When you’ve been to 100 countries, most places tend to remind you of another. Fes however was on a league of its own. I thought I knew Morocco having been there previously but Fes was just something else.
We parked our car and were picked up by a guy from the Riad. After taking some turns here and there, I realised quickly that there was no way I could find my way back to the car park on my own.
The Madina was the biggest maze I’d ever been in. The little narrow pathways got smaller and smaller as we reached closer to our Riad.
Upon entering, we were mesmerised by the spacious and beautifully decorated interior. I could have never guessed that within these brown dusty walls could be something so wonderful.
There were shops selling all kinds of things in the Medina – lamps, carpets, leather goods, plates, meat, seafood, vegetables and more. Once in a while, we would be caught in traffic as a man would gallop on his horse or a donkey cart tries to manoeuvre the narrow streets.
The Kairaouine mosque in the Medina was a breath of fresh air.
Dinner at our Riad that night was veal tagine. It was so good that we made reservations for the following night again.
We entered a carpet museum and was once again in disbelief at the beauty and size of the interior as the entrance was just another door along the narrow pathways. At yet another carpet shop, we saw how they were made using these big weaving machines.
From my understanding, there are 3 tanneries in Fes. We climbed up some flights of stairs to the top from which we had a great view of the tanneries and the Medina.
Lunch was at a beautifully done family home which is now a restaurant where we had lamb tagine and pigeon pastilla.
We later started our hike up towards the north-west of the Medina to one of the city’s gates to get another view of the city. Unfortunately it wasn’t that spectacular.
Dinner at our Riad was couscous with lamb. The portion was so large I thought they wanted to feed a whole classroom of children. I barely ate a fourth of what was served.
Fes is definitely a place like no other and I’m glad I’ve finally visited it. It is however not the place for me and I do not see myself visiting it again.
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