0404 In Fez

The mob


The carpet seller in the cooperative


The tannery in Fez


Water seller in the souk in Fez


Patterns for mosaic table tops. The colours are underneath and the pattern is in the memory of the artisan.


Tagine pots the one on the left is fired

Dragon breath morning with a touch of cloud. Hakima met us at the hotel and we went on a tour to the Medina and many other places starting with the Imperial Palace where the current king lives. It turned out that Hakima is quite a card and she kept us entertained all day from 9 am until we got back to the hotel at 8 pm.
I have noticed orange trees on railway stations and in parks and have seen people harvesting the orange blossoms from these trees as well as the fruit. It turns out they are ornamental oranges and the fruit is too bitter to eat. It is used however to clean metal work like that on the gates to the Imperial Palace. The doors here are made from cedar and bronze. The palace itself is an enclosed city even with its own golf course. The doors have marble pillars which comes from Carara in Italy. Apparently when the palace was built,they traded 1 kg of sugar for 1 kg of marble. The stucco is made from marble powder, water and egg white.
From the palace we drove through the Mellah which is the Jewish area (Mellah means salt and the Jewish area in all cities is called Mellah because the original Jewish citizens were salt traders). Also we saw the Andalucia area which has the Moorish influence in home architecture with balconies and shutters.
We drove to the Medina to see one of the 14 Koranic schools. This one was built in the 14th century and is being restored by UNESCO. Built in the traditional Moroccan way with a courtyard opened to the sky and windows on the inside of the courtyard, not the outside wall. Houses are built in the same style and people use the bottom of the house in summer and the top of the house in winter.
Next we were driven to a lookout where we could see the size of the Medina. Medina means city and each Medina is fully self contained. During the day in the Medina we saw pre-schools, Koranic schools, mosques, shops of all kinds, cheap hotels. You name it, it is there. The Medina is 250 ha in size and has a 14 km wall surrounding it.
The Fez Medina dates back to the 14th century and houses the oldest university in the world. It was built by Fatima ?? even though she knew only men would attend the uni (as in our culture until about the 1920s).
The first artisan cooperative we visited was a ceramics business which has been moved outside the city walls due to the pollution caused by the firing. Even though dyes are all natural and for the firing olive seeds are used for heating the furnaces. We saw the complete process from clay to painting to firing and also the making of ceramic tiles and mosaic table tops, etc.
From here we were taken to see the local food market, fish market and blacksmiths. Further on we went to see the people who make huge pots for hiring to cook for huge parties. These pots are made of bronze and lined with titanium so we saw a man and his apprentice soldering the lining into the pots. We also went to the Najirin where huge sedan chairs(amaria) are made for the bride to be carried on her wedding day. These were incredibly elaborate, in silver and gold with embroidery everywhere. When walking through the Medina visitors have to be constantly on guard for the sound "balak balak" which means, look out I'm coming through - it just buzzes with energy.
Then there was the souk where yarns are dyed, again using natural dyes eg poppy flower for red. At the next drop in spot, we were given a fist full of mint to carry and we soon found out why. It was for holding under the nose to disguise the smell of the tannery. The tannery was another world. Skins are washed in the river and then soaked in pots with chalk and salt in order to help the fleece lift from the skins. The next step is soaking in pigeon poo which softens the skins and then the final stage is to soak in dye pots. The day we were there, the colour was yellow. Of course, we then had a look at the mountains of shoes, bags, belts and the most beautiful soft leather jackets made of goat leather.
Lunch was camel burger in a small food souk owned by a "mad" man of 68 who kept kissing the women and doing hand stands. What a lad!!!
There were Senegal doors to a mosque with culturally relevant carving. We saw lots of gorgeous wood inlay and carving. Then to a caravanserai where there is a weavers' cooperative based. Here we experienced the hard sell but I must say they made the experience well worth our whiles whether we bought anything or not.
Another interesting part of the tour was a visit to a herbal pharmacy where the man learnt his knowledge passed down for 5 generations. Steve bought some nigella seeds as they are supposed to stop snoring. We'll see!!!!
I'm sure there's lots in the backwoods of my brain to pop out when least expected. It was a very full day