Day 10 of Moroccan Vacation: Fes on February 14th, 2017

This was our last day in our short visit to the city of Morocco. The plan of the day was to visit Fes Medina before heading for Airport out of town on a flight to Barcelona.

Breakfast Table


Breakfast Table
I quite liked the way utensils with jam were place.


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In Fes we stayed at Riad Fes Aicha, which was the only hotel I named in my journals. It ended up being a spectacular stay at a spacious room (by Moroccan Riad standards) by the courtyard, with a funny chatty male manager. (Well, but when he’s absent, there was quite some communication difficulties with the French Speaking maid.)

Breakfast Table


Breakfast Table

And this was the best riad breakfast we had in Morocco, off to a great start on this last day in the country.

Riad Courtyard


Riad Courtyard

After last night’s experience in Fes Medina, we sort of understood its major streets, although GPS was still a necessity here.

Street of Fes Medina


Street of Fes Medina


Plaza in Fes Medina


Plaza in Fes Medina
Blacksmiths gathered around here.

Chouara Tannery

Our first stop of the day was Chouara Tannery, which featured honeycomb of dye, leather skins and stinky smells all over the place. A shop manager nearby gladly showed us the process (with a fee), while I carefully hid my noses under branches of mint that he offered me.
How could the local workers working right underneath the sun mutated into immunity against the smells?
It’s amazing that these smells seemed to be confined to the Chouara Tannery, I didn’t feel them at all walking in other parts of the Medina.

Chouara Tannery


Chouara Tannery


Fes New City beyond Chouara Tannery


Fes New City beyond Chouara Tannery


Chouara Tannery


Chouara Tannery


Leather Being Dried


Leather Being Dried


Chouara Tannery


Chouara Tannery


Leather Bags on Sale


Leather Bags on Sale


Fes New City beyond Chouara Tannery Shop


Fes New City beyond Chouara Tannery Shop
I quite liked the composition of this shot.


Street of Fes


Street of Fes
The scrapes on the doors spoke of their age.


Light through Stained Glasses on Mosque Carpet


Light through Stained Glasses on Mosque Carpet

After that, we wandered by Al Quaraouiyine University, the oldest existing, continually operating university in the world. But, like other Islamic institutions in the country, it wasn’t open to visitors, so we just took a peek at its doorstep.

Al Quaraouiyine University Entrance


Al Quaraouiyine University Entrance


Ceiling of Al Quaraouiyine University Doorway


Ceiling of Al Quaraouiyine University Doorway


Doorway to Zaouia Moulay Idriss II


Doorway to Zaouia Moulay Idriss II


Cat Resting on Fes Medina Street

Cat Resting on Fes Medina Street
Cat Resting on Fes Medina Street


Shops Lining Fes Medina Street


Shops Lining Fes Medina Street


Chinese Import Sold on Fes Medina Streets


Chinese Import Sold on Fes Medina Streets
Suddenly I didn’t have much interest in all the gadgets sold there.


École Al Amira Lalla Aicha Portal


École Al Amira Lalla Aicha Portal
An educational institution founded in 1368.


Shops Lining Fes Medina Street


Shops Lining Fes Medina Street


Street of Fes Medina


Street of Fes Medina
Those sticks outside reminded me very much of Assassin’s Creed. But they were crafted in much more detail, though.

Bou Inania Madrasa

After that we found ourselves at Bou Inania Madrasa, a religious school founded in AD 1351–56 by Abu Inan Faris and widely acknowledged as an excellent example of Marinid architecture. There were some bodywork repair in the 18-20 centuries though, so while walking in its courtyard, we found most of the tiles and carvings pretty much intact.

Courtyard


Courtyard


Cat


Cat


Prayer Hall


Prayer Hall


Minaret Tower


Minaret Tower


Ceiling of Side Room


Ceiling of Side Room


Courtyard


Courtyard


Passage


Passage


Portal


Portal


Light through Fes Medina


Light through Fes Medina


Bab Boujloud


Bab Boujloud
Minaret Tower of Medersa Bou Inania in the background.

It was 1230pm and time for lunch. Luckily, we were walking pass some food stands, so my friend and I happily ordered some sandwiches. The unfortunate thing was that, there was some language barrier between us and the gentleman selling sandwiches, so we reluctantly accepted his offer of “mixed meat sandwich”, which turned out to be filled with guts and bellies from animals I couldn’t name. But at the end of the day, I didn’t throw up on myself.

Food Stand in Fes Medina


Food Stand in Fes Medina
Where we bought our lunch.

There was also some fruit stands nearby, so we for the last time stocked our bags with cheap Moroccan fruits, strawberries in particular. There goes our after-lunch desert and our airport-takeaway dinner.

Shops Lining Fes Medina Street


Shops Lining Fes Medina Street


Shops Lining Fes Medina Street


Shops Lining Fes Medina Street


Minaret Tower in Fes Medina Street Skyline


Minaret Tower in Fes Medina Street Skyline


Al Quaraouiyine University Interior


Al Quaraouiyine University Interior
I took this photo in secret on its doorstep.


Pots Being Sold


Pots Being Sold


Bou Khrareb River in Fes Medina


Bou Khrareb River in Fes Medina


Minaret of Rcif Mosque from Rcif Plaza


Minaret of Rcif Mosque from Rcif Plaza

After our sandwich and fruit shopping, my friend and I decided to skip the other Medersa (religious schools) in Fes Medina and headed back to the riad, where we sit in the courtyard for the remainder of the day, until our driver came for pick us up for the airport.

Riad Courtyard


Riad Courtyard
This door leads to our room.


END

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Day 10 of Moroccan Vacation: Fes on February 14th, 2017 by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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