Fes
Starting a journey around Morocco in Fes was probably a wise decision. We left the cold weather of England behind on December 28th as we didnt want to be here for yet another anti-climax on New Year’s Eve, nor face the emptiness of the post-Christmas blues… We huddled together on the train platform waiting for the train to take us to Gatwick Airport at 4.30am and within 6 hours we had the sun on our faces in North Africa!
Fes Airport seemed a fairly straightforward experience. Our BA flight had been full of Moroccans who seemed both friendly and helpful and when we stepped off the plane we were greeted by sunshine that we hadnt felt in so long although there was a strong gust of chilly wind.Our taxi to Fes had been pre-booked by the owner of the house in which we were staying and we greeted our driver with a cheery Assalaam Alaikoum. He was very pleasant and stopped at a cashpoint on the way for us to get out a handful of dhirams (the one at the airport didnt work). He didn’t speak any English, but a bit of French so we were able to communicate. His driving should have served as a precursor for how most Moroccans drive; erratically! We just thought it was him. They double up with other cars in a single lane but seem to think they are OK. Hmmmn…
Anyways, we got to a central car park in the Medina, paid the taxi 150dh and a boy came to cart our backpacks off into the medina to our place. We paid him 15dh (£1) and he took us down the main throughfare, Talaa Kbira, past different stalls with different smells. We were greeted with ‘Bonjour’ and ‘Ca Va?’ by the men waiting for customers. I dont think we saw any women but it was very quiet anyway as most people were getting ready for Friday prayers. Fes is the religious centre of Morocco so Friday prayers are taken very seriously. Eventually we were taken down a dark side alley and down round a corner to a rather grand large dark wooden door. This was Dar El Hana We were greeted by a very cheery Australian, Josephine, who owns this riad (strictly speaking a Riad is a house with an inner courtyard garden whereas a Dar is a house without the garden). Our bags were brought in and she asked if we would like tea or coffee. I was about to ask for coffee when she then offered us mint tea. Well, mint tea!! It tasted very good and although Moroccans generally drink it with heaps of sugar, it didnt taste sickly or anything. Josephine has been living in Fes for over 2 years running her guest house. We had the great pleasure of staying in the Acacia Room for 3 nights and later I found out ( I never knew this before) that the first morning prayer after Friday is always about half an hour long, so given Dar El Hana’s location between 2 local mosques we didnt get much sleep on our first night as we were woken by muezzins in succession at around 5am calling the faithful to get up and get on that prayer mat!
Josephine gave us a quick talk about the area and plenty of advice on how to handle ourselves and what to look out for and off we went in search of lunch. Our first Moroccan meal was taken at the Kasbah restaurant, just inside Bab Bou Jeloud, the gate out of the Medina. We sat on the roof terrace in the sunshine and enjoyed our tagine and fruit milkshakes.
We continued to explore the medina but found that public toilets were extremely difficult to come by. Definitely use a toilet whenever you can, like when you go to a cafe or restaurant! We did a couple of times use toilets by the mosques which were there purposefully for ablution (to clean oneself before prayer) and that cost us a dirham or so (7p) and they are kept clean. Overall we were not hassled on our first day although we did get offered hash a LOT!!!! Of course, we said no… The streets of Fes were also crazy and you should be wary of traffic at all times shooting around blind corners and so on. Don’t forget that donkeys and men pulling carts constitute traffic too, especially down the narrow lanes of the medina and be on your guard when you hear ‘ANDAK’ and BALAK’!!In the evening we went to a cafe recommended by Josephine and owned by a British ex-pat called Mike: Cafe Clock The waiters were really friendly and showed us around the converted building which had lots of cosy corners, a library and a roof terrace. I tried traditional Moroccan soup, Harira, which was really spicy and very tasty and full of chickpeas, beef and vermicelli. Ben had a camel burger, which although delicious, I couldnt quite stomach as I was suffering quite badly from sensory overload. Fes is so full of smells like drains (its a medieval city with a medieval sewage system!), cinammon and spice and the tanneries (eugh) as well as tastes like lemon, mint and almond. I liked seeing men walking around wearing the djellaba, like they were all Ben Obi Wan Kenobe in Star Wars. We finished dinner with a round of amazing Moroccan pastries ranging from Gazelles Horn which is a pastry filled with almonds, almond cookies and sticky things a bit like gulaab jamon.
We spent the remainder of our time in Fes visiting (or at least trying to visit) mosques and museums (Museum Batha has a gorgeous garden full of orange trees) The huge Qarawiyne mosque is open only to practising Muslims as mosques are used as a place of worship, not tourism. This I later found out is a law laid down by the French! Hence, you can visit mosques in other North African countries… Fes also has had a crackdown on unofficial guides which explains the lack of hassle from locals who try to take you somewhere to show you something and then turn around and charge you for the privilege. having said that, we did agree to go up on some roof terraces so we could look down on the city tanneries where they make leather, and down onto the Qarawiyne and we would pay those people 5 or 10 dhirams for which they were always grateful. In Fes we never felt forced to give more than we wanted to pay, if at all! Looking back on Fes now in fact, we met some really friendly, helpful people. Locals would help us flag down taxis and point out local museums and we never felt there that they were after anything. Generally walking around the souks in the medina was OK and never show an interest if you are not interested!
At the tanneries I managed to buy a huge leather pouffe; my first initiation in haggling. the seller started at 800 dhirams. I had already decided in my mind that I would pay £20 for it – 300 dhiram. He pushed very hard to get me to pay around 450 dhiram but I told him I couldnt afford that and as I begun to walk out he came down in price and I ended up getting my pouffe for my target price and still I left the seller with a big fat grin on his face. Everyone happy!! Once home I showed my folks my pouffe and was told that it would probably be about £100 in the shops here, yeah!!!
A great way to see Fes is to climb up to the Borj Nord which overlooks the city and wait for sunset for some stunning views, catching a hot drink for yourself at Les Merinides hotel on the roof terrace afterwards. 
We visited the nouvelle ville of Fes and as soon as we stepped out of the Medina, past the Jewish quarter and saw the McDonalds, we knew we were there. Absolutely horrible place. Men sit outside cafes and they leer at you, I was really annoyed! Dont bother, there’s not a lot in the new town anyway. But if you end up there for lunch, try a place off Mohammed V called Le Chamonix for good tagine. Some other places to try and eat at are Riad Laaroussa, both restaurants by Le Kasbah with Bouianania in the name (one has a roof terrace, one doesnt, the one that doesnt makes good Pastilla!) and the rather fab Riad Fes which does serve alcohol but where we had a rather civilised mint tea!
We were sad to leave Fes but its best to leave a place when you still like it there. The taxi drivers are mad and we nearly crashed several times when our petit taxi driver took us to the train station in the new town to leave for Rabat but you will appreciate drivers at home, howver stupid they are, hahaha!! Also, do stand your ground if you feel that you’re being ripped off. unfortunately on our departure a greedy monkey charged us 30 dhirams to take our bags to the car park. We tried to argue this but without Jospehine to back us up and our need to get in the taxi he had flagged for us, we paid him the £2 reluctantly (extra reluctantly as we could have carried our bloody backpacks ourselves!) – ALWAYS agree on a price before!!! We later emailed Jospehine to thank her for her hospitality and mentioned the greedy carrosser only to find that he had also tried to charge other guests 50 dhirams for the same privilege! What I found most upsetting was that he was one of the few Fassis who had greeted us with a salaam so in my mind I felt that someone using God’s name in a greeting would not so easily rip us off. HUH!!!
Fes is not a city that stays open late into the night (not the medina anyway) so we would find ourselves wandering home as early as 10pm. But that was OK as it meant we could get an early start in the day and enjoy the sun while it was there (sunset would be around 5.30pm). It was also nice to not have the pressure of feeling that we had to stay out late all the time, and being a Muslim country, alcohol is not widely available and it was good to not have that around too. Even though it was sunny during the day, you need to wrap up warm at night at this time of year and sunglasses during the day will help defend against that fierce sun. I think lone female travellers will be fine in Fes. Women do seem to be well-respected there and stares from locals seem to be out of curiosity and at no point did I feel threatened as a woman or as a foreigner. Even walking back to our place in the dark at night was not a problem. Men do hang around street corners but they do not hassle you in any way.
Fes is perfect to experience a bit of Morocco if you are short of time, definitely go there!
Tags: fes, medieval, medina, Morocco, Travel
PixieDoux
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