Fez: A City That Hides It’s Beauty

I have never heard a description that rang so true as this. For the last six days I have been in Morocco, and it was an experience different than anything I ever expected. From the moment we landed it was apparent that it was going to be a country completely unlike anywhere I have ever been. The airport was a small building that could only have two airplanes pull up at a time, even though only one was ever there at once. We were picked up by two small buses, and driven to our Riyad (our hotel). When the bus stopped to drop us off we were in a dense street area and saw nothing that looked like a hotel. There were people all around the buses and we all got a bit nervous to get out of the car. But we did, and about a block up the small alley we got to where we were staying which was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. You walk into a little corridor, and then into an interior courtyard. All the doors to the room opened up off of the courtyard, and there was stained glass, mosaic work, and carved plaster everywhere. From here on out we were not really nervous about anything. Well, until we dropped off our bags and we walked out around the city to find a tomb and a higher view of the city without a tour guide. But once we started walking I realized that there wasn’t really anything to be worried about. It was weird walking around, though, because we were definitely in a more third world city and I have never been in a place like this. There were lots of alley ways and narrow streets, and cars were not anywhere to be seen since they were not allowed to drive in this area of the city. Donkeys are the mode of transferring materials from one place to another, and the smells were something quite …… unique. We walked around the main cemetery of the city and got to a high point where we could see a lot of the city and some areas around it. I can honestly say that Morocco looked a lot different than I expected. I expected sandy areas, desert, and kind of barren land. Instead there were mountains around, and it was very green. From here we continued to walk and saw some ruins, and then walked back into the Medina (oldest part of the city) and stopped for dinner at a restaurant that we were told was ok to eat at, since it is a huge worry of eating something that would make is sick for the rest of the trip. The food was amazing, I had shish kabab and rice and we had some local appetizers and for dessert their very good and popular green tea with mint and local cookies. Then it was an early night, we went back to the Riyad and I drew a cover page to the Morocco section of my sketchbook SKETCH HERE
Every day we got breakfast at the Riyad, so day two started out with our first Moroccan breakfast. It consisted of Marmalade, Strawberry Jam, Honey and lot s of types of bread and ended with green tea with mint ( as we began to find out that every meal ended with green tea with mint). We then met our tour guide, and were off to explore the city. We started by going to an old Palace that is now the Museum Dar Batha. We sketched here for over an hour (SKETCH HERE) and then walked up to the old city gate and had a little bit of time to sketch here. Then we went back to the Riyad for a four course Moroccan meal that was so good. For the rest of the day we got to walk around the city and go into a couple of buildings with large courtyard areas such as the schools which are called Madressa’s. In these buildings we had some time to sketch what we are learning about in school such as the difference between sacred and profane. It is interesting here because even in the schools there are sacred spaces for worship. We also, during the day, got to see how different mentalities are in a place like this under not only different lifestyles but also strongly different religious beliefs.
We had to dress covering most of our arms and could not wear anything above our knees and especially not stuff that was very snug fitting. In restaurants that had a lot of locals, there was pretty much no women, and many women had head scarf’s and wore robes called Kaftans. Being a blonde I got a lot of looks and guys trying to grab my attention. And honestly I could just feel and tell that it wasn’t in a good way. It really felt like women were not at the “same level” as men here and it was a really weird feeling to be a woman visiting a place like this. I didn’t feel unsafe at the slightest; you could just see and feel the difference in opinion of status I guess I would say.

The third day we ate breakfast and were picked up again by our tour guide. We started by walking through a different area of the Medina, and went to another Palace that family of the Prime Ministers lived in. It is also where a part of the movie Jewel of the Nile was filmed. We found out this day that our tour guide had also guided Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, and a lot of other famous people. In the first place we got to sketch, and my fascination with the patterns and designs took over and I sketched a design on the ceiling (Sketch here). Throughout the day we drove and went to see the view from a fort over the city, and went to a town and saw the potters and the process of making Fez pottery and go to buy some of their work. I bought a Tagine (a baking dish for a typical Moroccan dish) and two plates. I also got hit on and given a name to call to get any help that I need if I wanted to order any more stuff. It became a joke that I made a boyfriend at the pottery place. It was pretty funny. Then we went back to the town and had lunch and then went to see a weaver, where we got to watch them make blankets out of Moroccan silk, cotton and wool. I bought one of their blankets and two scarfs. They are so beautiful and cant wait to put them up at home. Then it off into the city, and into a courtyard/house where we spent some time sketching before we went home. It is so cool each time walking into these courtyard houses and seeing the different type of architecture and the way that they preserve these spaces form the public eye. You have to walk through a series of corridors to even get into the spaces, and I find that to be really cool because they preserve their personal space. Then it was an early night, and we got to finish up our sketches and get a good nights sleep.

Day three started again with breakfast, but then consisted of no sketching throughout the entire day. We got picked up by a different tour guide and were taken out into the towns about an hour away in and around the Atlas Mountains. We got to see the way they lived in the country side and in the smaller towns, and it was even more obvious that we were in a third world country. In the first town we went to there were cave dwellers. They dug into the rock and lived down in caves. More recently they have built above the caves, to the caves are summer dwelling and winter dwelling is in the above houses. Our tour guide took us down into a cave below a house and drank some green tea with mint and he told us that in the winter the caves stay around 17 degrees Celsius and in the summer around 20 degrees Celsius so it was natural cooling and heating. Then we went through a couple other towns and then into the wooded area and got to feed monkeys! Well they called them Bourbor apes, because we were in the bourbor area, and they were some pretty big monkeys and we got to feed them bananas and oranges. It was pretty cool, something I have never done before. Then we drove back to Fez and some of us did a local Turkish bath. Let’s just say that was really interesting, and anyone who wants to know the details can just ask me and I can explain.

The last day we spent a lot of time sketching the architecture and really observing the places that we had been. We went into a couple of places that used to be inns for people traveling, and got to sketch one that was restored and now turned into a wooden goods museum. Our tour guide knew a lot of people, so he also got us into a Medressa (school) that was not open to public yet because he knew the guard. We got to walk around and look at all of the rooms and classrooms in it and what not. Then he took us to a house of a friend of his that was a carpet salesman and we got to eat lunch here and see some of the local carpets. We also got to go up onto the rooftop and see another wonderful view of the city. We also got to go to a tanner and watch how they prepare the leather. The place smelled awful because of the materials they use to clean and dye the skins, but it was really cool to see and we again got to buy stuff directly from where it is prepared and made and what not. I made my biggest purchase of my study abroad time here, but at least it is the last real purchase I am making until after I get home.

I enjoyed this trip more than I ever expected. It was probably one of my favorite places I have ever been and I believe firmly now that you have never really traveled until you have gone somewhere that takes you completely out of your comfort zone and makes you see things that truly open your eyes. Between forcing myself to bargain because it is part of their culture, and really getting down into these places that still use donkeys for transport and the need to be careful of everything you eat, I feel like my eyes have been opened up and I cant wait to go back and go to other places like it. The architecture was so phenomenal, and after learning about it for so long it was really cool to actually get to see it and be put into places to get to observe and sketch it. It is an experience I will definitely recommend to everyone to try at least once.