Fes, Morocco – a most interesting city as Janette and Michale discovered

By Michael Diamond

Fes view

Streetscape in a small town outside Fes

Fes, Morocco,is one of the oldest cities …certainly the oldest in this part of the world. Building originally started in the early part of the 9th century with most of its original construction in the Medina where tiny alleyways, lead into large former homes and huge courtyards. Now they are mostly commercial establishments.

Janette and I entered Fes through the new city passing many fine looking buildings. One of the thoroughfares was an enormous boulevard which was installed by the French during their occupation of Morocco which ended with Morocco’s independence in the early 50′s,

Getting to our hotel, the Riad Fes, was quite an experience. The car stopped in the Medina from where we walked along a series of narrow alleyways for a few minutes before we arrived at entrance to the hotel. Walking to the Riads- homes off alleyways with large courtyards where rooms are on all sides, is common . The central courtyards are usually spectacular. If we had walked into a museum with this type of handiwork on the walls, ceilings and floors, we would have expected this decor but seeing it here was an unexpected joy. Our “royal suite” turned out to be far too large, rambling, and impractical with 30 foot ceilings. It felt as though we were living in a hall not a bedroom. Imagine asking fora downgrade to a smaller room?. We did and more to our taste. It was a quick lesson that when you travel be prepared to accept local ideas concerning what others determine as luxury standards.

That night, we decided to stay in the hotel , after a long travel day. In addition, we were both concerned that if we left the hotel at night we would never get back through the alleyways. We ended up having a few snacks since we had been feasting and needed a break from yet another large meal. Excellent Moroccan mandarins, a few cookies, some wine provided us with our banquet.

Given its age, and the centre of religion in this part of the world, Fes held promise to be an interesting trip. Our first visit was to the Jewish cemetery in the former Jewish quarter, or Mellah as they are called throughout Morocco. Mellah means something to do with salt which according to our guide, Aziz, means either or both that Jews were often in the salt business, then an essential trading commodity to preserve food since there was no ice available or reference to Jews being salty- which apparently is a positive reference in Islam.. This Mellah was built in the 13th century.

The cemetery is reasonably well kept and filled with mostly white graves- covered with lye to keep them in shape, however often without names although we did see Cohen, Mimran to name a few. There were several special gravestones of former chief rabbis and descendants of Maimonides. Many graves were recent with one from 2010.

We left a small donation for the two men who maintained it and who also provide kippas (skull caps). They spoke a little Hebrew though they are Muslim. Little remains in the Mellah to indicate that this was an area inhabited by Jews. The few Jews that decided to stay in Morocco have moved to better quarters in the new city of Fes. Thee Jewish quarter was built in the 13th century and Aziz pointed to the unique wooden balconies. Of major interest is that this area was adjacent to the King’s Palace, built at the same time. Apparently, the Jews and the King were compatible so that he allowed them to move up the hill to the area adjacent to his own palace.

Leather being dyed

Leather shoes displayed

At a nearby ceramic/pottery manufacturing facility we were astonished to see hand made tiles and mosaics with the same kind of craftsmanship seen in the older palaces, raids, and mosques. The cement is treated, rolled, shaped, cut, painted to produce the various ceramic products for which Fes is famous. It was fascinating to see how the ancient trades have continued from generation to generation.

In the centre of town in the Medina where the Riad Fes Hotel is located, we walked the streets for several hours, stopping into several establishments along the way. One special visit was to the local tannery watching various families utilize vats for treating leather , liquid to dye and soften prior to making the various items on display in the multi-floored, spacious and seemingly never ending leather showrooms. Unfortunately, any up-to date fashion statement didn’t exist although the leather was great quality.

The Talisman Art Gallery which was really more of an antiquities store built by a Jewish family in the 15th century after having fleeing from Spain for religious purposes, had been handed down through the generations. Apparently, the family converted to Islam somewhere along the way, and ultimately the family home became the family business. It is chock full of incredible artifacts, including an old somewhat damaged but highly textured Torah from the 16th or 17th century, and a good deal of other interesting Jewish memorabilia, more than we had seen elsewhere. So it was time to buy something in Morocco! We purchased a rams horn and an antique and very unique hamsa that we hadn’t really intended to buy and spent more than we had anticipated. What followed the next morning is worth mentioning..We called Aziz first thing in the morning and advised him that we wanted to return the merchandise we had bought at this art gallery. We expected a problem, given that the transaction had been concluded and paid for and we had no relationship with the merchant. The response from Aziz, was comforting- “Don’t worry. If you are not happy you can return it all and get your money back.” He also called the merchant and received the same commitment. Aziz and I returned to the store and promptly received our refund, no strings attached. Remarkable. All seem is an incredible honor code which comes up from time to time in the way people treat each other here. The proprietor, Azedine Benjili Sefrioui, simply wanted us to enjoy our visit to his shop. Maybe I am being naive, but I was pleasantly surprised at the treatment and I actually purchased a piece of Judaica that I really liked.

While in the Medina,.we also visited a weaving establishment, and saw the actual weaving taking place with old looms. Later on we also saw long pieces of thread stretched along the walls and learned that is how they roll up the thread. Things have not changed a great deal in most of these areas for many centuries. The quality of the workmanship continues to be excellent.

Our lunch in the Medina at the Palais de la Medina is unforgettable. Again we walked through an archway from a little alley into a 3-4 story courtyard with walls of mosaic and carved plaster- very museum-like. After a necessary mid day rest, we dined in the new city. Presumably this was to be an example of the new Morocco and it was a very ‘cool’ restaurant that could stand up to anything, decor-wise, in any major city in the world. Maison Blanche was a treat and where we opted for international food in the middle of the most Moroccan of the large Moroccan cities.

That night we were unsure whether the next day, which was devoted to traveling to 3 smaller towns south of Fes, was going to be memorable. We were so wrong, as it was another great day. Our first visit was to a small town south of Fes called Bhalil…which means “the charm of the night.” The major feature of this town was the fact that many of the houses were built over or in front of caves that had been dug into the side of the mountain. We were accompanied in a walk through the older part of this town by our Bhalil guide, Mohammed, a fine gentleman who was able to speak some English and pointed out a number of the best photo ops in town. Mohammed was happy to show us into his home, and into the cave portion which was set up as a living room. As in most other places, most of the people were not happy to have their pictures taken although I did find a few who agreed.. Another feature of the town was the cleanliness of its walkways- often painted different colours. Obvious was the care people here took about their homes which were adorned with flowers and painted with bright colours. A thoroughly enjoyable visit in the foothills of the Middle Atlas mountains.

Fes Synagogue sign

Riad Fes courtyard

We then moved on to Sefrou, a somewhat larger town in the same area and we were fortunate to be there during a market day. Like most places, there is a Mellah with the familiar wooden balconies seen in Fes. “Sefrou, Sephardic, Sefroui- the name of the Jews here and the name of the merchant at the Art Shop in Fes are.all related. We walked through the most crowded and perhaps most interesting market we had seen.. Friendly locals, very difficult to manoeuvre through certain narrower areas, all a serious assortment of goods for sale in this once a week occasion. After 45 minutes drive through beautiful countryside- rolling hills and foot hills, streams and cedars we were invited to see Aziz’ brother’s country home which was on the way to Ifran, our next destination. The country home was large and the surrounding land was planted to almost every square meter with trees, vegetables and fruits, maintained by a local Berber woman. For us the interesting thing was that people in Morocco,even in the middle class, could afford second homes.

Irfan was unlike anything we had seen here in Morocco. It had been built originally by the French as a mountain town for recreational purposes in the style of a European town. It would fit in if place on a Swiss moutainside. It was later expanded by several kings and remains a very high end recreational town used primarily by the Moroccans, summer and winter. And yes, you can actually ski there in the winter months. We had a good (for me) and ok (for Janette) pizza lunch overlooking the open area in the centre of town. A stroll took us passed some very high end second homes that would fit into any up market cottage area. As we continued we passed the university which is hard to get into and “expensive”, walked by a pleasant lake then returned to our 4 wheel ‘carriage’ to begin the drive back to the hotel.

Much of the land is being farmed, with both modern machinery, and sometimes with animals. There has been an obsession with being self sufficient in agriculture since the major famine in the 40′s during which many died. This has been supported by a focus on water for agriculture and Morocco has a large number of dams to facilitate the water maintenance. There is no tax on agricultural land or production, and special loans are available. As a result, Morocco is a strong agricultural producer.

After our return to Fes, we had a delicious dinner at Riad Fes in a pretty restaurant (it looks even better at night), enjoying some excellent vegetarian dishes, couscous, and a very good shrimp. Moroccan wine, both white and red, has proven to be quite good and well priced..The next day was the end of our stay in Fes.

Fes is a must see, simply because it is such a large, and ancient city, with a legendary Medina. But it is so confusing to get around. We were fortunate to have our guide available, but even then we did not have the sense of “knowing” Fes. Touring Fes, and the day in the country around Fes, was not to be missed! And while we did not love the Riad Fes, we appreciated the exceptional hospitable service at check-in to Mohammed who dragged our luggage all over the place to Fatima who took a personal interest in our well being at breakfast and dinner. I suspect that in a warmer time of year, we would have appreciated the beauty of that Riad much more then during this much colder.