Africa

We had one extended tour of Fes today that would take us to a pottery, a weavery, a tannery, the royal palace, the oldest university in the world, and a wood museum. We did, however, start at a lookout over the old Medina that we would spend the next 8 hours exploring. It was an old fortress that used to occupy the city limits, and it provided a great view of the city. It was hard to believe the size of the Medina given how old it is. It must have truly been a sight to behold when an ancient merchant approached the huge gates overlooking the metropolis that was Fes. Once we had taken some photos, we began our journey into the centre.

We started with the pottery demonstration. This was interesting to watch. The strategies they adopt are beyond impressive and require an impressive eye for detail and memory. The process starts by designing your mosaic on paper, followed by the impressive process of chipping away coloured tiles to match the design. This is done by creating all the pieces required of one colour before moving on to the next, until every tile for the whole mosaic has been shaped. The impressive part comes from the fact that each and every piece has to fit perfectly into one another like a puzzle. Despite making hundreds, or even thousands, in a day, they maintain perfect consistency, and each piece is perfectly shaped to the pieces surrounding it. The angles of the sides, the size of the pieces, and the smoothness of the edges all have to be perfect to match the edge of the corresponding piece. This has to be done to ensure that all the pieces will fit together without gaps. The next part is perhaps even more important and impressive. They have to then place all the pieces to match the design they had made previously. Why this is so impressive is that they have to put each piece face down. Meaning they are making the design based solely on their capacity to remember what the previous colour was that they placed and their ability to recreate the mosaic in their had and match it on the ground, without being able to see it. The reason they have to do it face down is because they then poor concrete over the back of the mosaic to hold it into place. They leave it this way for 3 days to set before flipping it. Only after this long process, taking upwards of a week depending on the size of the mosaic, will they see if a mistake has been made in the design consistency, the colouring, or the symmetry of the piece. Given the immense detail, intricate design, and colour variety that is adopted, the skills that they have to complete these are unbelievable. The largest mosaic taking 8 months to complete (the __ picture). If they have successfully recreated the mosaic from their mind into reality, they then seal the tiles with a fibreglass to protect the tiles and ensure the mosaic is protected. We then walked around and watched the processes for making bowls, cups, tea pots, and much more. The mosaics were far and away the most impressive, however.

After this, we made our way to the narrow streets of the Fes Medina, and I do mean narrow. Often, no more than one person could fit down an alley way at a time. This was done to protect the city from invasion forces, protect the residence from the brutal Moroccan sun's heat, and to maximise space. The city walls allowed little room for expansion, so as people married and the population grew, people began having to build up. Often, families would build in the only places where there was space, right over the top of the narrow walkways. This is done to ensure that the newlyweds could be close to their family. This creates these dark and narrow walkways that have made the Medina famous. Despite this, safety is not an issue for tourists. To this day, the aesthetics and layout of the ancient Medina have been maintained to hold onto the heritage. Building in the city is only allowed under very unique circumstances, generally maintenance. A lot of the city is undergoing restorations to maintain the ancient dynamic, to ensure structural integrity, and to restore the city to its previous condition. In 5 to 10 years, the experience the city will provide will be unbelievably immersive and unique. It is not like other old towns that have many streets of old styled houses. This is a whole city that hasn't changed in centuries. There is no reconstruction judt restoration. It is exactly how the city once was.

We then strolled through some of the markets that sell mint, dyes, spices, herbs, meat, seafood, leather, silver, jewellry, and many other ancient and modern products. It was incredible to experience. The marketplace has been restored in the likeness of the ancient markets, and the vendors make and sell similar products to that which would have been sold in the BC years. They even have the production of bronze products being done in the middle of the market. Of course, it was done using ancient techniques, which once again added to the experience. Seafood and meat stores would hang the heads of the animals in which they sell the meat. It is quite confronting and shocking, but it is how it was back in the day, and they stick to their traditions. It's not a good place to be vego, though, that's for sure. The tour of the markets ended in the tannery, in which they dye the leathers to make bags, jackets, shoes, etc. I had been told that the smell can be horrific, but it was not as overwhelming as some had described it. I think the cooler weather and the mint provided aided this. It was really cool to watch from the balcony of the leather store, in which you could watch them soak and remove the hair before dying and drying the material. It was quite an operation and interesting to watch. An ancient and traditional technique, the companies receive funding to keep it this way to continue to provide an authentic experience of the ancient Medina. We sat and watched for quite a while before exploring the store and seeing the final product of the horrid smell. I didn't even want to ask the prices of items, and so I didn't. Although probably good value, it would be too difficult to carry while travelling.

The next was the oldest university in the world. This was a mind-blowing fact given the ancient universities around the UK and the Middle East. The University of al-Qarawiyyin (Kairaouine) still stands today as a functional university. This did mean, however, access was not allowed. Its status as the oldest university is somewhat disputed as it was originally a school for teaching the Quran. It was created by a woman named Fatima al-Fihri in 858 AD and was funded by an inheritance she received. She then used the money to open the mosque and the school for teaching monks. It is said to be a large contribution to the Islamic golden age. Because access wasn't allowed, getting a good photo was difficult. It was a very popular tourist attraction. But based on what I saw and on the photos online, the condition looks immaculate and incredibly beautiful. We then explored some of the student accommdoations for while they studied. Students would remain here for 12 years while at university. A stunning fact when you saw the conditions in which they lived. Although the main university courtyard was beautiful, the rooms were not far off of prisons. In the community, though, the students would be treated well due to the expectations that they would one day be key members in the town and mosques. Nonetheless, I will attach pictures of the rooms. Some barely 2m x 2m, and they would live here for 12 years. This was an incredible experience, and it was hard to believe the condition of the university. The typical arabic scripts that occupy the walls were still legible (if I could read arabic), and it all dates back to the 9th century.

The second to last stop for the day was the wood museum. This wasn't overly exciting, and we basically ignored the wood and just explored the building instead. The building was once a hotel for travelling merchants and traders, and the layout was quite interesting. The open courtyard would be to store the horses camels, or mules, while the small rooms downstairs would be to securely store their merchandise. The larger rooms upstairs were for the merchants themselves and were quite well sized compared to the student accommodation. Though, of course, this is due to the wealth discrepancy. We then got a bit of a view of the Medina from the roof before moving into our final visit for the day.

The weavery, where scarves and traditional clothes are produced was our next stop. I had visited one in Madagascar, and I have to say that was a much cooler experience. The ladies used much more ancient and simplistic tools to create their scarves. Not to mention, lived in much worse conditions. I was far more glad to have bought a scarf from those ladies when compared to the Moroccans. Though, admittedly, they may have been nicer, they cost a lot more and just went to already wealthy men. I wanted to support the smaller, local economies of Madagsacar.

This was the end of our tour before we headed back to the hotel. We had all had a bit too much taking recently and so opted for a fancier, more Western restaurant. I got a steak, with potato and onion, and it was one of my best meals while travelling to date. Once again, the photos are difficult to capture the whole day but I have done my best.Read more