Rosie and The Operator are in Morocco! Our budget airline flight from Seville direct to Fes was seamless and a driver was waiting for us to take us from the airport to our Hotel in The Fes Medina where we will be staying for three nights before moving on to the Blue City of Chefchaouen in the Rif Mountains.
We are apprehensive, nervous and excited all rolled into one. Morocco is somewhere we have never been before and are looking forward to a fantastic new, totally foreign experience.
Driving on the lumpy bumpy cobblestones through the Arabic style gates into the town was like stepping back in time and into a totally unfamiliar place where we as westerners stood out so distinctly from the Muslim majority.
We are staying in a Riad, which was once a large Morroccan house that has been transformed into a small hotel in Rcif Square, one of the main meeting points and squares in the Medina (Walled Old Town).
We were welcomed so warmly on arrival and out came the mint tea and biscuits, standard hospitality in Morocco. Rosie just sat there in the central courtyard marveling at the beautiful detailing and tile work of the Riad whilst she sipped tea and filled in the arrival paperwork. Rosie will show you around in another post when she is settled in abit more and finished that tea. Lets learn a little more more about mysterious Fes.
Fes is a city of 1.2 million people and there are three distinct areas that make up the town.
Fez el Bali is the ancient part of town – established in 800ad this is where we are staying, within the walled city that has the best preserved Médina (walled part of a North African town) in the Arab world.
The second area of Fez el Jdid is still a couple of hundred of years old and fans out from the outside of the Medinas ancient walls.
Ville Nouvelle – The New City – built in the beginning of the 20th Century is the most modern area of Fes and seamlessly morphs into the huge city sprawl. The beige city just seems to go on and on yet on the periphery Rosie was surprised how big, green and lush the countryside looks.
Inside the high defense walls of the Medina, the old town is so tightly packed and dense. All of the buildings blend into one indistinguishable blur of beige. It sure makes one fabulously confusing looking place to be. Rosie and The Operator have been told that all GPS is useless inside the Medina, there is no coverage and no detailed mapping including paper to successfully guide you around.
This is going to make for interesting sightseeing as there are apparently 9,500 alleyways over a two kilometer radius inside the Medina.
This beautifully tiled entrance to the Square Rcif is one of 14 access points to the Old Town through the walls and our Riad is right on the edge of it by the entrance into the Medina.
The Square Rcif is a hustle and bustle of daily life. It also acts as the ‘backyard’ and one of the only large open spaces for the 156,000 people that call the tiny labyrinthine streets of the Médina home.
This is the view of the square from our Riad rooftop Terrace. There is always something going on below, street vendors selling wares and food, people sitting talking, kids kicking balls, riding bikes and roller skating. They also have a trampoline set up, bouncy castle and mini cars for the kids to play on in the evenings.
The tall towers of the mosques replace the bell towers of Europe and instead of the peeling of bells the loudhailers send out the eerie Islamic call to prayer wail 5 times a day.
Normally Rosie is quite excited to hit the ground running when she visits a new place. This time, Rosie felt quite apprehensive here in Fes and was quite happy to end the day observing my surroundings from up high rather than in amongst the hustle and bustle.
A young boy of about ten approached The Operator while we were sitting outside our Riads door having a coffee. He spoke excellent English and wanted to know if we were looking for a guide. He himself would be honored to show us around the Medina, he knew all the good places and wouldn’t be like the hotel guides who only wanted to take you to a carpet shop so you could buy one and they get a commission. I have lived here all my life, he said sagely, I know every street. He was a cute kid doing a pretty good sales pitch Rosie might add. We politely declined, we had a hotel guide sorted for tomorrow….we must be on the look out that he doesn’t take us to a carpet place said The Operator.
Beneath Rosie and The Operators Hotel is an even more ancient gate that leads into the bowels of the Médina. Tomorrow we are off to explore this mysterious wonder with our personal guide to navigate our way for us through this labyrinth of streets and alleys and give us a personal history tour as we go. Rosie is looking forward to this.
