Fes: The Medina

Our first full day in Morocco was spent in Fes, the third largest city in Morocco. Our tour guide was fantastic! We visited the Medina in Fez, a giant labyrinth of over 9,400 streets, all without street names and addresses. We visited five major portions of the Medina; the tannery, the pharmacy, the ceramics, the rug district, and the market. We stepped in to the narrow, winding streets of the food market and were hit with the stench of fresh meat, fish, cheese, vegetables... you name it. There was no easing yourself in to the experience, Morocco came at you full force. Shouts of "Balak" rang throughout the streets, as men attempted to lead their donkeys through the crowd with their merchandise for the day. Camel heads hung on the stalls, acting as food labels. Full sharks were laid out upon the counter tops as men sold fish to women buying food for the day... but not without being noticed by the cats in the alley, as they waited patiently for something to drop their way. There was so much to take in at every moment that your senses were simply overwhelmed. It was clear that none of us were going to buy any food that day, so we moved on to our next stop, the pharmacy.

However, before I go on, I should explain one thing. There are no laws or health care systems within the Medina. People are left to govern themselves and have managed their businesses this way for thousands of years; however in order to ensure a good life, you have to have a lot of children. Children are considered life insurance here. The more children you have, the more people you have to work for you, and care for you when you're older, and continue the family business when you pass away. So, the pharmacy that we went to was run by a father and son and had been in the family for over 6 generations. It was a natural medicine location that sold everything from cooking spices like safran and cinnamon, to makeup and oils, to herbs for the sick. The father, salesman, gave us a demonstration of a handful of their products that he would gladly sell to us at the end of the presentation, aka sales bit. It was very interesting to see the natural eye liners and lip sticks and perfumes... and they sure made a profit off of our group ;)

With the pleasant scent of natural perfumes in our nose we headed for the tannery. As we stepped through the door we were kindly handed a stem of mint before our noses were assaulted by the odor. We were standing in a leather goods shop overlooking the entire tannery itself. There were huge tubs that the hides soaked in for 7 days at a time, sometimes with color dies, before being made in to handbags or boots. Men stood in the tubs mixing the hides and checking them for consistency. It definitely made you think twice about buying leather in your lifetime. There is a sad hiccup in our system that allows us to be completely ignorant about the things we buy, that you could never do here.

After leaving the pharmacy we went to a very nice lunch... half of which we could not eat. We were advised not to eat anything uncooked and washed in water during our stay because of the parasites in the water, so we looked longingly at the delicious salads and fresh fruit. We did eat a fantastic mound of cous cous with chicken and peppers and cooked vegetables... it was wonderful!

After lunch we went and visited the rug and tapestry portion of the Medina. Moroccans are known specifically for their handmade rugs and they are absolutely beautiful. There are different kinds of rugs, but we were taught mostly about Burbur rugs. The Burbur people are people of the desert. There are no books written about the culture of their people, so the rugs act as the only "written" history of their culture. They have many different rugs, wedding rugs, family rugs, traveling "caravan" rugs and many more. We were taught the significance of the patterns, symbolizing the dunes of the desert etc., and the importance of the colors, yellows representing the sand, blue for the sky and freedom, and so on. It was fascinating! My favorite part of the Medina :)

We ventured on in to the ceramics portion of they city and were blown away by the intricacy of their work. They made everything from mugs, to table tops, to clocks. The workmanship was beautiful. A large majority of the pieces we saw were mosaics. The men didn't measure the pieces to fit properly with one another they simply measured by eye and were right on each and every time. There were mosaics of old ships, intricate geometric patters, flowers, anything you can imagine. It definitely made you appreciate the workmanship that went in to those pieces.

It was time for us to leave the Medina, but before we could leave our tour guide took us to a lookout point that overlooked the entire Medina. We knew we had been winding our way through thousands of streets, but looking at the sheer size of the area from above was truly astonishing. We were told that the Moroccans often come to Fes to visit the Medina to remind themselves of what life used to be like throughout all of Morocco and what their parents used to live like before them... we had truly been transported back in time.