Our first stop was Fes’ Royal Palace, or the Dar el-Makhzen. Unfortunately, it is not open to the public, but the outside is still worth a visit. The 7 golden gates that mark the entrance to the palace can only leave you imagining how grand it is inside. These famous, beautiful brass doors with matching knockers are covered with intricate patterns.
The current King of Morocco uses the palace when he visits Fes. We also passed one of the large Muslim cemeteries. The graves all face Mecca.
Across the road we stopped to get a good view over the residential medina area. There are 15 km of city walls around this area. You can see how packed together all of the houses are!
Back on the bus we passed the Jewish Quarter, or Mellah, which dates back to the 14th century. This is one of the gates.
The city has two old medina quarters, the larger is Fes al Bali. It is listed as a UNESCO heritage site and is believed to be one of the largest urban pedestrian only zones. This area is mostly commercial, with lots of shops and narrow, winding “streets”. We walked and walked, and were happy to have a guide because I am not sure we would have found our way out!
This was the oldest – and most narrow street in the medina.
This young fellow wanted us to take his picture … and then, of course, wanted money.
We had a local guide on this part of our tour. He explained that the doors were two part with two knockers. The smaller was for the women and they would only answer if a woman knocked on the smaller part. Men knocked on the larger door and the women didn’t answer if they did not know the man.
We passed lots of markets in the medina. This one sold fresh chickens!
There were stray cats everywhere, scrounging through the trash.
Knife sharpening/Metal works
Vats for dying cloth
Thistle which they use for making yogurt!
Olives
Wendy and Tobey passing the scarves shop.
This woman is adding honey to the pastry.
The river running through the medina was clogged with trash.
A delivery vehicle in the medina.
This was a Berber hotel in years gone by. The animals were housed on the ground floor and the people on the second and third floor.
Mausoleum in the medina
Beautiful mosaic walls in other parts of the medina.
The mosque in the medina will accommodate up to 22,000 people!
We stopped at the tannery within the medina. It was interesting to see how they process sheep, cow, camel, and goat hides. It takes between one and three months for the hides to be ready to use as leather, depending on its origin.
After our tour of the medina, we had a couple hour break at the hotel before we took an optional tour to Bhalil this afternoon. Bhalil is a small community about an hour outside of Fes. The houses are built into the picturesque mountainside and painted in pastel hues of pink, yellow and blue.
There are 74 caves and the cave dwellings date back to the 4th century and for hundreds of years have been inhabited by shepherds to protect against the elements. Currently only 11 are inhabited. We were able to go into the home of Naima Fatina. She has lived there and raised 9 children there. This is one of her daughters. Her major handicraft is making woven buttons.
When she dies, or moves out of the cave, this will become a UNESCO heritage site, as well.
This was a Berber hotel in years gone by. The animals were housed on the ground floor and the people on the second and third floor.
Mausoleum in the medina
Beautiful mosaic walls in other parts of the medina.
The mosque in the medina will accommodate up to 22,000 people!
We stopped at the tannery within the medina. It was interesting to see how they process sheep, cow, camel, and goat hides. It takes between one and three months for the hides to be ready to use as leather, depending on its origin.
After our tour of the medina, we had a couple hour break at the hotel before we took an optional tour to Bhalil this afternoon. Bhalil is a small community about an hour outside of Fes. The houses are built into the picturesque mountainside and painted in pastel hues of pink, yellow and blue.
There are 74 caves and the cave dwellings date back to the 4th century and for hundreds of years have been inhabited by shepherds to protect against the elements. Currently only 11 are inhabited. We were able to go into the home of Naima Fatina. She has lived there and raised 9 children there. This is one of her daughters. Her major handicraft is making woven buttons.
When she dies, or moves out of the cave, this will become a UNESCO heritage site, as well.
Our last stop of the afternoon was a ceramic artisan school. We were shown the entire process of forming the pieces, firing, painting, and glazing.The artisans also chip the glazed tiles into tiny pieces which they use to make the mosaic fountains, tables, and other artistic pieces.
The mosaics are made UPSIDE DOWN! How they are able to know which color and piece needs to be placed is a true art!
This table was beautiful. It was about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide and carried a price tag of $1500 USD! Needless to say, we had to leave it behind.
We had a fantastic day and will have an early start tomorrow, so we are off to dinner at the hotel tonight.
We had a fantastic day and will have an early start tomorrow, so we are off to dinner at the hotel tonight.
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