Sunday. We started the morning with a Moroccan breakfast (included with our room). Three kinds of bread. One a flat round made with semolina, one a sweet bread – like a light pound cake, and the final a thin round, looks like a bagel but flatter, almost cracker-like bread. An array of jams, marmalade, and butter..Fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee, home made yogurt. Eggs could be requested. We didn’t.
Our guide for the day, Hakim, met us exactly at 9am and off we went for an exploration of Jewish heritage in Fes, along with an in-depth wander of the Medina (it’s about 5 miles from one end to the other – we walked the whole darned thing), a quick stop at the white palace, a drive to a panoramic view of the Medina, a visit to the pottery cooperative.
Hakim, by the way, came highly recommended by friends who had been here just a couple of weeks ago. Compared to yesterday’s hard sell guide, Hakim was a delight. Knowledgeable, relaxed. He seemed to know everyone. Every time a friend was spotted, there was a handshake and a few words exchanged. It is rude here to simply wave hello and continue on.
According to Hakim…The king is beloved. He loves to jet ski and his wife is a computer engineer. Best of all, Hakim tells us, the king has progressive views on women. He includes his wife in ceremonies and no more of this multiple wives business. If a man wants a second wife, he must obtain agreement of his first wife, via signature on the proper form. “You think any wife will sign?”, asks Hakim. ”No. it is love forever or never.” he jokes.
I remember that yesterday, our guide Mohammed told us there is no hate in Fes. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Berbers live in peace and harmony. Perhaps it is what one must say to foreign visitors. Who knows?
The first couple of hours had us focusing on the Jewish heritage sites. Oh yes, one more thing about the king. Hakim informed us that the king has a project to restore all the Jewish monuments. I was about to ask what happened to them in the first place, but he was already onto the next thing. I let it go. I can look it up. Which I haven’t, yet.
The Jewish graveyard, all grave markers white washed (sunglasses required) and many unmarked as hundreds had died of typhus way back.
And synagogues. In the Orthodox fashion, men downstairs, women behind a grill upstairs.
Hakim circled through a standard spiel about how the Jews and Muslims are similar in traditions and how welcome Jews are. They are an economic force. He says that when Hitler asked Morocco to send all the Jews, the king replied, “There are no Jews here. Just Moroccan citizens.”
That was it for Jewish heritage. Now a dive deeper into the Medina. With its twists and turns. It was a day full of artisans. The man demonstrating brass etching using only a nail and hammer, another working a loom sending the shuttle flying back and forth, the wood worker painstakingly chiseling an intricate pattern in a door, the potter making tagine dishes – sending the wheel spinning with his left leg, then his right. The finished work always beautiful.
A light late lunch under a gigantic mulberry tree – grilled ground beef in a pita-like pocket and served with cumin, chili and salt that you pinched out of the serving cups and onto the meat followed by a drizzle of sauce. Although if you are Grubb, a drizzle is interpreted as spoonfuls.
Then we walk and walk and walk until we emerge from the Medina. The driver and van have magically appeared. We take a drive to the panoramic view where Hakim shows us how far we walked.
Below, an invader’s view of the medina. Remember that this jumble of ancient city is surrounded by thick, tall walls.
A final stop at a pottery cooperative where this time, it’s Grubb who can’t resist. He picks out a dish for cooking tajine and two coffee cups and saucers in an intricate pattern. To be handmade and shipped.
We have one last request for Hakim. We want to stop and stroll briefly in the king’s garden. We arrive only to find the garden is closed for a week due to a Sufi festival.
Back to the Riad for a dinner of Pastilia. This is a sweet and savory pie. A filling of crumbled meat cooked with warm spices enveloped in a sweet dough sheath, top dusted with sugar. My new favorite. For desert, a slice of lemon custard pie.
