Fez is my favorite city in Morocco

carved plaster window in the medrassa

Fez is my favorite city in Morocco.  We've been there several times and loved it.  Despite the crowds and chaos in the medina, it is free of cars, full of colorful carts, people selling and hauling goods, artisans making beautiful handicrafts in small squares, and donkeys and cats. The alleyways are narrow and shaded, very welcome on a hot day.  The souk is full of color and spices--and people.  

artisan painting pottery

We stayed at the Riad Fes, a beautiful amalgam of 5 old palaces put together to make a hotel.  The rooms are beautiful and the service is excellent.  And, it's in the medina, so you can walk out the front door into all the activity and get back to take a rest whenever you want. 

pottery pigments

On our first visit to Fez about 15 years ago, we could not walk out of our hotel without being swarmed by guides wanting to show us the medina (and the shops where they could get a commission).  It was so bad that we retreated to our hotel and asked the concierge to get us a guide so we could avoid the onslaught.  Our guide only spoke French, which we don't speak, and hauled us into every shop he could, but did keep the other guides at bay so we could visit the medina in relative peace.  Soon after, the government banned guides from the vicinity of hotels, so now you can go where you wish with only shopkeepers vying for your attention.  

Fez medina

As you look at the ancient medina from a viewpoint across the valley, you can see the old Jewish Quarter, now in disrepair, but still occupied by some (not Jewish) families.  Our guide told us that the Jewish descendants of the original owners, now scattered around the world, still legally own their family homes under Moroccan law.  But, no one seems to know who or where they are, making it very difficult to renovate or sell the properties.  

old house in the Jewish Quarter

During the French occupation of Morocco, the French governor, General Lyautey, decreed that no one but Muslims could enter mosques.  So, even though most Muslim countries let non-Muslims enter mosques, it is still forbidden in Morocco.  We looked at several of the more beautiful mosques from outside and, since our full day in Fez was on a Friday, watched the streams of men entering for Friday prayers.

   

Kairouan mosque

One of the most beautiful buildings in the medina is a medrassa, with intricately carved plaster walls and doors.  Moorish architecture in Spain has the same magnificent craftsmanship, no surprise since those Moorish architects and artisans mostly came from Morocco.

Woodworking Museum

A happy surprise was the woodworking museum, a place we'd never visited, set in a beautifully renovated caravanserai in the heart of the medina.  Once the resting place for hordes of camels and itinerant merchants, the now-peaceful courtyard is cool and welcoming.  Upstairs, you can see woodworking tools, handmade furniture and carved friezes and doorways.

leather dying vats

A visit to the leather dying vats is a smelly must in Fez, but on Friday, there are no workers there to stomp the leather into the dye.  Nevertheless, it's an impressive sight to see the ancient vats where leather has been dyed for centuries.  

carved wood and plaster wall in medrassa

Fez is home to craftspeople of many kinds, but carpets are a staple of the medina economy, so we spent time shopping for (and buying) Berber carpets in a large and beautiful palace, much to the delight of the shopkeeper, not to mention our guide. 

wool dying street

mom and babies in box

Cats, of course, abound.  They prefer the alleys with food stalls, meat shops and restaurants where they are well fed.  As elsewhere, these cats love to be stroked by cat lovers from near and far.