When we arrived in Fes at around 4pm, it was pouring. We didn't even bother trying to walk, and quickly hailed a taxi to take us to the medina. My first impression of Fes was that it was a huge city. The ride from the bus station to the medina was longer than I expected, and we got to see a glimpse of how big the city was, since in Tangiers and Chefchaouen, we mostly stuck to exploring the medina. Our taxi driver was a nice guy, and he told us a bit about Fes as he drove us to the medina. He mentioned that there were 16 babs (gates), but we may have misunderstood him because when we saw a map the next day, we counted more (or was it less?) than 16. Like all other medinas, cars are not allowed inside, so we got off at the square right outside Bab Boujloud, popularly known as The Blue Gate. Bab Boujloud is one of the main entrances to the medina, and from there, we tried to find our hostel. We walked a bit unsurely in the general direction we thought it would be in, and made it without any help. Not wanting to waste any time, we dropped of our things, freshened up, and set out to explore Fes.
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| Hey there, Fes. We're ready for ya! |
The city actually has two medina quarters; the larger, more popular one (and where we were staying) is known as Fes el Bali. This medina is also the older one, built in the 9th century, and is home to the oldest university of the world. It flourished under the Marinid dynasty when it became the capital of Moroccan Kingdom, and remained the capital until 1912. It continues to be a richly conserved historical town, and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We had a list of places that we wanted to check out, but just wandered around enjoying the medina with no sense of urgency. Eventually, we did end up at one of the places we had in mind: the Al-Attarine Madrasa. We paid 10dh each and stepped into an architectural wonder. A madrasa is an educational institution, and this particular one takes its name from the spice and perfume market that was nearby, the Souk al-Attarine. During the Marinid dynasty, the sultan built the school, making it the first madrasa in the country and turned Fes into an intellectual center. The madrasas traditionally housed students who came from outside of the city to study there, and they also showed off the Marinid architecture.
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| The interior of the madrasa |
These next few bits were taken from the sign outside the
madrasa:
The school is characterized by a harmonious layout surrounding a porticoed patio and basin.
The multicolored zellij (mosaic tile), epigraphic marble lines, carved ceramic tile with verses from the Koran, and elegant columns provide this madrasa with wonderful beauty.
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| Marble for the floors and columns, zellij for the lower part walls, and carved plaster for the upper part |
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| Such beautiful and intricate designs |
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| "The designs are a testimony to the skills of the Fez artisans" |
Despite seeing similar designs at the Alhambra, I really couldn't help but still marvel at it. It's truly amazing how beautiful some architecture is.
After, we headed to the famous
Chouara Tanneries. We tried our best to go in the general direction given by Google Maps, but the Fes
medina is infamous for getting you lost even with a map. Many wrong turns later, we made it, and headed up to the free viewing balcony.
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| The large vats of the Chouara Tannery |
The
Chouara Tannery is the largest and most famous of the three tanneries in the Fes
medina. The leather produced at the tanneries is used to make Moroccos famed leather goods (bags, slippers, ottomans, and more). Back then, the tanning profession was traditionally considered a source of wealth, and there is a Farsi proverb that says, "
Dar dbagh, dar dhab" (The tannery is a gold mine).
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| Some animal hides hanging out to dry |
In the tanneries you'll see numerous large vats where the tanners treat the animal hides (goat, sheep, camel, and cow). They clean it with water and various natural products. (Online research says that some of the products used are cow urine, quicklime, salt, and even pigeon poop). Afterwards, the hides are dried, dyed (using natural products; e.g. saffron for the yellow color), and then dried again. At a thousand years old, the Chouara Tannery is also the oldest tannery in Morocco, and all the work is done manually, without modern machinery.
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| At the Chouara Tannery |
It was late in the afternoon when we arrived, so there were no more workers. It was still impressive to see the tanneries (though the smell was not too friendly!), and I could imagine how busy the place must be in the morning. The tanneries were at the further end of the medina, so after snapping some pictures, we made our way back to the middle. We walked through several souks, one of which was
Souk Aïn Allou, a famous souk which is known for its leather. One of the most popular item you can find here are the
babouches (the Moroccan slippers).
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| Babouches for sale |
The souk was chaotic with vendors shouting and people hurrying by, and has around 60 boutiques (as the sign claimed) selling all sorts of items (bags, wallets, sacks, and normal everyday goods).
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| The usual spice store |
Other popular items being sold were ceramics and objects made of wrought iron and other metals.
All the streets were sort of jumbled up in my mind, but we did walk down two of the most popular shopping streets in the
medina. One was
Derb Touil, a road which literally means "long street," and the other was
Talaa Kbira which is the widest and longest street in the medina.
As we were walking down one of those roads, we then stumbled upon
Fondouk Tazi, which had an indoor patio that housed a leather workshop. We saw these beautiful ottomans being made, talked with the owner, and promised to come back the next day to by some (presents for our mom).
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| Artisans at work |
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| Leather ottomans |
To end the day we had dinner at a restaurant called
Restaurant Kasbah at
Place Bab Boujloud. We had a
kefta (minced meat)
tajine,
kefta skewers, and grilled lamb.
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| Our dinner |
Before we headed back to our hostel, I took a picture of
Bab Boujloud which looked lovely at night. It may not be quite clear in the picture, but the gate is actually blue on the exterior façade, and green on the interior (below).
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| Bab Boujloud at night |
Fes was so big and chaotic (though interesting!), vastly different from Chefchaouen. It was a great first afternoon, and we got a good night's rest for the next day's activities: visiting a garden, seeing the Royal palace doors, touring a tannery, and a cooking class.
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