In Fes

Adrian in fes in Fes

Today was spent exploring the Medinas of Fes. First it was a visit to the new medina to see the palace gates and the former Jewish Quarter. New is a relative term as the new medina was built in the thirteen century, long after the old medina which was founded in 859AD.

Much of the day was spent exploring the old medina on foot: wending our way through the maze of 10,000 streets, visiting one of the earliest universities, the famous tannery, mosques, vendors selling leather goods, ceramics, woven goods and other stuff. Being Friday, it was a quiet day with many of the markets and shops closed for the holy day. The streets here were quite narrow with one way signs on the narrowest of these to prevent donkeys (the main mode of transport for goods) becoming stuck.

This evening we ran the usual gauntlet of restaurants trying to attract tourists. We were taken in by the catch cry of one of these who whispered “good wine, best Berber wine”. It had been a dry trip for us as it is not easy to get a drink in Morocco. We were sat down in the open air restaurant facing one the busiest thoroughfares near the famous Blue Bab (gate). We selected our food and asked for wine. Much muttering went on in Arabic and French leaving us unsure whether the wine offer had just been a ruse. Finally we were delivered special bottles of Coke (containing red wine). We think some of the locals were a wake up to what was going on as we got the evil eye from some of the passers-by. Tomorrow it’s off to the Sahara.