Fez

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Despite all the noise in the riad, we slept like rocks.  Breakfast was amazing, so many exotic choices.  We met our guide for the day, Kamal, and off we went into the medina (old city).  The medina dates from the 9th century and sprawled from there.  There are over 9000 alleys in the medina and they are full of merchant stalls.  It is believed to be the largest medina in the world, and the largest car-free urban area in the world.  We had to watch out for mules loaded with cargo.  Attention!  Attention!  Occasionally we heard loud drumming and a few Moroccan folk dancers would take over the alley, looking for a tip.

Kamal started in the souk (market) by taking us to watch someone working with leather, but they only sell goods to vendors in large quantities.  He also showed us how spools of thread are created from cactus strands.  Kamal gave us lots of history lessons and took us to some unusual places, like a middle school turned mosque, and a hotel for travelling caravans (turned museum).  The tannery was fascinating with dozens of big vats.  We were given fresh mint to hold to our nose because the smell of the tannery was rather strong.  In some of the vats, the skins sit in a mixture of lime and pigeon poop for a week until the fur falls off.  In other vats, the skins are dyed different colours using plant dyes.  For example, they use poppies for red and indigo for blue.

Of course, they had rooms and rooms of leather goods for sale.  They almost had Anton convinced to buy a leather coat (the other woman wants it for her husband if you don't take it), but in the end he settled for a belt, fitted for him.  We went to a local bakery where there was a man inside a big oven like a cave.  The locals bring the dough to him in the morning.  He bakes them and throws them onto the floor where they are collected and placed on that family's tea towels.  That's how they tell the bread apart.

We also visited a textile store where Anton learned how to turn a long narrow strip of cloth into a turban.

There was a mosaic factory where they demonstrated how to turn basic clay into pottery.  We watched a man make a bowl and a perfectly fitted lid all by sight.  I'm afraid that we were a big disappointment because we didn't want to buy anything, but Kamal called these places "government" UNESCO protected businesses (co-operatives?) and the prices were quite steep.

Kamal said he would help us with bargaining but really didn't.  He seemed to prefer sitting and waiting for us.  We often had to wait as he chatted with friends, he seemed to know everyone.  Kamal was very laid back (his favourite phrase was "Is it okay?") and needed to stop for tea almost as soon as we started.  Anton ordered some grape juice pressed from dried grapes, it was very sweet, and Frankie ordered apple juice.  It was not quite what she expected:  it was freshly crushed apples mixed with frothy milk.

Everytime Kamal talked to Frankie he bowed because "Frances" is the name of the king's wife.  We meandered around seeing this and that and finally stopped for lunch at 3 pm.  We were supposed to have lunch at Kamal's home but his father died last week and his mother is in mourning for 4 weeks.  So we went to a small local family restaurant with 3 tables.  The girl at the restaurant took us into the kitchen (the size of our washroom) so we could sample things and decide what we wanted.  We ordered some delicious beef tajine.  After lunch Brahim picked us up and we went outside the medina to see the king's palace (well, the gate really) and walked through the Jewish cemetary and the Jewish market.

We went to the top of a hill for a nice view overlooking the whole city.  There was a boy there who looked unhappy about our being there, it looked like part of the king's palace.  Kamal seemed to take us to a few places where we weren't supposed to be.  He didn't hesitate to grab herbs out of someone's bag for us to smell, or open the lid of someone's cooking pot to show us what was brewing.

It was a 15 minute walk through the bustling medina back to Riad Laaroussa.  Sat in the courtyard and relaxed.  People in Morocco generally don't "trust" dogs according to Kamal, but there are 2 dogs here named Ben and Lou, and one cat.  Cats are everywhere.  But we're not sure we trust everything Kamal told us..... He said Morocco was 100% Muslim, and told us this AS we were walking through the Jewish Quarter.  Hmmm.

It was 35C today, we were constantly looking for shade.  Kamal told us that he once had a group of 27 Canadians at the start of his tour, it went up to 45C, and by the end of the tour he was left with 2 people.

Dinner at the riads is on an open-air rooftop terrace, starting at 8 pm.  It cools down to 25C with a nice breeze.  The first course is "salad".  They bring out several small tajine dishes, each with a different mixture and none of them contains any greenery at all:  lentils in one, cauliflower, carrots, etc., all loaded with spices.

Then you are full and they bring out the main course, tonight it was lamb.  A big bowl of meat with a few vegetables.  Then some goat's cheese and jam, and just to make sure you've had enough, desert.  Almond apricot tarte for Anton, and a huge bowl of assorted fruit for Frankie.  They have taken very good care of Frankie, making sure everything is gluten-free.  Apparently, the staff had a "meeting" about this before we arrived!