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Friday, March 22 20:04
Weather: Not a cloud in the sky. A scorcher.
Location: Cyber Café, Boul. Mohammed V, Fès.

I had a wonderful day getting to know Fès. I got up early again and wandered out for a coffee and a danish (yes, really) at a Patisserie on Avenue de France. Then back to the hotel where I met the guide.

Turned out that despite yesterday's misgivings, he did have the Ministry of Tourism accreditation as an official guide. It also turned out that he wasn't going to be guiding me after all: he turned me over to a colleague (also accredited), a young, smartly-dressed man with a fluent command of French (but no English), who turned out to be just great. We took a cab up to one of the 9 gates into the old medina (Fès el-Bali). A few steps inside, and we were in a cool narrow street of merchants, a Sook.

The medina is split into many, many little neighbourhoods. Some of these specialize in a single craft, such as tannery, metalwork, bulk sales of spices, woodwork, or textiles. These neighbourhoods are run by a master craftsman, who decides who gets to be an apprentice, and when they are ready to own their own shop; basically, the same as the guild system that used to dominate Europe.

The Sook neighbourhoods, by contrast, are the medieval Moroccan equivalent of supermarkets, with side-by-side booths selling vegetables, chickens, bread, etc.

The whole guild system is apparently under a lot of pressure, as upstart outsiders have moved in, set up shop in non-guild-controlled parts of the medina, and started making lower quality goods at lower prices. (Walmart has not yet made it here, however. Just as well...)

Each neighbourhood, the guide explained, has a set of essential services: a public bathhouse, or hammam; a mosque, with a school attached; a public fountain, now mostly non-functional as 90% of the houses have their own running water; a public oven for baking bread. Often, a neighbourhood will also have a caravanserail, basically a hotel for visiting caravans of merchants from other towns. These are square or rectangular, multi-story buildings, each centred around an open atrium. Rooms above open onto carved wooden balconies overlooking the atrium.

We wandered through the medina for most of the morning. The guide took a break and let me explore the Medensa el-Attarine, a caravanserail that has been restored and reopened as a Merinid museum under a UNESCO grant. (The whole of the old city has been designated a UN World Heritage Site, and money is flowing in to restore and maintain the outer walls and selected buildings inside.) We also stopped at several craft shops, whose owners showed off their goods and explained the manufacturing process. They were all trying to sell things, of course, but were gracious when I declined to buy; a far cry from the hardball sales pitches of Thailand!

Many of the stores were shut, as it is a Friday, the Muslim day of prayers, but I was actually pleased about that. It cut down on the swarms of people who might otherwise be expected to move through the narrow streets. Goods are still moved by donkey and hand cart, as cars could not possibly fit into the thin passageways. We passed several donkeys, and stepped over the evidence of many more.

We looked into the Kairaouine Mosque, although as a non-Muslim I can't enter it. Through the finely carved doorways, I could see prayer halls, elaborately carved and decorated archways, and fine tapestries and carpets. The Medersa Bou Inania, a mosque which is normally open for visitors, is currently under renovation.

At the end of the tour, we took a long taxi drive back towards the Ville Nouvelle, and stopped for a quick photo of the grand entrance to the Royal Palace (closed to visitors). My guide also pointed out the Borj Nord, the castle overlooking the medina from the north, which I resolved to return to in the afternoon.

After the tour ended, I had a few minutes before the lunchtime opening of many of the restaurants. I quickly found another 10 Dr./hr Internet café. One hour later, it was time for lunch. I walked back up the Boulevard Mohammed V to Restaurant Fish Friture, where I ordered (and highly enjoyed) a pigeon pie: they're called Pastilla, they're made from pigeon meat, eggs, almonds, cinnamon and sugar, encased in pastry, they're a specialty of Fès, and they're delicious. (I have a photo.)

After lunch, I went back to the bus station. I had originally planned to take the train to Marrakesh, but the tannery store owner and the guide talked me into taking the bus trip over the High Atlas mountains, instead of the train which goes out to the coast and down, avoiding the mountains altogether. So it's a 6:30 am, nine-hour bus trip for me tomorrow. Can't wait! (Bzuh.)

Following the bus station, I picked up a British newspaper and stopped at a café to drink mint tea, read the paper, and wait for the worst of the midday heat to pass. At about 3:30, I caught a taxi up to the Borj Nord. There, I toured the Arms Museum in the castle, wandered over to the cliff edge outside, and goggled at the fantastic view of the city. I took pictures, and gradually made my way back down to the medina as the sun began a slow descent over the hills. There was a large group waiting by the Bab Guissa (gate) for taxis, so when the bus came by I hopped onboard, paid Dr. 2.50, and rode back to the Ville Nouvelle for dinner.

After dinner, I wandered out onto the streets again. After sundown, the city comes alive: the heat has cooled to a pleasant temperature, people swarm the sidewalks nibbling ice cream cones, and most of the stores are doing their most sales of the day. Morocco is very young: 70% of the population is under the age of 35, according to my guide. I think they're all here, enjoying the evening.
posted by Tom at 3:28 PM | link |