Fez

We started out to Fez earlier than usual, as we were only spending the day instead of the weekend, like usual. Sarrah, a AUI grad student who loves in Fez, accompanied us to show us around and keep us from getting lost in the Medina. When we got to Fez, we met up with a friend of someone I worked with over the summer, and his roommate. They work for an English language school and live in Fez. I was a bit nervous, because I had only spoken to them through email. Robert and John turned out to be really nice, and even offered to let us stay at their apartment if we wanted to go to Fez for the weekend. We also had a local tour guide for our trip, whose name I didn't catch, but he had a rather spectacular mustache I'm sure Pr. Addison admired.



We started off our tour by driving up to a vantage point above the old part of Fez. We werfe able to take pictures of the entire city, and our tour guide pointed out the roofs of several important structures.

After the panoramic view, we went to a place that makes the tiles and mosaics that Morocco is so famous for. It doesn't really occur to you that every tile in every mosaic you see has been made by hand, from start to finish. First, they make the tiles and let them dry in the sun. Then, they fire the tiles, and allow them to cool before they glaze them, and fire them again. Then, men with chisels and hammers cut out the mosaic shapes by hand. Then, another person lays the tiles like a jigsaw puzzle, chipping off pieces of tile so they all fit perfectly. Then, cement is laid over the back of the tiles, and the entire thing is cemented together and allowed to dry. The amount of time that goes into even a small table top must be astronomical. They also make pottery here, and each piece is painted in intricate detail by hand. They had a store, but their prices, according to Maraoun and Robert, were a bit steep, considering all the pottery in Morocco is handmade. I prefer the brighter colors of the synthetic glazes, also. The place did pack the bowls really well, though, in newspaper and foam.

We took less of a walking tour through the Fez medina, and more like a running tour. I can barely remember the names of the places we saw, as we went through everything so quickly. Luckily, the wonders of the internet and my guidebook helped me divine the names of the many places we stopped, although probably not in the correct order.

We entered the medina through one of the small side entrances, not the main doors, and wandered through the stalls of vegetables. One of the first places we visited was the Karouine Mosque, which has been a center of Islamic learning in Morocco for 1000 years. Non-Muslims are not allowed to enter the mosque, but the doors are left open so tourists can look inside. The mosque is deceptive in its size, it has sort of melded with the rest of the medina over the centuries, and in reality it is actually huge.

Near the mosque is the Attarin Madrassa, which was built in 1323-1325. The Madrassa looked a lot like the madrassa we visited in Marraskesh, with similar decorations and a courtyard pool. Apparently the Attarin Madrassa is an example of Spanish architectural influence on Moroccan architecture, but I thought it looked nearly identical to the Ben Yousef Madrassa. The carvings in the Fez madrassa were more worn than the Ben Yousef Madrassa, but apparently the Ben Yousef madrassa was restored in the 1980's.


We went to a tannery, which was really interesting because it looked exactly like the pictures I've seen of artisan tanneries. The smell was absolutely revolting. They gave out sprigs of mint to cover the smell, but it didn't help that much. We climbed up four or five tiny steep staircases to reach the roof of the building, where we could look out over the dying and tanning vats. They use pigeon excrement as a source of ammonia, which is simultaneously ingenious and gross. I bought a book cover for my friend, and while I was attempting to haggle, the tour guide intervened and Super-Haggled the guy at the desk. That was pretty cool, because he got the price way down.

We had lunch at a "tourist restaurant", which at 220 dh was probably the most expensive meal I've had in years. The first course was a selection of vegetable dishes that were served cold. They were the best vegetables I've had in Morocco so far. The tagine was particularly interesting, because it was beef and quince, which was a combination we hadn't had yet. We at on a really high terrace at the restaurant, which had a great view.

Next, we went to a blanket weaving "studio", where they showed us how the looms work and how to tie different head scarves. I didn't really like the blanket place because it seemed really gimicky and the blankets were incredibly overpriced. I bought an identical blanket in Rabat for 200dh, and in Fez they were over 600dh. It seems like when you buy something at the place they're made, there's a huge overhead. It kind of felt like a tourist trap, once they show you everything you feel obligated to buy something. This was really the first place in Morocco I got this vibe, which is surprising, since Fez is less of a touristy city than Casablanca or Marrakesh.


We also went to a clothing store, which wsn't particularly interesting, except they had copies of a book called "Humor in Moroccan Culture", which I was tempted to buy but figured I would never have time to read. I skimmed through it, and it was written by a Westerner who moved to Morocco and gradually learned to understand Moroccan humor, which is very different from Western humor.

The last store we went to was a brass working studio, where they make brass plates by hand. I bought my mother a brass plate, and they engraved a message on the back for me. It was a bit expensive, and I think I probably could have gotten a better deal anywhere but the brass studio, but the fact that they engraved it for me was a deal maker.

For our last stop, we went to the Jewish sector, called the Mellah (from the Arabic word for salt. Jews and salt, salt and Jews.....Saltzman). On the way we stopped to take a photo at the Bab Boujeloud, a famous doorway in Fez. It was built in a traditional style, but is relatively new, as it was built in 1913. Apparently most of the houses around the Bab are also from the 20th century, but are built to fit in with the Medina's traditional architecture.




In the Mellah, we went to the Synagogue Aben Danan. There were pictures of the Jewish community back when there were more members, and they had a copy of the Torah that they said was centuries old, but we could tell it was obviously printed with a modern printer. The mellah was interesting, though, because it relates to my sufficiency.