A Walking Tour of Fes

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Our journey from Chefchaouen to Fes was much more comfortable and far less interesting than our first Moroccan bus journey! It took about 5 hours including a halfway break at a service area which included a 25 hour mosque and sheep carcasses. (The cooking skewers smelled delicious.) Arriving in Fes we negotiated our way into a petit red taxi to bring us to Funky Fes hostel in the Medina, on the off-chance that they had rooms free. They didn't but were very accommodating and told us to relax in their lounge, bringing us complimentary mint tea as they tried to sort something for us. It nearly worked out perfectly - we were going to stay in a nearby Riad for the night, then stay in Funky Fes Monday and Tuesday nights. But then it turned out that they didn't have rooms free for Tuesday, the Riad owners weren't in, and while they tried to get us to stay with a local family for the night it just wasn't going to work out! It was dark at this stage, so after signing up for their walking tour, we departed to try and find a cheap hostel named in our guidebooks. Somehow we managed to navigate our way through the dark and winding alleys to one of the main tourist streets and onwards to Hotel Cascade. And luckily they had a twin room spare - bare, basic, dingy but clean and at 80dirham (7/8euro) per night we weren't complaining. There was even (boiling) hot water in the communal bathroom. We got in just in time, the heavens opened ten minutes after we arrived. We had showers and chilled out for awhile before our hunger got the better of our desire to remain dry. We ended up in a nearby restaurant for a three-course meal: tomato soup, chicken tagine, and sliced orange with cinnamon for dessert. It wasn't amazing - must search for more places to eat. We went for a short walk around but most of the shops had shut and the food markets were winding down. We bought a pack of playing cards and sat in a different beautifully decorated restaurant drinking hot chocolate and playing gin rummy.

Woke up on Monday feeling very refreshed! We had breakfast upstairs on the terrace overlooking the street and the Bab Bou Jeloud blue gate; omelette, Moroccan flat bread, freshly squeezed orange juice, pain au chocolat and coffee - perfect for 20dhr! We made our way back to Funky Fes for our walking tour. It was actually very decent for the hostel to organise it, as we were the only ones on it and would be paying our guide, Abdullah, directly ourselves. First he took us around the El-Andalus quarter, which was populated by the Moors fleeing Andalucia around the 8th-9th centuries. This part of town was definitely off the tourist trek. Abdullah pointed out mosques and ornately tiled fountains which are to be found all over the city, although unfortunately a lot of them don't work. He showed us a lovely panorama across the city and pointed out more places which we would be visiting. It's a big place! He brought us down through a massive food market which occupied a number of different streets - fruit and vegetables, fish (with buckets of fish heads), meat, eggs, live chickens and rabbits - it was a fantastic immersion into the part of Fes where people really live.

Then we slowly walked back down into the more touristy part of the Medina, past souks selling everything from spices and cakes to toys and mobile phones. We arrived at the Medersa el-Attarine, which was founded in 1325 as an Islamic college, containing teaching halls as well as numerous rooms for students to stay in while the studied. It is an absolutely stunning building with tiled floors, stuccowork and beautifully carved woodwork around the walls, balconies and ceilings. Afterwards we walked around the corner to the adjoining Kairaouine Mosque and University, which we could only glimpse at through the doorway as Abdullah suspected we weren't Muslim. Originally founded in 859AD it claims to be the oldest university in the world. It looks to be in really good condition and still draws hundreds and thousands of students.

From there we went for a wander around the maze that are the Fes souks, stumbling into an interesting thread market of cotton and silk in all conceivable colours. Dodging under a low lung wooden beam (no through access for donkeys) we continued through the souk, avoiding the traffic of donkeys, carts and people. Abdullah brought us into quite a number of old market buildings which were hired out for use back in the days of the caravan traders. The ground-floor of these buildings had stables for their horses/camels and the next two floors had plenty of space for shops. Unfortunately most of them were in an advanced state of decay although a few were still being used (ground-floor only). Such beautiful old buildings, it would be great if they could be restored somehow. Abdullah gave us a crash course in the beginnings of Arab technology while we were there - we weren't sure whether to take him seriously or not! He showed us a well and said that wells were the first telescopes as they reflected and magnified the stars, then he said that Arabs discovered the concept of electricity and currents by the static electricity generated while wearing their thobes (robes) all day. Then he broke some strands off a basket and told us to chew them, before saying that it was the same material used to make matches. We were then allowed to keep our hald-eater strands of basket as a souvineer. Getting a bit strange at this point!

Next on the tour was the tomb of Moulay Idriss II, the Sultan who unified Morocco, a declared holy place where only Muslims can enter but we could look in through the door. Afterwards, we were brought into an absolutely enormous carpet shop for "a view from the roof". The view wasn't as interesting as the building however - a converted townhouse three stories tall with many nooks and crannies. We started to get sucked into a carpet viewing while sipping mint tea, but ended it VERY quickly when we heard some initial prices being float around (into the thousands of euro!). The carpet seller had asked us where we were staying beforehand so he didn't look all that suprised, good old Hotel Cascade giving everyone low expectations! Shortly after we were whisked into a herbal medicine/perfumery - Abdullah was after some commissions! We were shown the process of how to get Argon nut oil out of the nut and the various things it is used in. After trying to give us the hard sell (200dhr for a small bottle of oil!) he brought out his sister to talk about different herbs and spices and their uses. Then it was back to the hard sell where stupidly we both named a price, stuck to it, and then had to pay up when he eventually agreed as we were about to leave. I got it for a quarter of the original price but still paid 5euro for a bottle of oil that I don't really need. Need to be careful!

Determined not to buy anything else we followed Abdullah around as he pointed out the African mosque on the way to the tanneries. This was the place I most wanted to see and I wasn't disappointed! We were handed sprigs of mint heading up the stairs of a vast co-op, and from the roof had excellent views out over the dying pits. Our guide gave us a quick explanation of the process. First the skins (cow/lamb/camel) are put through the lime pits as an anti-bacterial agent to remove any impurities, then they are washed for several days in a giant rotating drum. They change the water several times and eventually the skins are ready to be dyed. They all use natural dyes mixed with pigeon poo, cow urine and other heady smells, a natural potion unchanged since the Middle Ages. The leathers were then laid out on surrounding rooftops to dry. We were shown all the different products made with the leather but there wasn't a lot of pressure to buy. They did have some really nice products.

We thought the tour was nearly over but then we were unexpectedly brought into a little restaurant for lunch. It was just as well we were getting hungry and decided to eat anyway. The set menu was pricy but we did get a feast - a spread of Moroccan salads and side dishes, a chicken and almond tagine, loads of our favourite flat bread, finished off with sliced oranges and mint tea. We thought the tour was definately over at this point but Abdullah had more to show us. He brought us to a leather auction which was in full swing in what looked like an abandoned building. Then we went to a silk factory where they were working the looms to make the fabric, didn't stay long there. He brought us to Dar Seffarine to see the copper-beaters hammering out huge pans for weddings, before leaving us at one of the important Medina gates. What a tour - 6 hours in total!

We just relaxed for most of the rest of the day. We went in search of a beer (very difficult to find) and ended up in a hotel bar paying more than we do in Spain for the same amount. Just the one then! As we went out to find a place to eat we found ourselves trying to shake off an over-'helpful' kid who could speak about four languages. Don't know how Morocco is not a world power - everyone is multi-lingual and very entrepreneuric with plenty of drive and skill. We ended up in a restaurant that had a cool Bedouin tent up on the roof terrace; we sat on cushions on the floor and listened to a group of friends nearby play the drums and sing. Later that night we met some other English teachers up on the roof of our hostel and we all went out together for a few beers and pool in the hotel. Plenty of local guys gathered around to take us on, all good fun. It was one of the guys' birthday, he was delighted to receive a free lump of hash as a birthday present from one of the locals we were playing with. Crazy! So far Morocco hasn't failed to amaze and entertain.

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