Fes - Not just a Hat, Morocco

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Bab Bou Jeloud from our Terrace

I visited Fes 10 years ago, and at the time, I really had no patience for the place.  I have since had plenty of worldly experiences and people experiences, so was eagerly awaiting giving the ancient town another chance.  The previous trip here, at times, I felt like the Pied Piper with 20 kids trailing behind asking for money or to show me to the tannery for a commission.
Well, this visit started off quite poorly, as we were greeted at the hotel we planned to stay at by a strange character who got quite angry and refused to speak with Michelle because she was a woman!!  Being that she is our communications officer, and my French is very poor, and anyone who knows Michelle's personality - this didn't go well.  We quickly walked out before there was more of a problem, and we did find out later that the guy had been on hash and was asked never to enter the hotel again.  Needless to say, he didn't get any commission!!

Meat Market stall with Camel's Head

After we fended off a few more annoying touts, we found a cheap hotel "all by ourselves" thankfully, and our price was not increased to cover and commissions!
Here I was thinking "here we go all over again", but things were to change for the better almost instantaneously.  We were invited in to a cheap restaurant called Des Jeunes - Chez Hamid, and had a delicious meal of tajines, in a great outdoor seating area with the hustle and bustle of the medina traffic going by.  We returned to this restaurant numerous times.... always a good idea when you're onto a good thing!
Luckily for us, we arrived on a Friday - the Muslim Holy Day, and therefore, many of the medina stalls and shops were closed.  This allowed us to wander the more than 30,000 streets and alleys that make up the medina, in a relatively peaceful fashion.  Now, we didn't hit all the streets, but definitely got our bearings!  We then returned to our hotel for our regular pastime of sitting on our 4th floor terrace with amazing views over the city, and watched sunset whilst listening to the Muezzins call to prayer!
One of our favourite Moroccan people, we met the next morning.  Jawad had a little stall selling some leather goods and earrings.  I think he called Michelle a scallywag for purposely missing a high 5, and we laughed with him everyday after.  A treat to have someone fun to joke with, rather than be weary of his sales pitch.  Needless to say, we did buy some stuff from Jawad.  We respond to this type of "pitch" much better.

We did start to feel at home more in Fes.  We started seeing the same people, and they would recognize us and chat - both tourists and locals.  Nice to start having a bit more of a relationship with others. 

Chouara Tannery pits

A busier attempt at the medina awaited us.  We decided we would try to find the tannery, and knew we would have plenty of 'help' even if we didn't want it.  There are many faux guides in the medina that always want to show you around for some money.  These guides are actually illegal, but they try anyway.  We fought off the hordes and managed to find a great terrace to view the colours of the tannery from.  Of course, a free terrace is not so much free, but a view with an expectation of browsing the leather shop on exit.  It was well worth it though as we spent a great deal of time just watching the action of the tannery.  We were given fresh mint to help with the horrible smells, as some of the colours are created from pigeon crap, and many other chemicals.  We can't imagine being one of these guys, spending their days thigh deep in the various colourful pits.  Not much of a life.  Makes you think when you buy any leather goods again.  They still use the same original methods, and all around you see the freshly coloured skins drying on rooftops and hanging from walls.  A sight you definitely do not see everyday!!

It's hard not to get lost in the medina as it really turns you around, and since you cannot see the sun, there is little help for your directions.  I wouldn't say we were lost (as we had nowhere we had to be), but I sure didn't know where we were at times.  We just kept walking and finding new and interesting sights such as the dyer's souq, and the silver/bronze souq, along with some elaborately decorated medersa's (theological colleges).   Another bizarre sight is a meat stall with a camel's head hanging from it - this indicates a specialty meat shop.  We did find a few other lost tourists along our path, and pointed them in the right direction (we think). 

The remainder of our time was spent either outside

A view over Fes Medina

and on the city walls enjoying a stunning view over the old city, and in a cool little cafe called Cafe Clock.  It was really impressive from high above, when the call to prayer started, as you hear the myriad of mosque's muezzins wailing over their loudspeakers.  Music to the ears, but not as good as the traditional music at Cafe Clock whilst enjoying a date milkshake.  Bongo style drum, three string guitar, and clanging metal maracas complete with outfits and spinning head tassels!  We really enjoyed our time in Fes, and things improved so much from first impressions!!   *Stub