Fez

View of Fez from Riad rooftop

What a place..only here for two days and three nights, we crammed in so much, atmosphere overload.

We stayed in a restored Riad (a house with an internal courtyard and garden),once again very ornate use of textiles, textures, mosaics, crystals and carved plaster cornices and walls; decorated with plush cushions rich in color, heavy dark furniture inlaid with brass and pearl and elaborately carved, brass and silver urns, Berber carpets; water fountains, mosaic tiled patios , greenery in varied clay urns and pots; a rooftop overlooking the cityscape of satellite-dished houses, ruins, mosques, minarets,cemeteries sitting amongst the sand colored land.

In the Lobby of The Riad

Courtyard and Door to reception

Our guide for the two days was Mohammed aka Momo. He was an ex-teacher, and a man who is passionate about Morocco. He also is a prime-mover in the effort to formalize artisan workshops under guilds, so that conditions are improved, money is forth-coming and skills are passed on through the generations. Fez has over two-thirds of it's population of 1 million, involved in the artisan industry and is the centre for crafts such as tanning and dying leather, pottery,tiles for mosaics,embroidery,silk and fabric weaving, carpet- making, brass,silver and bronze craftsmanship, for all of Morocco and in the case of leather world-wide.

Momo and Tony

Another UNESCO classified city, Fez is in the process of undergoing restoration, partially funded and supported by the current King, partially funded by UNESCO. The benefit is two fold as more tourists are coming as facilities are updated, therefore there is more money in the economy ,also the skills which are generations old are kept alive and passed onto the next.

Weaver

Momo was keen to tell us that his culture is very much slanted to passing on skills and cultural traditions onto the next generation. He said that his father had taught him how to slaughter and prepare a sheep for the table ( this is done at the end of Ramadan by the head of the house, according to the method in the Koran)and when his son is ten, he will do the same; his 12 yr old twin daughters are way down the track of learning the double stitch embroidery style unique to Morocco, though they are a long way off doing any solo work.

To the outsider, trying to take into account that as a tourist you might see only the good side of a place, it seems that their culture, the importance of family and harmonic relations between each other, are very closely linked to their ideology. We arrived in midst of Ramadan, so we were very aware of the importance placed on religion. Also, the fact that over the years this area has been occupied by numerous cultures that have been assimilated into the one that has emerged today, tolerance of others is apparent, the more so because it was unexpected. With the advent of the electronic world and MacDonalds, even "Westerners" are regarded better than they used to be.:)

We spent half a day walking through the markets in the Medina with Momo, which incorporates ten thousand alleys,some covered, all busy and overcrowded with stalls. Thank goodness he was there because there is no way we would have been able to find our way back, an absolute maze of lanes, that is unmapped because there are so many!

In the food markets we saw some very unusual things:- live hens "roosting" on the ground in a line, waiting to be taken home for that nights dinner; pairs of bull's body parts displayed on butchers hooks; a camels head hanging outside a butcher's stall; what looked to be camels tongues( they were huge!) thick and blue(gross!) - they were the most memorable, particularly the camel head! Donkeys are the only form of transport allowed in the Medina. They load them up with baskets tied on their backs and to their sides and when they come through, you have to back yourself into a doorway ! There were no smells...not "having to pinch your nose "or "dry retching" ones, just a few pongy ones - easy to cope with:) such a bonus!

Food stall and a Donkey being loaded with wool

Things we did:

Driving tour around Fez - fort, palace,ruins etc

Visit to the tile factory used for mosaics; pottery kiln fueled by dried olive pips.

Tour of tannery- processing and dyeing

Tour weavers,embroiders,carpets.

History of Medina

Roman Ruins

Listening to the call for prayer

EAT EAT EAT..couscous, tajines,pastries,Ramadan soup based on tomatoes, chickpeas and vegies (mmm..) nougat...