Morocco: Fez, Meknes & Moulay Idriss

I have to make a confession: Remi and I have been avoiding writing this series of blogs.  We took over 2000 pictures in Morocco.  TWO THOUSAND.  It's a big job!  But here we go...  

Fez

One of the four imperial cities in Morocco, Fez was founded around 800 AD and holds Fes el-Bali (Old Fez).  A UNESCO World Heritage site (see: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/170), this medina (or old city) may be the largest car-free urban area in the world!  And thank goodness!!  The streets are traveled by man, bicycle, donkey/horse-cart and cat - enough traffic for these narrow streets!

 
(Rémi in blue) Sarah and I went here first, after a brief over-night stay in Rabat (the capital).

When a picture is boring I convert it to black and white.  Then it looks good.  Bear with me on this.  I think a lot of kids don't necessarily go to school.  The rest have extended lunch breaks (2 hours) between 4 hour stretches in class. I think our students here might need a bit of an extension from the current 10:00 to 14:00 school day.

If you want my opinion, this picture can be converted to black and white.  Then sold to National Geographic. 

Due to a chance meeting on the train on our way from Rabat to Fez, we were lucky enough to be connected with Hanna, proprietress of Dar Naima (see:
http://www.darnaima-fes.com/).  This home stay in the heart of Fes el-Bali was perfect!  We would recommend anyone staying here.  And they had a goat in their living room!  (this is almost true...  Hanna brought her inside so I could play with her).
Is this weird?  Not really.  In the Muslim majority countries we've visited they would be appalled we keep a dog in our house.

The medina in Fez was something else.  Lonely Planet recommends getting lost in its winding streets as one of the top 18 experiences in Morocco.  And get lost we did!  Fortunately we only had to pay someone once to lead us back to Hanna's place.  And there was so much to see!

 

 

Remi's played with the photo above in Photoshop for a neat effect!  Below is one of the many pretty doorways in Fez.

Remi was enamoured with this gentleman and his wood-working tools.  He was making chess pieces, figurines and the like.  I actually brought home this top that he was making as a demonstration for us!  We saw dozens of guys working in shops on the street, making everything from furniture, to pens, to plaster moldings.  Mostly things were done with hand tools.  Except in a wood mill we chanced by, where they had a single band saw in the middle of a huge room, and a larger scale shop with a few vintage power tools.

While in Fez we also visited a tannery.  Chaouwara Tannery, dating back to 1880, may just be the oldest tannery in the world!  We had a tour guide lead us through, providing each of us with a mint sprig to ward off the smell.  The smell of course comes from how the hides are prepared.  They are soaked in a pigeon poop soup for part of the process!  They are dyed and dried on location too.  Luckily we weren't visiting in the height of summer.  I can't imagine how much more pungent the smell would be on a hot day!  Our guide tried to tell us that there are many health benefits from working in the tanneries, including lung health.  I doubt it!

 

 

A black and white conversion.

A couple views of the city from the rooftops:

 

Because we had so much time in Morocco (three weeks!) we were able to see many historical sites and museums.  One of the first we saw was the Medersa Bou Inania in Fez.  A medersa is a "college for teaching theology, law, Arabic literature and grammar" (per Lonely Planet).  This one was built in the 1350s.

I saw guys making these things in the street.  All hand tools.  When labour is cheap...  All the wood is cedar from the north part of the country.  The up-shot is that it's easy to work.  The downside is that it's weak and splinters easily.

 

 There are kitties EVERYWHERE!  We have so many cute photos...  I might do a whole "Cute Animals of Morocco" blog down the road...

There are also some nice sites to see around Fez.  We were able to hire a car and driver to head out of the city to see Volubilis (to be posted in its own separate blog), Meknes and Moulay Idriss.  We drove through fields of olives!

Meknes

Another imperial city (there are four in Morocco: Rabat - where we started our journey, which was by all accounts a bit dull; Fez; Meknes; Marrakech).  Also a very pretty town but we didn't spend much time here.  Below are a couple of pictures of the gates into the city.  Disclaimer: there was a near constant stream of cars out of the door, all of which tried to kill us.  This car-less picture with a guy in a jelaba was a total fluke.

This was a shot from the restaurant our guide took us to.  Short on flavour, long on price.

We were able to visit a few of the historical sites here.  The Medersa Bou Inania (built in the 1350s and named after the same guy as the one we saw in Fez).  The architecture is quite stunning in Morocco.  We're so boring here in Canada!!

 

 

We also visited the Place el-Hedim - our first open-air market (although nowhere near as extravagant as the one we would see in Marrakech).  Here Remi was assaulted by a snake-charmer.  He had a wrinkly face.  I was going to take a picture, but he launched this beast on me instead.  Never did get that picture.  The one below was taken on the fly.

The charmer in question...  The sound of the their instruments can be heard across the entire place.

 We snuck a few shots of the locals when we could.

Sarah likes this picture because she thinks it makes her look intrepid.  We're each entitled to our opinions, I guess.

 

We also visited Heri es-Souani, vast granaries built by Moulay Ismail around 700 AD to house some 12000 horses and store grain.  Doors within doors within doors...  This was to become a theme on this trip, although I don't think Remi achieved a better example than this photo (try as he might!).

 

Here Remi played with the exposure as a bunch of tourists wandered through.  Creepy effect!

Moulay Idriss

Apparently this little town is a must-see...  Remi and I weren't quite sure why.   We felt a bit harassed by faux guides (false guides) here and there wasn't much to see!  This is a a religious site, which is why I think our guide was so into it.  Moulay Idriss, who the town is named after, is a great-grandson of the prophet Mohammed.  He fled Mecca in the 8th century and came to Volubilis to convert  the locals to Islam.  He's a bit of a her among Muslims here - and rightfully so!  Non-muslims weren't allowed in most religious sites, including mosques.  Nevertheless, as many "guides" were willing to tell us for a fee, we could look in the front door.  They didn't get a fee though:
Guide:  "You're American?"
Me: "Nope, we're Canadian."
Guide: "Oh, English!  Right?"
Me: "Non, français."
Guide: "Ah!  Quebec?"
Me: "I don't speak French."
etc.
In truth though, we rarely met someone who spoke only one language.  In fact, we met one guy who had nothing but contempt for the uni-linguals.  What a country.

A view of the city from below and a few pictures of our wander through the streets.

Another trick: when you have bad picture that you wish was better, make it worse, and paradoxically, it ends up looking better.  Or, more realistically, it still looks like a blurry photo.

 

 Stay tuned for Volubilis...

Love S & R