Fez, Morocco
A bit of a late start today (9:00 AM). After breakfast we hopped on a couple of minivans and headed into town. The first stop was at the royal palace where we able to view one of the entrances to the compound but not much else. The doors are worked brass and the walls are cut stone and carved plaster (upper portion). It’s no Taj Mahal but still pretty impressive. And hasn’t changed since I was here on an Intrepid tour in 2019.
We sandwiched a quick stop in the Jewish Quarter before heading to an overlook above the medina. A few photos.
Between the overlook and the Medina we stopped at a pottery cooperative which was kind of cool. Again, we stopped here in 2016 but it’s still a cool stop. Particularly if your father was a potter for part of his life. The guy throwing the pots is using a kick wheel which surprised me. His work showed less finesse or refinement than that of my father but that isn’t surprising since he is focusing on producing pieces for tourists.
Here the pots are adorned with tiles and painting and, sometimes, metal leaf (copper, silver, gold). Photos of most of the phases of production are below. I failed to taking any pictures of the finished works however!
After the pottery co-op, we headed through the medina and to the largest tannery cooperative in Fez. Once again this followed the route of my 2016 trip exactly. Right down to the same narrow alley within the medina and past the same shops. It didn’t look like anything had changed in the last six years. The tannery looked (and smelled!) exactly the same as well.
After the tannery, myself and three others broke away from the group and headed to a café near the blue gate for a late lunch. I can’t recall the name but it had great views of the medina, good food, and blues on the stereo. Sadly, no beer.
After lunch we headed to the local mall for snacks and drinks for the next few days. Then back to camp for our first communal dinner (spaghetti bolognaise) cooked by one of the drivers.