Exploring Fez and NOT getting lost in the Medina

Tuesday June 3 was a sunny, hot day breaking 30C.  Definitely hat weather, but a nice dry heat.  Mohamed and our Fez local guide, Abdullah, picked us up at 10:00 a.m.  Abdullah gave us some background to Fez.  He said that Fez was the intellectual, religious and handicraft centre of Morocco.  Intellectual, because it has the world's oldest university and religious because it has 320 mosques in the 320 sections of it's large Medina.  Handicrafts (leather, silver, tapestries etc) are the main economic driver, followed by agriculture.

The population of Fez is 1,250,000 of which 400,000 live in the Medina (old walled city).  In addition to the Medina called Old Fez (Fez el Bali) dating back to the 9th century, there is also New Fez (Fez el-Djedid) which was built after 1273 and contains the old Jewish quarter, called the Mellah, the Royal Palace and the Muslim District.  There is also the "New City" built by the French between 1912-56, which was where our hotel is located.

Our first stop was the Royal Palace.  As is the case of all the palaces, it is closed to the public.  We get to see the beautiful gates, including the brass doors crafted by Fez craftsmen.  The Fez palace is the largest and oldest of the palaces, although it has undergone renovations over the years.

Part of the Royal Palace

Definitely vertically challenged.....

We then continued to the old Jewish quarter, called the Mellah (means "salt", as in earlier times, Jews were often salt traders".  Only a very small number of Jewish families remain in Fez.

                                                                Old wall near the Mellah

                                                              Typical balconies in Mellah

The Rabbi's old house 

                                                                         Housing in the Mellah

We next stopped at a small synagogue in the Mellah, called Synagogue Aben Danan, dating back to the 17th century.  It was restored in the late 1990s.

Inside of synagogue

                                                                The bima in the synagogue

The mikvah (baths)

Very old Torah

We walked around the Mellah for a few minutes.  There are wonderful old doors with a place where mezuzahs had been.  They now have the hand of Fatima and a horseshoe to bring good luck.  There are many old doors in Fez, many having two doors- a smaller door for everyday use and a larger door which is only opened on special occasions.

                        Note two doors, horseshoe, hand of Fatima and place where there had been a mezuzah

We then drove to a high point overlooking the city, where there was an open air mosque, that is used only twice a year.

                                                             open air mosque

                                                           View of Fez-- white tower is the old university

                                                           At the open air mosque with Fez in the background

We then drove to Les Poteries de Fes, a ceramic co-op that produces the famous blue-and-white Fez pottery.  Because of the kilns,  the operation was moved a bit far away from the city a number of years ago.  We were given a tour of the operation.  We saw the kilns and then, of course, were taken to the pottery shop.  We bought a small bowl.  There is a lot of handwork involved.  For instance, we saw two men chipping pieces of pottery from tiles for mosaics.

                                                                            Pots drying 

                                                                             Hand painting pots

We were told that olive pits are collected and used in the clay.

                                                                     The kiln

Making pots

We then headed to the Medina, where we spent about four hours.  There are no vehicles allowed only donkeys are used for transportation.  There are over 3500 alleys and passageways in the Medina.  Thank goodness that Abdullah was born and lived in the Medina and knew his way around.  He also greeted many people he knew along the way, a Moroccan habit we really like.  He says hello, usually makes a joke and carries on.  While there are certain parts of the Medina where there is a concentration of stores of one kind; eg. silver, leather, food, etc., it is really a complex maze of many different stores.  There are a number of important monuments and mosques that we also visited in the Medina.

 Beautiful doors and tiles abound

Busy street at the Medina

                                            At the entrance to the Medina- lots of chickens for sale

We stopped briefly at a Andalusian mosque build in 859 by Mariam, sister of Fatima al-Fihri, both Tunisian refugees who had erected the Kairaouine Mosque two years earlier with inherited family wealth.  The detailed cedarwood carving is amazing.

Andalusian Mosque

Mint and olive seller

Shoes anyone?

Abdullah told us that each of the 320 area of the Medina usually have a mosque, bakery and a fountain.  We passed a number of very small bakeries and lots of mosques.

A small bakery

Covered small window where a woman could look out, without being seen

                                                  A very old mosque dating back to the 13th century

We then went through a number of very narrow alleys that lead to a food part of the Medina.

An extremely narrow alley we walked through

                                In the containers- beef in olive oil that can last months (Moroccan beef jerky)

                                                                           Dates

                                                                                 Beautiful Goat cheese

We then stopped at the Kairaouine Mosque and university.  It was established in 859 by Tunisian refugees and expanded in the 12th century.  The library is still used as is the mosque. Non-Muslims can not enter.

                                                                        Entrance to library

Blue stairway (Fez's colour)

                                                        Green stairway (colour of Islam)

We then went to visit the Attarine Medersa (Koranic school of the Spice Sellers) was named for local spice merchants.  It was founded as a students' dormitory attached to the Kairaouine Mosque.  It has been beautifully preserved.  One of my favourites.  It is also elegant and the tile work wonderful. Muslims do not decorate with human or animal figures- just geometric designs and script.  Very beautiful.

                                                              Entrance to Medersa

Cedar, and wonderful tiles

Close up

                                                                  We're in the niche...

The next place we visited was the Musee Nejjarine des Arts et Metiers du Bois.  It was originally a 14th century Inn of the Carpenters.  Each room has some artifacts, including woodworking tools, and furniture.  There is a roof terrace where one can have mint tea, which we did.  A lovely view of the city from the rooftop.  The scales on the main floor are a reminder of the building's original functions- commerce on the main floor and lodging on the three levels above.  

                                                                 The inside of the Musee

                                                                 At the scales of commerce

                                                            The view from the rooftop terrace

We then went on a magic carpet ride..... Actually, Abdullah took us to a beautiful carpet co-op, where we went on a tour, saw an example of the weaving process, and then were invited to have mint tea with the owner.  It turned out that his son who was visiting, lives in Toronto.  The sell was on, and yes, we did buy a small Berber Kilim.  

                                                               Woman weaving

All the work is done by women at their homes.  They then bring the work to the co-op.  There are about 1300 women doing the work.

                                                                     Carpet shop

We then stopped for a very late lunch in the Medina.  The restaurant was located in another building which looks small from the outside but then opens up into a large three room restaurant.  We started with a series of small dishes (beans, beets, tomatoes, etc.), then had lamb brochettes, a lovely fruit plate (watermelon is in season and is delicious), a few almond cookies and mint tea.

                                                               One room in restaurant

                                                                             Our appetizer course

The final stop in our Medina tour was a visit to the tannery part of the Medina where they make the leather goods.  They use goat, cow and camel leather.   The tanning process is an old one.  The skins are first put in an ammonia mix and then put in vats lined with olive oil to take the smell away.  The skins then dry in the sun.  The coloured dyes are natural- red from poppy; green from mint, brown from tamarind, etc.  It is a labour intensive and lengthy process.  The man taking us on the tour lit a match near a leather bag to show us that because they don't use chemical dyes, there is no smell even when set on fire.   

Ammonia process on left; dying on right- all in clay containers      

                                                         Detail from dying process

Our time in the Fez Medina was fascinating.  There are probably the largest concentration of skilled craftspeople in one location in the world.  As it is a World Heritage Site, UNESCO is helping restore many of the buildings, which is needed.  Many of the shops and homes in the Medina have beautiful marble and tiled floors.  In the old days Moroccans were able to trade 1 kilo of sugar for 1 kilo of marble!  A great deal for the Moroccans.

We headed back to our hotel to rest and then had a late dinner at the buffet.