~ Fes ~
Today we had a full day in Fes, and to help us explore, we had an 8 hour tour! We met our tour guide in the hotel lobby at 9am. He was a bright and bubbly chap with a smile from ear-to-ear! Our first stop was at the city wall just near the palace, we stopped here to have an introduction to Fes in general. Fes is an old city – dynasties, fashions and booms have come and gone in the city’s 1200-year existence and Fes has outlived them all. Sitting between the mid atlas and reef mountains makes Fes quite a unique place. The city is surrounded by lakes and rivers, the temperature ranges from 45 degrees to -2 degrees and farming is main occupation of the people of Fes. Morocco’s independence movement was born here, and when there are strikes or protests, they are often at their most vociferous in Fes. 

We moved across the road to the Royal Palace – Dar el-Makhzen. The 80 hectares of palace grounds are not open to the public, but from the square out front there is ample space to appreciate the imposing brass doors, surrounded by fine zellij and carved cedar wood. Picture perfect background for the ideal touristic photo! 

Next we headed up to the Borj Sud for one of the best viewpoints/panoramas of the city. Like its counterpart on the northern hills (Borj Nord) it was built by Sultan Ahmed al-Mansour in the late 16th century to monitor the potentially disloyal populace of Fes. Our guide tried to take another spectacular jumping photo of us, but it didn’t quite work, and really just ended up hurting our feet from all the jumping! 

The old Jewish quarter (mellah) was next on our itinerary. The mellah, along with the cemetary enclosed within, remains the most prominent Jewish features of the city. Our guide told us a little bit about Jewish history in Morocco. In 808 a large number of Jews were admitted into Fez from Andalucia and they were well received, contributing greatly with instrumental skills and taxes. Unfortunately after the 14th century, cultural and religious tolerance waned, synagogues were destroyed, schools were abandoned, and the Jewish population was expelled from the city. There are no functioning synagogues in the Jewish quarter at the moment, but with UNESCO funds, several are being restored. We ventured around the town, in and out of the tiny streets. Some parts were very rundown, but some were quaint and had interesting architecture. 

Our guide then took us a bit out of town to Art Naji traditional ceramic pottery factory. It was great! We were passed off to a new guide who took us around and showed us the entire production process, from pot-throwing, cutting tiles and chipping mosaics to the painstaking hand painting and laying out of zellij (tilework) – it was a joy to behold (and super impressive). Max was even lucky enough to have a go at making her own tajine (we think it was disposed of after we walked out of the room). They even sell and ship to countries all around the world! 

After our master arts class we headed to the medina of Fès el-Bali (Old Fez). Boy am I glad we had a guide. It was certainly an assault on the senses. A warren of narrow lanes (around 9,000 alleyways) and covered bazaars fit to bursting with aromatic food stands, craft workshops, mosques and an endless parade of people. It is a place where old and new constantly collide – the men driving the donkeys and mules (that remain the main form of transport – and almost ran us over a few times, they are quieter than you think) chat on their mobile phones, while the ancient skyline is punctuated with satellite dishes and minarets. However years of neglect have taken their toll on the medina. The city walls have started being repaired and much is being done to conserve buildings. Scaffolding is everywhere. 

It was quite overwhelming. We were instructed that if we lost the group we were to stay put and our guide would come back and find us (apparently this was much easier than us continuing on and then potentially never being found again). This resulted in each of us constantly checking behind to ensure we were all still present! In some of the alleyways you had to turn sideways to fit! We saw camel heads hanging from hooks, hunks of meat, miles of sweets, clothing and fabric galore, mosques around every corner, all kinds of shoes and leather as well as rugs as far as the eye could see! 

We made a stop in the medina and entered the Medersa Bou Inania – the finest of Fes’ theological colleges. Simply a stunning and quite place in the midst of mayhem outside its doors. We were silently in awe as we looked around to take in all the elaborate zellij and carved plaster, beautiful cedar mashrabiyyas (lattice screens) and massive brass doors. It was built by the Merenid sultan Bou Inan between 1350 and 1357. We were also able to go and have a look at some of the rooms where students of the college could stay. Such a tranquil place. 

I cannot tell you how long we had been touring, but by this stage we were all hankering for some food. Thankfully Resturant Nejjarine was our next stop. When we stepped inside I can honestly say everyone was speechless. The amount of detail and decoration was both beautiful and overwhelming and the calm of the place was almost deafening from the contrast of outside. We sat on our lush cushioned benches and enjoyed our delicious 3 course meal of different salads, pastilla (I had chicken – it was a combination of sweet and salty flavours with a crisp thin dough, shredded meat, ground almonds, cinnamon, and sugar) and fruit! 

Now happy and full we headed to the Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts and Crafts. Centered on a courtyard, the rooms each displayed different categories of things – traditional artefacts of craftsmen’s tools, chunky prayer beads and Berber locks, chests and musical instruments. The rooftop also had great views over the medina. 

Almost done with our sightseeing for the day, it was time to head into the shops! Our first stop was the Chaouwara tanneries – one of the city’s most iconic sights (and smells). We went into one shop, and the owner took us to the terrace that allowed us to look over the action. He also happily gave us an explanation of the process involved. On our way down through the 5-6 levels of the shop he showed us some of the differences between the types of leathers – camel, donkey, cow etc. Unfortunately the salesmen were a little too pushy and as a group we mostly felt uncomfortable and left without making a purchase. I mainly say unfortunately because some of us did want a gift of Moroccan leather to take home, and Fes is known for its leather – we knew we probably wouldn’t find a better selection. 


Lastly we headed to a rug cooperative. We were gifted with some Moroccan tea as we sat and learnt about the different styles of weaving, the different techniques passed on by the women and the types that the men do. It was really quite interesting! Then we had a bit of a fashion show as they presented the different types and sizes we could buy. 

Exhausted by all of the day’s excitement so far, we headed back to the hotel to rest up before our night of entertainment (that’s right there’s more!). At dinner time Mohamed and Hassan drove us back into town. We were sat at a front row table in front of the stage where four men were playing music. All we were really told about the night before arriving was that we would be treated to Moroccan entertainment and food. We ordered a bottle of wine and enjoyed listening to the musicians play as more quests started to trickle in. When we were told the menu for this evening we almost fell off our chairs with laughter. It was the EXACT same meal we had enjoyed for lunch. I’m not sure why it was so funny. Is may have been that we were all mostly still full from our huge lunch, that we had said how much we had enjoyed it, maybe it was the little bit of wine mixed with the heat, or perhaps it was just that the waiter looked slightly unsure as to why we were giggling, but I knew then it was going to be an enjoyable evening! 
The entertainment itself is quite difficult to describe, mostly because it was quite visual, so I’ll add pictures, but mostly you just had to see a lot of it to believe it! There were belly dancers (both with and without audience involvement), a magician, men playing music with some weird instruments (one of them was a giant pair of scissors), dressing up in traditional clothes, carrying some women in the traditional Moroccan wedding chair (or trying to – one lady couldn’t quite figure out how to sit cross-legged in the middle and as such they couldn’t lift her – horrible/embarrassing) and a bit of unwanted audience participation from the rowdy table behind us! We all had a turn up on stage and it was overall a fabulous night!! It was a jam-packed awesome day.