Fez

26-Oct-23

We've really enjoyed our tour guide, Yassin, who's pretty much our day-to-day travel coordinator. However, when we get to each major city, Yassin gets a break from us & a local tour guide takes over, walking us through each town's major sites. Our man in Fez was a trip! 😆 Not the worst tour guide we've ever had but very literal, long-winded & lacking a sense of humor 🙃 He was very knowledgeable & seemed to know everyone in town (shaking hands with lots of people we passed) but he also stopped to buy cigarettes & shoes while taking us around 😄

The Royal Palace in Fez is home to the King of Morocco which is why we can look but not enter.

Bab Semmarine is the South Gate of Fez - built in the late 13th century

Our guide took us to the old Jewish quarter (mellah) & shared his own 'thoughts' on why Jewish neighborhoods are always so 'prosperous in business' 🤨 before walking us through the gold district to the medieval gate that separated the Muslim & Jewish neighborhoods. It's interesting how every tour guide on this trip has pointed out that their people got along just fine with their Jewish communities until they didn't. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

I wish this store had been open - I was very curious what TX styles looked like!

The mystery of the empty stork nests we saw in Spain solved...they're all here in North Africa!

The late 16th Portuguese-style fort Borj Sud is not open to the public but it's a high vantage point from which to see the entire city. Which is probably why it and its counterpart, Borj Nord, sit on opposite sides of the city as much to keep the local population in check as it was to defend the city. 

Borj Nord

We stopped at a pottery & mosaic school where the tour of how they make everything was way more interesting than the goods themselves...though the mosaic fountains were beyond impressive!

 

Mixing the clay

Pouring tile molds

Cutting tile molds into shapes

Making cups

Painting ceramics

Cutting mosaic tiles

Showroom

The better part of the afternoon was spent walking through the maze of the R'Cif Souk & trying not to pet all the cats!

All things pickled

Yes, these are camel heads at a butcher shop

Within the Kissaria bazaar, we took a peak (non-Muslims not allowed in most mosques) into the shrine/tomb of Moulay Idris II, who ruled Morocco in the early 9th century and founded the city of Fez. 

Outside

 Inside

Our final Fez stop was to the famous Chouara Tannery - it's the largest & possibly oldest one (as early as 9the century but for sure 12th century) in Fez. It stank to high heaven because of the concoction of cow urine, pigeon shit, quicklime, & salt water used in the curing process. It's so overpoweringly pungent that they give the tourists sprigs of fresh mint to have on hand while touring the place. The process of tanning looks so laboriously harsh on the body, I definitely have a different appreciation for all the hard work & human health that goes into making leather goods. But ohhh, those jackets were so pretty and buttery soft! 😜