Fes, Rich in History and Shopping

We had a nice morning in Chefchaouen before leaving for Fes - this provided a bit extra time for shopping - Morocco is a shopper’s paradise.  We stumbled upon a couple of finds - a lovely young woman who sews her own clothes and a woman’s cooperative for weaving.  Both were so much fun, so nice and our purchases were special.  Oh yes and some soaps and a painting were also purchased!

Soap, incense, paint shop

Our friendly seamstress

Definitely fresh chickens for dinner

The woman’s cooperative 

New art from the Blue City

This blanket wasn’t purchased but others ere!

Driving 4 1/2 hours to Fes took us through more varied landscape - brown soil, black soil, red soil, trees, no trees and a lovely dam with beautiful water.  The highlight of the day was check in to our riad which is in the old town and dates back to the 14th century.  No two rooms are alike but here is a sample of my room. For those interested - it is Riad Ghita Palace, right in the old Medina.  Staff are great and so helpful.

Fresh pomegranate juice

Courtyard outside my room

View from my bed

My entrance doors

This trip is taking us to family homes for dinner.  Our meal in Fes was the complete opposite of Chefchaouen- we went to an apartment in the new town to the home of a retired government tourism person.  The meal included the local specialty- pastilla - meat and nuts in a philo pastry.  It didn’t stop there as we started with soup and also had couscous with vegetables and lamb PLUS many desserts!  Oh goodness!

Pastilla

Couscous with vegetables and lamb

Would you believe this and the plates below were served for 5 people - way too much!

The Fes Medina was quite different for me this year.  It was Friday and many of the shops were closed so walking through a small number of the 9000 alleys was not as crowded or as stressful.  We saw all the main sights, shopped in all the main places and yes, ate another meal!  Our local guide was great, had wonderful sense of humor, was easy to understand and seemed to know everyone!  We did venture back the next morning to explore the food area on our own.  Good news, 10 went in and 10 came out.

Dying the threads

….and clothing 

There are thousands of cats!,

And then this handsome fellow greeted us - no  is not available for dinner but he is tied up

One of many talented artisans at work

Fresh fruit anyone?

Fresh figs

Shark head

Yes we can still see you

Mint

Marriage seats, I think!

Knife sharpener

Inside an old Koran School.  The small rooms upstairs were very small bedrooms for the students.

Just one of many beautiful doors

Fundug Najjarin, an 18th century inn for the caravans

Inside the mausoleum of Moulay Idriss - because the crowds were not there, this is first time I have really seen inside

Yellow leather is dyed with expensive saffron so is done by hand

But everything else goes into these vats to dye - a very smelly job indeed!

Oldest university in the world dates back to 859

Other sights in Fes included the gate of the King’s palace and a stroll through the Jewish Quarter where we were lucky enough to see huge numbers of storks.

The gate is only opened for special occasions 

The Jewish Quarter

Look at those nests

The pottery/ceramic school/cooperative is amazing to see how they do the work.  No wonder it is not cheap! Lots of items were marked for shipping to other parts of the world but we only saw one for Canada.

Putting on the silver decoration

Cutting the tiles by hand

Painting the designs

The view of this city is quite spectacular- whether it is high up looking down or simply from our riad rooftop.

The Medina below - we were walking around where those green roofs were

Our tour leader and local guide

View from the riad rooftop

The final adventure in Fes - an afternoon at a hamman bath and massage for some of us.  The consensus- it was great!  Pictures are limited.