Day 4: Tiles, Tanneries, and Time Travel. It's Fès!

April 18—Well, some of my blog posts have been getting a little long . . . and I'm four days behind. . . As Antonio Salieri said to young Mozart in the movie Amadeus . . . "too many notes."  Well, I'm thinking he'd say "too many words" if he read through some of my blog posts.  If I were to travel back to the 18th century and receive this critique from him, I'd probably stew a bit just as Mozart did in the film.  But too many photos of our day trip to Fès makes for way too many words, so I may just try to take this advice against my better wishes.  So now let's travel back. . . way beyond the time of Salieri and Mozart. . . to 789.

Bus route from Rabat to Fès

To get to the city of Fès, we traveled from Rabat, the administrative city of Morocco.  Fès is described by many as the cultural and artistic capital of Morocco.  After the drive from Rabat, we stopped at an overlook to for a panoramic view.

Scenic overlook upon arrival in Fès (before traveling into old medina)

From there, we went through the city walls into the medina. 

In four words: The Fès medina is incredible.  You first set foot in the narrow streets of the medina and think, wow, this is pretty cool.  And then it gets better.  You realize there is no way you will make it out unless you have a guide (we did.) 

In some parts, traditional vendors making and selling their wares lined both sides of the pathway.  In others, it was more residential and even more narrow.  As you walk, forks in the road emerge, and it's suddenly like you've stepped onto a movie set.  It's surreal, for those of us who are not used to a quick transition from a more modern world into another time and way of life. Say you’re you were a movie director or writer setting a scene in a market in North Africa in the 8th century.  Model your set after Fès.  Say you are trying to film a scene and you want one character to chase another, and then you want to capture them both getting legitimately lost.  Model your set like Fès.  You get the picture.  It's like a maze, and it is very easy to lose where you are almost immediately.  Too add to this, while you're inside the medina walls, it feels you've been transported to another time and place - which you have been.  Your senses are bombarded with the smells of spices, the sounds of different languages, and the gestures of those bargaining for food, garments, and more.  Just as you stop to take it all in, vendors pushing carts loaded with freshly baked bread, juicy oranges, and bucketloads of snails creep up behind you.  You pause with others, press your back to the medina wall, and let the hand carts pass.  It is a spectacular space that makes you feel like you’re in another world.  And you are.  

The old and the new mingle on the walls of the old medina in Fès

We learned about the ancient art of tanning at the Chouara Tannery, which has been operating since the 9th century.   Just above the tannery, the shops with an overlook point offer visitors a sprig of mint to offset the smell of the tanning process. 

The Chouara Tannery

We also admired many, many tiled walls, floors, and objects during our visit to Fès - and of course all over Morocco.  We visited the Mosaique et Poterie de Fès and observed the ways that craftsmen and women are still making pottery, tiles, and mosaics by hand.   

While I could go on and on about what we saw, smelled, and tasted during our visit to Fès, I'll hold off.  And not just because of the "too many words" phrase."  The even better reason is because my host teacher lives in Fès and I will return for my teaching placement.   So for now, I'll just sign off with one takeaway from today:  Some people are still crafting, cooking, and communicating to sell their wares using methods that have been around for centuries.  These traditional ways of life are valued and preserved here, but we can also see that life has moved forward in many ways.  Modern city life stands just outside the walls  of the old medina.   Will these two ways of life continue to coexist?​  I'll see what Moroccans think and get back to you.