Fes, Morocco

Admittedly, on our trip to Portugal and Morocco, Fes was the most elusive city that we would visit. While we had done tons of research to make sure we were culturally respectful, it seems that travelers have all types of experiences and we really wanted to be among the group of people raving of their time.

On our girls trip, there’s no denying that we pack as much as possible into the time we have. While this would be unenjoyable to many, we thrive on the changing scenery and people. With only 37 hours to spend, we were ready to hit the ground running.

Arriving at the airport, we were pleased to be greeted by 90 degree weather and find that there were only 3 baggage carrousels (meaning a lack of chaos and anxiety that the airport usually brings). The walls were already covered in beautiful, colorful mosaics. Within minutes, our transfer was standing with a sign reading my name and we hopped into an air conditioned van pre-arranged with our riad. Driving into Fes, we first saw the “New City” which had many elements of any other modern city. Slowly, though, the scenery started to change and our excitement began to grow. Meanwhile, our driver was already making small conversation and impressed at our attempts to use Arabic.

We quickly learned that no vehicles (scooters included) are allowed in the medina meaning “old city.” Therefore, we met a hotel staff member named Mohammed on an outside street who guided us through the winding streets to the riad. We immediately knew that what we had read was true, getting lost is inevitable even if you claim to be map-savvy (which is totally a title I’d claim).

Upon arriving at our riad, we were greeted with beautiful greenery, architecture, colors, necessary shade, and mint tea (a very well-known tradition). Our hosts (Alex and Jasmin) a world-traveling, French couple who fell in love with Fes and never left, made us feel right at home.

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Our learning began as they shared that riad means a traditional Moroccan home with a garden in the open-air courtyard (whereas a dar did not have a garden). We probably sat, spoke, and laughed with Alex for a good 30 min getting a quick Moroccan history/culture lesson before we even began to speak about settling into our room. His energy alone refueled us for a busy 37 hour stay. Knowing we were eager to see the sights, he handed us one of the riad’s cellphones to take out with us so that we could always call if we got lost and they would send a search party to find and guide us home.

We tried to quickly unpack but were mind-blown by the beauty of our room which distracted us for a short while. With about 1 hour until dinner, we picked a main-stream road that we felt confident in navigating (laughably Mohammed had to help us navigate the little alleys to get us there).

I will honestly say here that within 5 minutes of leaving the riad, a young male did tap Lauren’s (my gf’s) butt as she walked by. This was the closest we came to having an unpleasant interaction with anyone. While it definitely did not make either of us feel great as we tried to understand the lay of the land, we chose to ask questions upon our return of how to appropriately handle these situations moving forward (and I’m happy to spill the beans that NOTHING else like this happened the rest of the hours we spent in the medina). **Note, it is 100% acceptable to turn around and address the individual informing them that any physical touch is absolutely not going to be tolerated. In fact, we were told that doing so continues to break the stereotype of western women being floosy.**

We returned to our riad without getting lost and with time to sit on the rooftop and take in the views of the medina before being served a traditional Moroccan tagine , breads, dessert, and mint tea. While eating, we experienced the “call to prayer” for the first time as it rang from numerous minarets across the city (read more about this soon in my “Travel Tip” post on Morocco). Personally, I found this religious tradition absolutely beautiful and enjoyed every time it played throughout our stay. It was unlike any tradition I’d experienced in the world. With a little more time to relax on our rooftop after the sunset, we decided to prepare ourselves for our next big day.

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After a quick breakfast in the morning (we were already sweating at this point thanks to a 94 degree day), our personal guide picked us up to begin our tour of the medina at 9:30am. Hassan first began with a 10 minute basic history lesson in the riad courtyard before we set out. Within 2 minutes of walking, we ran into what Hassan referred to as a “traffic jam,” aka a man herding 4 donkeys running into a different man herding his 4 donkeys. They put on quite the show as the donkeys knocked over a basket of breads being sold at a shop while trying to pass each other…this turned into some interactions between the shop owner and the herders. It was at this very moment that I knew we were IN FOR A DAY!

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Cats and kittens perused the streets looking for food (each shop used to have a cat to keep mice away but today the cats just wander through the streets). Hassan bought some fresh fish from a man walking his cart through the streets who tossed the fish snapped in half for the kittens to enjoy. He then navigated us to the fresh food market lined with countless fruit, vegetable, and fish stalls. We learned that vendors keep leaves on produce to let buyers know that their food is fresh. In front of us, they skinned the fish and prepared their spread for the day. While it would seem that they had tons of competition from similar stalls all around, Hassan let us know that each stall had its own loyal shoppers so there was never a sense of true business competition.

By now, the bottom of my shoes had fish drippings on them and we were just getting started. The flies didn’t seem to bother the locals however our minds were processing how this would NEVER fly at home (pun intended). Women would pass by only buying what they needed for meals that day often carrying little bags of fresh milk in their other hand. Some locals offered us a small handful of fresh cherries that they cleaned off and let us enjoy. Throughout this experience, we were greeted with smiles, “bonjour,” and countless “welcomes.” Each vendor was proud to showcase their food and one man even waved me over and split open a fish at its gils to show me how fresh his fish were.

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Next on our list of experiences was what I will call the “chicken man” who had bundles of live chickens laying in front of him for purchase. While some people bought these to make for dinner, others purchased from him to sell across town at a profitable cost. He very excitedly waved us over to sit next to him and hold his chickens, literally. Personal opinions aside, it was heartwarming to engage with locals in their day-to-day lives. Similarly, we also stopped for the “best coffee in Fes” in the middle of the medina where we sat on colorful plastic chairs (Anthony Bourdain style) and sipped on hot coffee that Hassan purchased for us. Here again was their hospitality; we asked how much we owed and Hassan said that he wanted to buy us our first Moroccan coffee.

As we continued to navigate our way (who am I kidding, Hassan navigated), we saw second-hand shops, dying stalls where they would re-dye your clothing to make it look new, lower-middle class shops, upper-class shops, party outfit rentals, schools, the ceramic souk, wood-working souk, and so much more. He taught us how to identify authentic products and periodically stopped us at places where we could comfortably shop for jewlery, home decor, lotions/argan oils, rugs, scarfs, and leather. At each stop, we engaged with the locals who made it very clear that even if we didn’t want to buy anything, this must be part of our experience to look around and learn. Naturally, we bought home decor (hands to place in your home for good healthy and happiness), Moroccan creams/oils, and leather bags.

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The man at the argan oil stop had us smelling things that still have my senses extremely clear days later, the scarf seller showed us how they are woven and dressed us in the traditional Berber way, the rug seller was nearly our age and answered so many of our questions about growing up in Fes (he probably spent a good hour feeding us tea and just talking about life and rugs), and our favorite was Mohammed (different one from the riad) who taught us all about the leather tanneries as we viewed them from his shop (and sniffing mint leaves to lessen the smell of pigeon poop and urine in the dyes). We learned that 50 families own the tannery together and that the dying process takes weeks to complete. Each day at the call to prayer, the workers attend their own mosque so not to dirty the space of others. While they do let tourists climb out there at their own risk (which we heard was pretty unsafe), we opted to watch from above (again while the call to prayer played). After a little negotiating, we each picked a leather bag.

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True to the hospitality of Morocco, Lauren’s backpack didn’t lay quite as she would’ve liked and they were beyond eager to please. I explained what we didn’t like about how it hung and how we wish it would’ve been sewn differently. They then told us it would be delivered back at our riad by 7-ish pm with the appropriate change made in the factory behind the store. True to their world, they arrived at 7:15pm with the bag adjusted and encouraged a “try-on” session to ensure our happiness (I say our because Lauren was actually showering so I had to try it on for her)…what an amazing story!

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By this time, a third Mohammed was picking us up to escort us to his restaurant (they do this to make sure tourists don’t get lost). I would guess he was around 22 years old, hoping to pursue his culinary passion and served us an amazing chicken tagine, salads, chicken pastilla, and wine. He taught us a lot about being a young adult, living with parents even when married, etc. During our walk home in a pitch black alley under construction, I heard Lauren make a noise somewhere between a shout and a scream (which prompted me to do the same and nearly accost Mohammed) only to find that a little boy (probably around 8 years old) jumped out to scare her as a joke. We had quite a good laugh as Mohammed shined his smartphone flashlight on him to find a sweet face with a grin from ear to ear. I’m not sure why, but this felt like the perfect end to the most incredible day—one that I would describe as my best travel day yet (might have even shed a tear of happiness and gratitude when were greeted by Jasmin and mint tea back at the riad after our tour).

In summary, Fes was nothing less than P H E N O M E N A L thanks to amazing Riad Le Calife hosts (who made us 3am breakfast before our departure), Hassan the world’s best tour guide (seriously taught us more about day to day life and culture than history we’d later forget), and mouth-watering foods.

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I hope other trips in the future can allow us to connect with locals and day to day life half as much as our 37 hours in Fes.