Marvellous Moroccan Medina!

Welcome to  Fes, a city surrounded by a wall in Morocco. The wall was put there in the city’s early years to protect the citizens from invaders, but today it serves as a city border.  Within the walled city is a medina, or a walled market place.  Around 200,000 people live there amid the houses and different shops. The medina is a labyrinth with thousands of streets and alleyways to explore; it’s really difficult to find your way if you aren’t a local or don’t have a guide. Our guide, Ali,  has lived in the medina his whole life, so he knows how to get everywhere. He knew many of people in the medina and facts about the city; we saw and learned a lot from him.

The houses of the medina

Let’s start by taking a look at the houses. All the houses look the same on the outside: beige, light brown or light orange walls, normal sized doors, and no windows. They are all together so you can’t see the size of each house. The outsides are all the same so the richer people and the poorer people appear as equals. The doors on the houses are really unique because there are two knockers at different heights so that children can reach.

Ali talking about the doors

The insides of the homes are very beautiful. There is usually a short hallway that leads from the door into an open air courtyard. In most homes, there is a fountain in the middle of the courtyard, but this can vary.  In one of the corners of the courtyard, there is usually a staircase that leads to the second floor and a rooftop terrace. All the houses have terraces with a beautiful view of the medina and surrounding area. I found it really interesting how many satellite dishes one could see on the roofs of the surrounding houses.

The interior of a house

The courtyard leading to a room

Another thing I found interesting in the medina was the live market. Here there are people selling live chickens, turkeys, pigeons, rabbits, and snails. The pigeons and rabbits were kept in cages while the chickens and turkeys had their feet tied together. The snails were just left in a big bucket or bags because they weren’t really going anywhere! These animals are sold live so they can be prepared for meals according to Muslim tradition.

The live market

Chickens and turkeys

A cage of pigeons

Snails!

One of my favourite things about Morocco was the call for prayers. This is where loudspeakers all over the city tell people it’s time to go pray at the mosques. This takes place five times a day from 5:00 in the morning to 8:00 at night. This was new for me and I’m glad I was able to experience it.

The loud speakers

The outside of a mosque

A mosque tower

The most incredible thing that stood out to me was the tannery. This is a place where the leather is made, manufactured, and sold.

The process starts right from the beginning when the skins from sheep, goats, cows, and/or camels are soaked in big vats made out of limestone filled with a mixture of pigeon droppings and water for 15 days. The acids in the droppings soften the leather and removes excess hair and fat. This step doesn’t smell very good so when you go on this tour, you are given a sprig of mint to mask the smell. After, the skins are scraped to remove any leftover hair.

The limestone vats

Scraping off excess hair

Then the skins are soaked in other vats full of dye. The colours of the dye all come from natural products like red dye from poppies, yellow from saffron, blue from indigo, and brown from sandalwood.

Vats of dye

In the vats

The different colours of dye

All the dye pots

When the skins have the right amount of colour, they are taken out and hung to dry around the building.

Skins hanging everywhere

The drying skins

Yellow dyed skins

After you see the process, you are taken through the shop with all the products made and produced at the tannery. There were jackets, slippers, purses, handbags, and little beanbag chairs. All the products were so beautiful and anyone who loves jackets or purses would have a “field day” in there with all the amazing things one can buy!

A rack of leather jackets

Detail on the jacket front

We didn’t spend all of our time in the medina, we also ventured to other places nearby. One place we visited was the highest point in all of Fes, up on a hill with some old ruins. We also saw a couple men at the top laying out their own pieces of leather to dry. This leather is sold to the smaller stalls in the markets for a cheaper price as it’s quality isn’t like the leather made in the medina tannery.

View of the medina from the ruins

The drying leather

Zoe and I in the ruins

The view of the medina

All the floors and fountains inside the medina homes are done with beautiful ceramic mosaics with different patterns and vibrant colours. We were able to visit a place where they make ceramics and mosaics. We watched the employees create handmade dishes, mosaics, and fountains. There were people who cut the stone into the shapes using hammers and chisels. Others made the designs on the tables and fountains by placing the frame of the table (for example) upside down and filling in the mosaic pieces which would be finished by pouring a mortar over top to keep the pieces together.

Cutting the stone pieces

The small cut pieces

Filling in the table frame

The mortar on the mosaic stones

Finished tabletops

Completed fountains

The dishes were made out of clay, then baked in a kiln, and when they were ready, hand painted with glaze. We learned they burn the residue from olives that had already been pressed for fuel to bake the clay. The dishes were so beautiful we bought a couple for ourselves!

The clay jars

An employee painting

Painting a bowl

Finished jars

A whole wall of ceramics

The fuel made out of olives

This was the first country we’ve been to outside of Europe and my first time in Africa. Morocco gave me a fantastic experience and a fun time. This is my favourite place we’ve visited so far!  It’s number one on my top 10 list!