Fes, Morocco

Today, our expedition took us to the colorful, historic Moroccan city of Fes. After an early breakfast at our hotel in Rabat, the group hopped on the bus and rode through the hilly countryside, passing by fields of olive trees, vineyards, goat herds, and villages called duoar in Arabic, while the tinted Atlas Mountains loomed far to the East.

Where the city of Rabat is known as the administrative and governmental focus of Morrocco, Fes represents the agricultural, spiritual, and cultural center. Purple Jacaranda trees greeted us along the roads as we rolled into this old city, dating back exactly 12 centuries to its Islamic founding in 808 A.D. Passing the most modern section developed by the French in the early 20th century, we briefly stopped at the gates of a royal palace in the second, “new” section of Fes, known as Fes El Jedid, where Jews and Arabs had settled after escaping the Inquisition of Spain in the 13th and 14th centuries.

At last, we stopped in the old town, Fes El Bali, and here we began our adventurous walk through the labyrinthine Quarawinn quarter of the Fes Medina. Following our nimble guides, we navigated the colorful streets, passages, corridors, tunnels, throughways, and narrow ways of Fes, exploring all directions of the town! Left, right, up, down, over, under, through and between. In again, out again, onward again and forward again, we visited pottery craftsmen, tanners, embroiderers, carpet weavers, makers of jelabas and caftan garments, and other vendors selling their various wares. An interesting mélange of spices, fresh produce, smoke, tanned hides, perfumes and various animals treated our senses, and the quick holler of “Balak!” told us to quickly move aside as a cart or donkey rushed by.

We met for lunch in the ornately tiled and pillared hall of the Palais M’nabhi, where we enjoyed the charming entertainment of a talented, smiling belly dancer. The weather was lovely, the colors fantastic, and the ornate woodwork, tile work, and craftsmanship of Fes kept our senses (and our wallets!) entertained all the way to the end of the maze, where we hopped on to the buses and rode back to a well deserved dinner in Rabat.