Morocco Day 3

We are in Fes, a city of 1,000,000.

Our driver took us to one of the king’s palaces. He has many throughout Morocco so he has a place to stay wherever he goes. No hotels for him I guess. The doors were quite ornate and had lots of symbolism which, Abdellah, our guide, explained.

As we left the area, I took a photo of a side door and got reprimanded “No photo!” It was the first of many times I would hear that today, haha!

We were close to the Jewish quarter so we walked through that. Many, if not most of the Jews moved to Palestine in 1948 so there aren’t a lot left in Fes. There were several jewelry stores near the end of the street which sold high quality gold and silver items. Abdellah told us that the word Jew comes from jewelry. This wasn’t a shopping tour so we hurried along to keep up with our guide stopping every so often to let a donkey loaded with items by, for our guide to explain something, or for him to simply count us and make sure no one got lost.

 We were taken by bus to a beautiful viewpoint of the city and got to see the old Fez along with the new.

The old Fez, the medina, has 9,400 streets!! No wonder it is so easy to get lost. Next we went to a tile place where we were shown how they hand made the tile, cut each piece individually, then place it in a design – upside down!  Cement is put on the back side and a table or fountain is made. They also had a section where pottery is painted.

The place is actually a school and students were working alongside master craftsmen. I will never look at a tiled table the same way again!

In the obligatory gift shop I picked up a small souvenir, a tiny tea bag bowl as a keepsake of the visit.

Our bus then drove us to the old quarter and I was quite impressed at the driver’s navigation down crowded busy narrow streets. We headed out on foot down the maze that is the Fez medina. I am sure we all had our mouths hanging open for the next few hours and our heads turning left and right, up and down!

The command “baggat” means “get the heck out of the way NOW”. Carts, donkeys and humanity were constantly passing walking in both directions down the uneven cobblestone roads. And narrow? Did I mention narrow? Sometimes we literally had to jump in a doorway to avoid getting run over.

Abdellah counted us when we came to intersections and made sure there were 15 before moving on. The medina is in sections – leather, textiles, pottery, jewelry, candy, metalwork, etc. Without a guide it would have been impossible to cover all of the various areas we saw.

The streets wind and curve and turn until you can’t remember where you were 5 minutes ago.  After a bit, Abdellah made a turn and suddenly we were in the midst of a quiet little paradise – an area which used to be used as a school I think.

Typical me – too busy taking photos to listen to the long version.  Anyway, it was a nice little respite.

Lunch was at a neat little place up a LOT of very narrow steps. We all ordered the same thing – bastila.

It was so incredibly delicious! The first course was traditional bread served with several dishes of vegetables including olives, carrots, and ? The pastilla is basically ‘chicken pie’. I jokingly asked our waiter if the recipe was a secret and he told it to me. The pastry is the flaky phyllo type, stuffed with small pieces of chicken that has been cooked with onions, peppers and spices like saffron. Almonds are also in the dish and there is a hint of cinnamon together with something sweet, which was a surprise for a main course. It was so very tasty! Then we were served dessert – strawberries, bananas and sweet, juicy, fresh Moroccan oranges!

Our hotels have had them for breakfast and Mike and I can’t get enough of them. In fact I was shocked to look down at the table and see a huge plate of fruit in front of Mikey who was eating it up with great gusto! After asking him just what was going on, everyone laughed at my surprise. No one wanted any more, so Mikey said he’d eat it! Little did I know this would be the first of many times this would happen with Mike.

We continued on to more sections of the medina and headed to the leather tanneries. What an amazing view from on high. There are many vats of colored fluid and several workers washing the skins in the dyes. They were in the hot sun up to at least their knees in liquid, bending and straightening over and over.

Someone in our group said the next time you think you hate your job, think of what these guys were doing. Afterwards, several people tried on leather jackets and slippers. I thought I might want a pair of those pointy Moroccan slippers but they weren’t all that comfortable. I found a multicolored pair with a better toe design which I bought. While waiting out in the street for others to make their purchases (as well as many other times and places), we were approached to buy various items and I succumbed to the sales pitch for leather folding coin purses. I discovered later that they will need a bit of airing out!

Another stop was at a textile place where we tried on clothing. Abdellah had offered to buy us a scarf as a welcome gift from him. I found a nice red and brown one that looks good with my Egyptian galabaya I wore today.

We are going to wear them like the Berbers when we go to the dessert and we learned how to wrap our heads. Mike also bought a jellaba and a headscarf for himself, black of course. While leaving the medina, I purchased a tiny fez shoe keychain for only 10 Dirham (about $1.34). It works great as a zipper pull on my purse. I was pleased with my restraint in shopping today.

 Although it was a warm day, 25C, we were in the shade much of the time and there was a slight breeze blowing. My legs are good and sore tonight from my walking on uneven surfaces and from all the steep, narrow stair climbing we did. It sounds like I am complaining but I’m not. What a great, interesting day we had!

We had about an 80 minute rest when we got back, then we boarded the bus again and went to an authentic Moroccan restaurant Abdellah knew. He ordered for us and we shared. It costed about $8 each for the bread, beef, chicken, pork, liver, hearts (chicken?), sausages and meatballs we ate.

Like I said, Moroccans love their bread and meat. Mike went for a swim in the pool when we got back and he was the only one. I’m not sure if it was closed or whether no one else felt like swimming when it was so late or so cool.

It’s past time for bed again!