Fes - Day 2 and 3

WOW!

Parts of the Medina (old town) are over 1200 years old.  And we have been to those parts.  Impossible to describe.  9000+ small streets and allies.  Confusing as all get out.  Each one is more interesting than the last.  Fes is the oldest continually occupied city in ......... was it Morocco, Africa, the world?  I don't know.  Somewhere.

We hired a guide yesterday as a group.  Each couple returned at least a couple times today.  Took a taxi tour around the outside of the Medina.  We went down strets (that are 1200+ years old.  Really mind boggling.  What an ancient culture.  Ate a lot of authentic food ....... some great and yummy ...... some a little foreign to my palate (sp?)  Sat outside in sidewalk cafes drinking really good coffee.  Brenda was usually the only woman there except when Nancy was with us.  We could stay here a month and not even scratch the surface of the place.

Feeling much more coomfortable today than yesterday.  We will see if that comfort will transfer to Marakesh tomorrow.

Look closely.
Can you figure out what kind of meat is sold here?

Ancient water clock.
Worked great until the French destroyed it in the 1950's.

1000 year old cedar door.
We saw a couple of the old doors that were open.  They ar about 4" thick.

Metal workers area.

Finished metal work.

Unbelievable carpets for sale.
All hand made and using natural dyes.

There is an old wall surrounding the Medina.
This is one of the gates into it.
The wall is either 45 or 60 kilometers long depending on who you talk to.

Moroccon Wal-Mart

No vehicles in the Medina.
They would never fit.
This is a Medina delivery truck.  Saw lots of these little guys.
The other type of deliveryy truck is a hand cart.
There is a free vet hospital for the donkies (mules?) .

Camel meat in some white goop.
Not refrigerated.
I believe the 'goop' is camel lard (from the hump) and olive oil.
We also saw it displayed in other ways that looke like a volcano.

Not sure.  But not new construction.

At the ceramics cooperative.

I guess if you have to be imprisoned ....
This is not a bad way to go.
Hi Nancy.

Wster seller?
We had to pay to take his picture.
So maybe he is selling photo ops?

The old and famous leather tanneries and dye works.
All the dyes are natural.
Examples:  mint is used for green dye.  poppies for red, pomegranate skins for yellow.
'Interesting' smell from this view. 
No restaurants (is that spelled right?) nearby.

I passed up the opportunity to eat a camel burger.  I hope that I can forgive myself.  I have had bufallo and elk burgers.  But not here. I have also eaten alligator and I think that I ate snake when I was younger, but doubt that I held it down for long.  So that probably doesn't count.  I do regret not eating the fried grasshopper in Mexico.  And of course ..... cuy in Ecuador.  And, oh yeah, I ate at McDonalds in Tangier.  They call the McDonalds 'The American Embassy'.

 

CLICK HERE

for the rest of the Fes pics.

Life is sweet,

Clarke