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Published: February 16th 2010
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view of the medina FES Day 21
So my thoughts on Morocco were not so good at this point but I decided to head on to Fez anyways to see if I could change my opinion. I got off the bus and unfortunately my opinion was unchanged.
Immediately the hustlers started to swarm. The new part of the city is very big, busy, dirty, and crowded. I found my way to a hotel to get my head straight before I attempted the Arab world’s largest medina. Because the medina is very big and confusing (no real map could make those tiny alleys clear) I got a guide to take me into the medina and show me around. Unfortunately, as I entered the medina my camera broke (I don’t know how) so all I have is video of the medina and no pictures.
The medina is a mind blowing sight. It seems straight out of Aladdin. As in Chaoeun, there are no cars inside of the medina so it is only donkey transport or walking. Everything is very cramped and dingy. All I could smell was rotting vegetables and a mixture of animal and human excrement. Even with the overwhelming smell it
Medina
The largest medina in all the arab world was still interesting to see how people used to live, and many still do, in this part of the world. The whole medina has an exterior wall that is 14km long. In each main section of the Medina there is a Mosque, fountain, and bakery. These are all components that each section of the city would require in order to survive. The mosque provided religion, the fountain gave the people access to water and the bakery gave the women access to ovens to cook their bread.
Throughout the medina there are different professional areas: carpenters, tanneries, wedding carriers (little covered chairs to carry the bride and groom separately into the ceremony), silk looms, embroidery, etc. In the silk factory the staff showed me how to wrap a scarf/turban, in the goal that I would buy the scarf. I was able to visit the tanneries to see how it takes place. The methods used are the same from thousands of years ago. They actually use their feet (like the old school wine making) to soak the leather in the coloured dye. I also went into the embroidery and rug making centre’s to see how it is completed.
The amount
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The wall of the medina of detail that goes into all of the rugs is amazing and the many varieties that can be found throughout Morocco are stunning. I bought a small Berber rug after going back and forth with the sales guy for a long while. Apparently, Berber rugs have a fringe at only one end of the rug because it is meant to tell the story of the woman that made it. The fringe at the end signifies that her life continues on and does not end with the rug. From what the guy says (whether true or not), the symbols of my rug say that the women that made it believed in working hard and to never take a straight path (the zigzag pattern), having freedom to make her own choices in life (the bowtie pattern), and the last thing I can’t remember what he said so I will have to try to remember but the pattern was like a honeycomb. The man also said he wished me all the success in my future and told me this one story.
'In every Medina there is a large iron door and a small wooden door. The small door is very easy to
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moroccan tea get into but it doesn’t put you into the best place in the Medina. The large door is very hard and you must bang on the door until someone lets you in but once in it puts you into the best place in the Medina. If you want the best you must always keep banging on the iron door no matter how hard it hurts your hands.'
So I really enjoyed his little story. And I left with rug in hand feeling only slightly better about Morocco. I continued on my tour and passed the world’s oldest and first university that was actually created by a woman. It now acts as another mosque but the tile work is stunning.
I left the crowded medina as it was starting to close down and headed back to the new city to have dinner. I had a delicious vegetable couscous with chicken. The restaurant was decorated in the Moroccan desert theme.
FEZ Day 22
Today I visited just a few places. First I went to visit an old Berber woman who lives in a cave. There are very few people that still live in the caves and
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silk scarf and sheet workshop... also the time that my camera began to break this woman is one of the few. She is 72 yrs old and her husband is 110yrs old. They were married when she was 12 years old and they have been living in the cave ever since. She was really tiny and super cute. She showed me how she would carry a full bucket of water on her head. She was really funny when she did it because she kept jumping up and down and walking back and forth to show me that the bucket wouldn’t fall off of her head. The only way that she gets any money is by getting tips from tourists that come to visit her cave home.
I left the cave and headed to the waterfall in Safrou. It was really pretty but as usual it was raining so I didn’t spend to long appreciating it. I then headed back into town to try and buy a new camera before I left for the desert.
I bought a camera after much haggling and then stopped at café for a hot chocolate. The café was themed as the Titanic. It actually felt like I was inside a boat. After that I had to run
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My turban styles to the bus station to catch my night ride to Rissani for a camel expedition.
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Cathie Lutes
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This is a nice day in Morocco.
I'm glad you have had a great day. I love the cave couple story. Also, lovin the Katie Turban style. Just hearing about this place makes me feel like we are for the first time worlds apart. Unbelievable....