Fes

Fes was our last stop in Morocco. Most people we had spoken to said we should get a guide given the maze that is the Medina.   9,000 streets – a significant number of which are also dead-ends and 150,000 people it is certainly complex.  Because we had a limited amount of time we got our accommodation host to arrange a guide.  In many ways we are really are NOT guide sort of people.  The guide was fine, and we learnt lots of things from her, but we also just wandered the Medina like sheep following the leader.  On the whole I don’t think we got a real feel for the Medina and would have been better just wandering and getting lost. 



The tannery area where the vats of dyes are managed by hand had been on Andrew’s must see list.  The area was not as smelly as we had anticipated.



But the hard-sell in the leather shop afterwards was very strong.  Nice pieces and lovely colours, but we didn't succumb – nor in any of the 4 other shops our guide took us to!



Two lovely little snippets of life we did see were the communal ovens where housewives would bring their bread or tagines to be baked.  When I looked at the photo below I realised the baker was resting on the stairs – I had not seen him when snapping the picture.   And the other was watching the spinning of thread in the streets.  Long lengths of thread were wrapped around a hook on a wall and the spinner would stand twenty metres away with his winding machine.  Below are also some of the remnants of the process.  Our guide told us that in Morocco sewing is a job predominantly done by men.



Looking over the rooftops there are no shortage of satellite dishes.



We liked Fes, but didn’t really get it’s true vibe.  When we go back next time we will just wander and see what the city wants to show us.