Morocco Day 5 :Fes City tour, Fes Medina

Day 5 :Fes City tour, Fes Medina

We had breakfast at  the Riad.We had a different local licensed guide for Fes Sightseeing tour.We paid  around 70 MAD for the guide.The guide was arranged for us by the tour company.

Founder of Fes is from the Idrisi Dynasty.Then there was AlMohad Dynasty, Alawi Dynasty.There were 7 Dynasties out of which 4 were Berber.

 We first visited the Palace of the King.We could offcourse only visit the door area.The door had very good mosaic work and there were many doors.Moroccan King stays here when he visits Morocco.The wife of the king is from Fes.Fes and Marrakech were very similar in terms of the Medina area. There is a Jewish Quarter which is a Jewish Cemetery .Then  we walked through the streets to the new Medina gate. Fes has 2 Medina,1 is a Newer one compared to the other. The Moroccan bath soaps, Argan oil, henna, grey clay  crockery were sold everywhere on the streets.Medina has a 14 km long wall.We then drove to the Borj Sud  fort on the hill.It was built to protect  the city from Portugese.We had a beautiful view of the entire Fes city from the top.

We visited the grey  clay  Ceramic factory.A guide  there explained how the clay is used to make the articles. The clay is first made into desired shapes, oven baked, given a shiny glaze, baked again  , then painted with vegetable colours in hand. They also make Mosaic tiles on the articles.

Then we visited their finished products that are on sale.

We  were taken back to the Medina through the blue gate-BAB Boujloud.

The Medina has few very distinct features like public  fountains  decorated with Mosaic, Madrasas , Caravan Saray, Oven , Hamam, Mosque in each quarter of the Medina.Madrasa has 14 gates in the Medina.

Medina is packed with shops selling sovenirs, breads, meat, vegetables. Also are shops selling all traditional items, dresses, Moroccan beauty products.We first visited the Madrasa ,  entry ticket is 20 MAD  per person. This is a old madrasa for the kids to learn Islam. Now its not functional. We were also explained on the clock system to determine the time of the day.There way  12 copper bowls and at each hour the ball would slowly drop to each bowl with a loud sound..At anytime, counting the number of  bowls with ball , and position of the next ball, time can be determined.

We visited the loom, where the  silk ,cotton, woolen  material were woven in the loom. They sold scarves  and they also dressed us with scarves in  the traditional berber style. This was a Caravan Saray converted to  a weaving unit.Silk from Cactus plant is made into thick ropes  to use in dresses.

Another Caravan Saray was converted to a small shopping complex.Caravan Saray is a place where travelers stay for a night.The donkeys and mule are tied in the ground floor of the Caravan Saray.

There are lanes for each kind of goods sold there.

Gold jewellery lane, traditional men and women’s clothes lane, silk thread (generally cactus thread ) lane, Carpentry, Buttons.

Then we visited the copper and brass lane. There were many shops selling these metal articles.

We visited a Riad used to sell Berber  carpets.They  explained the different carpets made and sold there.Carpet variety differs by number of knots per square meter like  12,000 knots, 48,000 knots, 120,000 knots.The carpets  rate start from 5000 MAD.

We visited a traditional bakery where the Moroccan bread called Aghrum was baked.Generally people nowadays buy bread from here.Otherwise people get the homemade dough  and get the dough baked here for them.

We were explained about the mosques that is so big and the doors are on all sides of the mosque. We could watch the beauty of the interiors from the outside.The Roads in the medina are soo narrow and you can easily get lost.Since we had our guide we just followed him. We walk through the small dark, narrow lanes and suddenly we enter a big door and it is a Riad , that is soo huge and beautiful in the inside.

We visited the famous Fes Tannery.We  climbed to their terrace, saw how the skins are washed and dried and even coloured.

There were goat , sheep, camel, cow leather. The Colours are natural like Mint for green, Saffron for Yellow, Indigo for Blue, Violet flowers for Purple. The sales person there, tries to sell their leather jackets, bags, etc  to the tourists. They first quote a high price and reduce  the price themselves, giving us an impression that he has given a good discount .But when you bargain hard or just plan to leave as you are not interested, the price steeps down further and further.The sales person keeps telling you, this is last price, but the price goes down further.Also the sales person initially told us to give him 200 MAD  as commission for getting us good discount .So JUST BARGAIN!!

We had Lunch at a riad Nejjarine converted to a restaurant. The food  was great. We had a variety of appetizers, veg couscous , fruits, dessert, Moroccan tea, cookies.It cost 150 MAD.

We walked back to our Riad.We refreshed and again walked back to Medina to do some souvenir shopping as we didn’t do it along with our guide.We used google maps and reached the Medina.On the way , we took some stunning views of the valley .

We entered Medina, walked slowly noticing the shops carefully, that we don’t lose track and get lost .We first walked a little, bought some magnets.Then we searched for souvenirs, but didn’t find one. We finally bought some clay handpainted  bowls and  walked back to same blue gate that we entered through.Then we sat for sometime in the area outside the Medina just like locals.We  walked back to Riad.

We had a yummy dinner at the Riad.The best Moroccan soup, Chicken tagine and omelette.We also had dates and honey cakes.