Fes - 1,200 years and still going strong
FesAfter nearly telling another scammer cabby where to stick his exorbitant “foreigner's rates” fare (5 times what the guide book gave as an indication), we managed to make it on the bus to Fes. Once onboard, it became quite obvious that we hadn't caught the more luxurious foreigners' bus that we had before. This rickety old bus was absolutely sweltering and packed full! It was also definitely NOT the express service, stopping at every village on the way!
We stopped for lunch in Rachidia, and we verified the amount of time with the driver (one hour) before heading off to find food. We found a cheap chicken stand not far from the station and after 40 minutes we headed back to the bus station (just to be sure). As we began crossing the street to the bus terminal, Kyle spotted our bus rounding the block at the end of the street and leaving with our bags and without us. SHIT!!!! We started running as fast as we could go and luckily the bus pulled in for gas. What the hell was that all about?? Here is what we think happened... We asked in French, “how long before we leave?” and the driver replied “Une heure.” Now, the confusing part about French is that 1 hour is the same as 1 o'clock. Hmm, probably our fault for not clarifying. Ah well, got the adrenaline pumping!
It took us a full 10 hours in total to get to Fes, however it was amazing to feel the change in climate - from sweating it out in the hot, dry desert on the edge of the Sahara, we had come over the Low Atlas and into the relatively cool, arable region where Fes is situated. What a nice change!
We hadn't booked any accommodation here, so we headed into the "war zone": through "Bab Bou Jeloud", the main entrance into the medina, pushed through all the touts and sussed out some of the hotels in the guide book. We were able to find an available room on our second try at Hotel Erraha, fairly basic but good sized rooms and just outside the Bab.
With lots of restaurants around, we went out to a packed restaurant for some couscous. Delicious and fantastic value – a huge chicken couscous and water for only $7. Good stuff.
Bab Bou Jeloud - definitely the coolest named gate in Morocco
We spent the next day exploring the medina in Fes. Fes is the oldest imperial city in Morocco and Fassians are quick to tell you it is also the cultural and intellectual heart of modern Morocco. Several banners around the city proclaimed Fes celebrating its 1,200th year in 2008! Amazing considering that Australia is only celebrating its 220th.
One actually still came with us, showing us all the entrances to the mosque, in his annoying way, and we tried really hard to shake him. We went really slow, taking lots of pictures, and he waited. We went fast and tried to hide around corners but he still found us. A couple times we took off through the medina and would run into him again in a random spot 20 minutes later. God, we just couldn't shake the guy!
Cats are everywhere in Islamic cities - dogs are "not-kosher" under Islam
We peeked into one of the big mosques in Fes, through the elaborately decorated doors. Non-muslims are not allowed into any mosques in Morocco (with a couple notable exceptions). We had a quick look in and were caught in the hustle and bustle of people entering for midday prayer. Very hectic but very interesting to see.
The mosques are beautiful, but unfortunately off limits to non Muslims
We ended up letting ourselves be lured by a faux guide up to a city lookout which, incidentally, was on top of a carpet factory. Surprise, surprise. The view was pretty cool to see... it is astounding that even in a very poor area, everyone, absolutely everyone has satellite dishes. How strange.
Back inside the carpet warehouse, we watched two local women hand weaving a beautiful carpet. It really was spectacular and it left me wondering how they kept the design of the carpet with each of them doing their own thing, paying no mind to the other woman. Fascinating.
As great as it was, it didn't convince me that it was necessary to get a good deal on a carpet then pay $500 to have it shipped back to Australia. When the salesman tried to get us interested, I said we would look if they agreed to pay the shipping. After confirming it was Australia he would have to ship back to, he gave up with a simple "Ok, have a nice day!"
We stopped for lunch at a B'sara stall - the Fassi broad bean soup that is served with olive oil and fresh bread. It's a local specialty, delicious and a real bargain at only 3 dirham each - about 40c.
B'sara soup - delicious!
After lunch, we visited a Moroccan handcrafts museum, and marvelled at the amazing woodwork that it contained. It was recently restored and was an old hotel, before that the office of the French police during Morocco's days as a French protectorate.
We also let ourselves be led to a lookout over one of the tanneries - funnily enough on top of a leather goods store. Morocco is world famous for it's leather and the process of tanning hides hasn't changed over centuries. The smell is overwhelming, as one of the main ingredients in the process is pigeon poo - used for it's high potassium content. It was recommended to stick mint up our nose to overcome the truly terrible odour of bird crap.
We went out and had a great meal that night (Fes is also the culinary capital of Morocco), the one thing that would have topped off the meal would have been a nice bottle of red - ah, well!
The next day, after grabbing breakfast at a hole in the wall, we visted a medersa - sort of like a live in college. The great thing about them is that non-Muslims can visit (for a fee), and it was a great chance to see some of the amazing Islamic craft work and architecture.
Fes exemplifies how Moroccans embrace the modern world, but also cling to traditions
We decided to head back to Marrakesh by train via Meknes, Morocco's third Imperial city, and Casablanca, the large bustling commercial capital of the country.
Meknes
We were only spending a night in Meknes and were very keen to see Volubilis, an ancient Roman city about a half hour out of Meknes. The ruins are renowned for their many intact mosaics from ancient times, depicting Roman gods and legends. Although it was raining when we went, it was a pleasant change from the heat and the dust that we had experienced the week before in the south of the country.
The ruins are amazing with the columns of the capital clearly visible, topped by the nesting storks, and a restored Arc de Triomph, constructed for the visit of one of the ancient Roman governers of the province.
The mosaics are amazingly intact, considering the amount of exposure they've had to the weather. They include depictions of Hercules, Venus, Minerva and Bacchus.
We were lucky enough to share a grand taxi back to Meknes. With the weather clearing we spent the afternoon exploring the medina and having a look around the old palace. The gate to the walled citadel, Bab al Mansoor, is famous throughout Morocco. It has amazing zellij tile work and is very impressive - unfortunately we couldn't walk through it as it is only opened on special occasions.
We finished up our full day at a local pizza/pasta place and a bottle of red wine, back in our roon.
Casablanca
We had heard a lot of bad things about Casablanca, basically just being a large city without any of the cultural feel of the old imperial cities. There was one highlight, however, being the Hassan II mosque. After reading about it, we thought it was definitely worth stopping into Casa for a couple of hours to see it.
Despite the fact that it's a modern structure (electric doors, a sliding roof and, at night, a laser beam that points towards Mecca), it is truly awe-inspiring - and the great thing about it is that it's the only mosque in Morocco where non-Muslims are welcome to visit.
We were somewhat delayed in getting out to the mosque as we discovered that the train and bus stations in Casablanca, the biggest city in Morocco, do not offer a left luggage service. After getting ripped off by yet another cab driver (they are truly little better than pond scum) we walked across town to the only youth hostel, flashed our membership cards, and left our luggage there for the princely sum of 20 Dirham - about 3 dollars.
We got to the mosque around 11:00, where we missed the last tour of the morning and we had to wait for the next one at 2:00pm, after midday prayers.
As such, we had a lot of time to explore this amazing structure, which contains the best of Moroccan traditional crafts, including stonework, woodwork, the best of the lamps and metalwork in the stall and covered in my favourite zellij tilework. Amazing!
Once we were on the tour we got to take as many photos as we wanted, of the prayer hall, the ablutions fountains (muslims wash before prayer to to "purify" themsleves) and the hammam underneath the mosque (still not open to the public, as such it's in pristine condition!).
Close up examples of the amazing workmanship
The prayer hall...
...and alcove that points to Mecca - the hall can hold 25,000 muslims at prayer
The ablution fountains
The hammams - will be open to the public...soon!
Despite the rush, we were so glad that we stopped here and got back on the (very crowded) 4:30pm train back to Marrakesh.What a rush! in the preceding 14 days we had explored Morocco's beautiful gorges, the desert and the amazing Erg Chebbi as well as the imperial cities which are uniquely and quintessentially Moroccan. After such a hectic schedule, we were looking forward to a few quieter days in Marrakesh and then out to the coastal town of Essaouira.
