Whiskey Jack Adventures: Fez, Morocco

Our morning started with Mohib, our guide meeting us in the lobby and taking us on a bus tour. We first stopped at the king’s palace.

Next we visited a pottery/mosaic making Co-op. It was fascinating watching the potters with the foot powered wheel run off pots in just minutes! The kilns are huge outside ovens heated with crushed olive pits and wood chips. The tiles are made there also, then given to the artisans who work on tiles chipping away to make specific little mosaic pieces and shapes. This is a dying art. It was passed down generation to generation but the youth of today are being exposed to the outside world and not interested in these crafts. When you see them work, sitting on their legs for hours on end you can see why.

From there we went into the medina of Fez, the oldest walled part of Fez, Morocco. It was founded as the capital of the Idrisid dynasty between 789 and 808 AD. It was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1981. To describe our day in the Medina is almost impossible because any adjectives we construct will be inadequate or inaccurate. Mohib was in charge. Without him we would still be there. Lost. Picture a labyrinth of stones steps and over 11,000 narrow walkways inhabited by people and donkeys, no street signs or indications of direction. In fact we kept running into the same couple walking around and we wondered if they were lost.

Stops here included a “bakery”. Not a true bakery in what we know but a bakery where the women, after making the bread dough, bring it to be baked. They do not have ovens in their homes. Through the walkways we went to the wool sorting area where they pull all the wool off by hand then scrape the hides. Donkeys are used to transport these hides to the outside hills to dry in the sun. Other places we visited were a tannery, the widow’s carpet factory/emporium, a Berber pharmacy and a textile “factory”, all the while our senses were being assailed by indescribable noises, odours and images. In each spot we were encouraged to purchase whatever was being produced. Norma was wrapped in a scarf ready for the desert and Doug got dressed in the djellaba and hat. Fun to try.

At our lunch stop they brought out a huge array of items to try – eggplant spread, olives, lentils, chickpeas, bread, sweet pumpkin spread, spinach, and more just to get us started. Lunch was couscous with meat and vegetables. This was finished off with a lovely fresh fruit platter and coconut cookies.

Hopefully our pictures will at least give you an idea of the experience but in order to fully appreciate it you must go there. Do it!

Tomorrow we head across the Atlas Mountains into the Sahara desert.