Day 2,275 of Traveling the World | Fes, Kingdom of Morocco | April 23, 2024

Jan and Mike

Fes, or Fez, is the oldest imperial city in Morocco and is the country’s cultural center. It is large and sprawling, but like the other cities we have visited in this country, the medina (meaning “city” in Arabic) – the labyrinth of snaking pathways filled with businesses – is the main attraction and the beating heart of the city. The medina in Fes is particularly crowded, and truly, one gets jostled around, and elbowed, more frequently than could be expected. Nobody tries to wait, nobody says “excuse me,” nobody apologizes when your arm is nearly removed. In fact, Jan was walking with our tour guide and asking a question, when a young woman didn’t feel like going around them, or ask to be excused; she literally grabbed their shoulders in her hands, pushed them apart, and got past by squeezing in between them. So – not for the faint hearted, indeed!

So, what is in the Fes medina? Lots, it turns out. Our guide started at the top, the newest part, and walked down with us through the centuries, as the medina spread up the hill. We went from modern day down to the year 808 – quite a fascinating journey. And every once in a while our guide would announce, “You are now passing from the 13th century to the 12th,” etc.

One of the oldest businesses is the Chouara Tannery, and it operates as it did 1,000 years ago – giant soaking vats, with workers hand-carrying the hides being processed with no machinery. One of the mixtures the hides are soaked in is water mixed with…pigeon droppings! Where does all that guano come from? Well, turn out, it is quite a profitable business, mainly for women. They keep pigeon roosts on their rooftops and collect the dropping. They earn about $10-12 per pound from the tannery. The men work in both bare feet and boots, sloshing in the vats as they move the hides. We watched for a while, and it looks brutal. We found out why Moroccan leather is so prized – the attention to detail, and the process of soaking, drying, soaking again, and then stretching the leather. Also, the dyes are all natural, made from seeds, plants, and grains. The array of leather items they create, and the colors, are quite dazzling, though.

We learned a lot about ancient architecture. The medina was purposely built to be confusing as a defensive move. All of the arches leading to another area had wooden doors that could close off a section of the medina. Some of the smaller passageways had gates across them that were left open during peaceful periods. In times of potential invasion they would be closed and were designed to look just like another entrance to a home, so that the invader would never suspect that it disguised a passage through the city. The streets were purposely narrow, with low openings so that an army couldn’t march in as a unit, and riders on horseback were too tall for the low, narrow openings. Few of the wooden gates exist today, as it is all open to visitors and locals. It is a very fascinating city.

Our favorite parts of the medina were places like these first two photos – narrow, twisting passageways leading to who knows where?
You can barely fit in here, even to walk. Talk about defensive construction!
Yet another photo that looks timeless, along with a sentinel.
We think this is the palace from the year 808 that marks the beginning of the city, but can’t be sure. It is beautiful, however.
…and this is the beautifully carved entrance.
A glimpse of how busy it gets, since the walkways are all so narrow.
Chouara Tannery, with 2,000 workers, is 1,000 years old. It is the largest in North Africa.
The hides take a month to prepare. They are soaked in a three different mixtures: saltwater, then water with pigeon droppings (which makes it acidic), then water with limestone (creating a base solution to counteract the acid). Do you see the workers? They slog the hides around, from mixture to mixture, then eventually into vats of dye. They work by the piece and, we are told, are well paid.
These are the result of the soggy hides seen in the previous photo. We would never have suspected that the ancient process the hides are put through would produce such modern-looking, high-quality leather goods.
Also, millions of shoes are created, along with pillows, handbags, totes, etc. If it can be made of leather, you can find it here at the tannery.
The ancient Kasbah, or former castle. It is now a hotel, and it sad to see the plaster and its state of disrepair.
Today, the Kasbah walls are used as a stage to sell produce.
Like many countries in the world, it is amazing to see open-air food for sale, open to flies, cats, passing hands….but nobody worries about it in the least.
This is Abderrahime, our tour guide. He was one of the best ever. Do you see how the door is actually two doors, with two knockers? This dates back hundreds of years, when men and women were kept separated. A woman would use the smaller knocker on the small door, so that the women inside would know it was a woman, and thus, could answer. Men did not let women inside, and vice-versa. The louder, bigger knocker was for men. And, oh yes, sometimes horses came in for the night, so they needed the bigger door to be opened.
Likewise, this house on a corner was the door used for women. A man would not want to walk in on his wife entertaining other women, so he….
…would use the “Husband Door,” which was smaller and around the corner.
This is a “harem window,” made from a barrel. It is high up on the house, and has slits that women, who were always covered in burqas and scarves, could spy from. There is a hole in the bottom so that a key on a rope could be lowered to an occupant (because keys were huge and heavy at that time) and then pulled back up.
Here is where the harem window sits on the house, way up. (Notice that the outsides of the houses are not at all decorated, as nobody cares about the outside. It is inside that you find gardens, and flowers, and color.)
…like in this riad (hotel), the magic is inside, in the courtyard, which is highly decorated.
This is an ancient scale in a courtyard where trading took place.
This is a keyhole arch, and dates to the 18th century. The keyhole is meant to be a symbolic invitation to enter, with the person entering being the “key.” There is wood around the top, evidence of a former defensive gate.
As we got to the oldest part of the medina, it really looked as though these facades could date to the 9th-10th centuries.
All of the occupations were grouped together – this was the street for blacksmiths and metal workers. The stone is for sharpening knives.
This was in a leather area – we have no idea HOW you got in the shop to look at the rear wall!
This woman was making paper-thin wraps, or breads. Two or three pieces of dough were placed on the bulbous, heated stone and cooked. Her colleague was putting 4-5 in bags and selling them.
This was the cloth/thread/fabric area, where you can also bring any item to be dyed. Such vibrant colors.
Some of the thread for sale. In the small shops along the way, men were patiently sewing items, not looking up.
A random photo on a wall, not looking like it was for sale.
Place Seffarine, a large plaza in the medina.
A scrimshaw store – you can barely see the tradesman at work in there!
This woman was sitting on the side of a building, trying to sell some of her three grains.
As you walk by, your attention is on what is for sale. BUT, look at the glorious ceiling and hanging lamp, and the carved walls – so easy to miss.
And again – the beautiful mosaics, glass, and carvings – not to be missed.
Very inventive! This is a small snack stand, but they think that Donald Duck (and Disney) will bring people in.
Our breakfast at the Cinema Cafe. Banana pancakes and Berber eggs with Arabic bread for dipping. The eggs are in a lovely, mild sauce of tomatoes, onions, and spices, much like shakshouka.
Like a bridge across the centuries, a man uses a donkey to transport propane tanks around the city.

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