Morocco: Fes

 “Semana Blanca” is a week in February that is typically used for locals to retreat to the mountains and get their dosage of "blanco"( or "white".. as in snow). While most head to the Pyrenees nearby for a week of skiing, we were both more interested in going somewhere warm! So, South we went... to Morocco!

Living in Spain, most of the people we know have been to Morocco. This worked out nicely for us because we were able to survey those we knew and get some insight about planning our itinerary. While many tourists retreat to Marrakesh, we received a lot of mixed feedback about the city. We ultimately decided to skip it, and head straight to what we were told is the more authentic city - Fes. 

The Blue Gate - the icon of Fes and entrance to the old town.

Fes is a smaller city in northern Morocco. The city itself is divided into three main sections, the medina (old town), the new town, and the Jewish quarter. The entire Fes medina is a UNESO world heritage site, and the largest medina in the world, so we decided to stay in a Riad (guesthouse) right in the middle of it! There is no easing yourself into the medina - upon entrance through the Blue Gate, you're immediately met with cafes, restaurants, artisans, clucking chickens, and wide-loaded donkeys.  Welcome to Fes! 

 Many of our travel expert friends advised us to hire a guide to tour the medina, but we figured this would not be necessary, and we would rather explore on our own. Our first afternoon there, we attempted to do just that….and quickly realized that we were wrong! There was NO way to make it through the medina without a guide.

Besides the streets being windy alleys, keep in mind that Morocco is not a place we could even attempt to "blend in". We speak no Arabic or French, are white, and were traveling in the off season... so we stuck out like sore thumbs. Because we were so obviously tourists, shop owners were especially excited to get our business, so every single shop that we passed, we were hassled to come in. This got tiring very quickly, as we couldn't walk for more than two feet without saying, "No thanks, Not now, Maybe another time..." So we headed back to our Riad, and decided to hire a guide the next day.

After eating some street food (literally), we found Cafe Clock, the westerner's safe haven. This cafe is constantly packed, and offers the most variety of food that you will find in the medina (hence why we ate four meals there). As is common in Morocco, it offers a beautiful roof terrace, which we also frequented.

For our first meal, we ate street food, which, as you can see, was literally made on the ground, on the side of the street.
Good news: It was tasty and only cost us the equivalent of 3 euros to total!

The view from the Cafe Clock terrace

With our hired guide the next day, we saw the medina in a very different light. We informed our guide that we had no intention of purchasing anything, so he passed this along to shop owners before we even entered. Thankfully, this meant that they did not spend hours (seriously) trying to make a sale to us. Fes is very famous for it’s tanneries (where leather is made), and carpet shops. Our guide took us down alleyways and through doors that we never would have found on our own. What would look like a broken down door leading to nothing would open up to an entire carpet factory. We were fascinated by the making process and were thankful for a local to reveal them to us.  We also had so many questions about the culture, and he was very informative. Conclusion: HIRE A GUIDE! Well worth it.

A local man working on his tapestry.

A common site in the medina.

The tanneries, where leather is dyed using different natural elements.

One of the mosques that we visited.

While being in the medina is exciting, it is also overwhelming to the senses. With very small streets, the strong scents of tanneries, donkeys, and Moroccan food easily fill every inch of space. One of our favorite things to do was exit the medina, because just across the main street is a beautiful hill with a panoramic view of the old city. From here, we could see that it is truly a huge maze. We really enjoyed retreating to this hill, where we could find peace and quiet. It gave us some space to process our observations of the city and culture that we were experiencing full force in the medina.

The view of part of the medina - this doesn't even show the whole thing.

After a couple of days in Fes, we were ready for a calmer pace, so we set off for a small, blue mountain town, which we will tell you about in the next post!