Excursion, Days 4-6: Toward Fes

We woke up in the desert to the sound of gongs. Well, at least I’m told that there were gongs ringing. True to my heavy sleeping habits, I dozed right through them. It also didn’t help that the rapid shifts in elevation during our earlier drives through the Atlas Mountains had left my ears half-plugged up and uncomfortably unable to pop. But I digress…

Breakfast was amazing considering we were in the desert – bread, jam, butter, cheese, and fruit, along with tea! We took our Jeeps back through the desert and into Zagora, stopping for a quick tour of an oasis palm grove. There, we got to climb some palm trees (the jagged palm tree bark makes it so easy!) and eat some fresh-picked dates! Once in Zagora, we re-boarded the van with our trusty driver Mohammad and began the long drive northward toward Fes.

Our stop lunch stop was a hotel in N’Koub (for more Moroccan tajine, of course) and we also got the chance to go swimming and to shower off all of the Sahara which had stuck with us. Apparently, this area has more ancient Kasbahs than anywhere else in Morocco, and we took a quick glance at them all from the roof of the hotel.

After driving all afternoon, we stopped for the night in the small town of Rissani, where we had a dinner of eggplant, rice, barbeque chicken, and French fries, with flan for dessert! It was all eaten in the presence of the cutest but loudest kitten I’ve encountered in Morocco.

We were up early the next morning to continue the drive, and stopped in Midelt for some couscous (on a Thursday – heresy! I thought couscous was only for Fridays!). By mid-afternoon we had reached Ifrane, a little mountain village of Swiss chateaux stuck up in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco by someone with a great sense of humor (or the Moroccan monarchs, your pick). It was actually quite eerie – I highly urge you to look at the pictures I posted of it. You drive through miles and miles of desert, then some rocky mountain terrain, and suddenly you’re in this beautiful little forest enclave – it’s surreal. It reminded all of us of New England, and the tree leaves were just beginning to change colors, giving us the first sense of a real October day. After grabbing a quick Magnum (ice cream) and taking a peek at al-Akhawain University, we drove the final hour and a half to Fes!

By the time we reached Fes, it was already just getting dark and we were exhausted, so we decided to stop by an Internet café and then have a nice night in. At the end of our hotel dinner, we were even serenaded by a group of Dutch travelers who broke out into folk songs for a good half hour. We settled into bed after ordering some room service and just hanging out for a bit.

And so, finally, on the following morning our time in Fes began! We met our tour guide Ahmed and started out at the impressive golden Palace Gate. We moved on through the Mellah (the old Jewish quarter) and stopped in a recently renovated historic temple before heading up to a fortress high above the outskirts of the old medina. The view was incredible! The medina seems to stretch out for miles – apparently it was the largest city in the world during its time as capital of the Almohad dynasty – and tourists can get lost in it for hours. Fes’s medina is actually the largest in Morocco, and lies nestled into a valley surrounded by protective hills. The city’s traditional section is made up of “Old Fes” and “New Fes.” Mind you, New Fes was built around the 1200s, so it’s really a relative term. Like any Moroccan city, this old section is then surrounded by the Ville Nouvelle – the “new city” built during the French occupation beginning in 1912.

From here, we dove back into the medina and wandered through the labyrinthine alleyways. It was quite different from any medina I’d navigated before – since it’s built on hills, you’re constantly moving up and down in elevation, ducking under buildings and going up stairs, so not only can you get lost among all of the twisting streets and dead ends, but you also have to keep track of your position on the vertical plane. Thank God we had Ahmed there to lead us. Unfortunately, we were touring on a Friday – the Muslim holy day – so many of the conservative city’s shops were closed and city life was much calmer than average. But still, we got to pass plenty of donkeys traversing the narrow alleys and a shop owner even placed a live snail on my hand (in hopes that I would then buy it and eat it, I guess…).

Our next official stop was one of Fes’s main leather tanneries. In a country known for its leather goods, the city of Fes is pre-eminent. And let me tell you – this place was crazy. Stacked with bags, jackets, slippers, wallets, and any other leather good and in any color you can imagine from floor to ceiling, the entire shop is a case study in sensory overload. Plus you have to throw in the smell of recently worked leather – for which the shop owners gave us each a sprig of mint leaves. We went to the back of the shop to look out on the men tanning the skins in dozens of gigantic drums down below – the site can’t be described in words, you have to check out the picture I posted. I ended up buying a leather briefcase for 400 dirhams (about $55), bargained down from an initial quote of 1400 dirhams ($190). Ahmed helped quite a bit. The salesman insisted that it is made of camel skin, but I remain skeptical.

We passed by the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque, which we couldn’t enter as non-Muslims, and spent some quick time touring the nearby medersa before eating a huge lunch of various vegetable “salads” and lamb tajine at a local restaurant (where my left ear finally popped, for all those raptly following my health developments! It felt so amazing, but I remained hard of hearing in the other ear.)

Our tour continued with a Wood Museum (yup, a museum dedicated entirely to wooden crafts) and a textile ship, where we all tried on jellabas (traditional Moroccan robes worn inside the house or out on the street, depending on the style; they look strikingly like Jedi robes) and some more turbans. Finally we passed the Moulay Idriss Mausoleum with an outdoor wishing spot (where all of the money goes toward alms!).

Our day finished up with a tour of the Moroccan Initiative for Human Rights’ recently constructed Women’s Rights Center. They do some amazing work there, functioning as a women’s shelter, women’s employment center, and job training facility. And it’s all non-profit! As we toured, a baking class was having their final examination and we got to try some of the results. My stomach gave them all an A.

It was a long day, so we went back to the hotel, had our Friday couscous, and took a little stroll around the Ville Nouvelle before getting some well-earned sleep. Well, as well-earned as vacation sleep ever is!