Morocco: Funky Old Medina

Fes: Funky Old Medina

We wound out of our tiny neighborhood on the edge of the medina to begin exploring. Fes has a very beautiful city wall that encircles the narrow streets that rise and fall over the local terrain.

Wall around the medina

 Farm and pasture land surround the city of Fes which is reflected in the markets.

Butcher

More of the marketplace

Vegetable stand

Fes is the artisan capital of Morocco so you see everything from metal work to leather goods. The leather goods and the tannery process is famous in particular and was a must on our to do list. A young shopkeeper offered us a tour of a tannery right off the bat. We decided to just go with it. The shopkeeper introduced us to a young, polite boy who took us to the tannery area. In the hotter months, the smell is overpowering and you would need to hold a twig of mint to your nose. During holy times, the dyes are brightly colored. Even without the brighter dyes, the process was impressive. All types of leather are tanned here: cow, sheep, camel.

Overview of the tannery

Hides drying

Dye vats

Following our tannery visit, we roamed the charming streets of Fes.

Narrow street in the medina

Gate into the medina

Common sight around the medina

At the end of a narrow passageway, we tracked down Cafe Clock, a highly reviewed cafe for lunch. It was fantastic. The almond milkshake was out of this world. The top floor terrace overlooked the rooftops of the medina. A mosque was immediately beside our table and we were lucky enough to hear the prayer call as we enjoyed our meal. As a non-Muslim, I find prayer call very moving. In both Fes and Marrakech, it was amazing to hear the echos of prayer calls from all of the mosques in the city. Truly phenomenal.

Mosque beside Cafe Clock

And of course, no trip is complete without a good donkey fight.

Donkey fight

Donkey fight continued....

And kittens....

Kittens cuddling with some camels

Lots of kittens...

Our neighborhood kittens who we fed

We ended our day hiking up to the surrounding hills to see some ruins. The ruins were nice enough but the view back to Fes was incredible. We also managed to snag a wool blanket for a really good deal from a local up there which has now become one of my favorite blankets.

Merinid Tombs

Fes

We ended our day with a late night snack near our riad. What could go wrong with chicken pastry?!?! Powdered sugar. If was so fantastic but the sweetness really threw me. We ended up cutting the tops of our pastry off and eating it last as a dessert. We enjoyed one last view over the city before heading to bed.

Nightfall over Fes