pottery and leather goods. Out on the edge of the medina are the odorous tanneries where the latest in long lineages of workers stand knee-deep in traditional and chemical dyes working hides to just the right hue and suppleness. These poor guys apparently have all kinds of health problems from working in these chemicals with really no protection, but it is prestigious, hereditary and lucrative so the benefits are felt to outweigh the costs.

I have been staying in the medinas so far because, even though the ville nouvelle has nicer hotels and amenities, it is the old historic Morocco that is the draw and not Gallic equivalents of planned communities. The major drawback of the medinas, of course, is the near-constant pressure to buy something or to "please just come into my store for a minute, only to look - oh you're from America, New York? Chicago? Los Angeles?" But to wander and get lost in the maze of streets is fantastic fun and to walk until you're dizzy from hunger and then to sit down in some hole-in-the-wall restaurant and eat a delicious traditional meal before finding the way back is pretty cheap entertainment.

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