MOROCCO - FEZ
It is a mixture of pigeon feces, cow's urine, salt and water that are used to…
PART 2 OF 8
On the next day we headed towards Fez, a city known for its old medina with more than 10,000 narrow streets without the street names and house numbers. What makes it even more difficult to navigate through medina is that the GPS doesn't work at all, which gives a perfect opportunity for many dudes to gain money by guiding the lost tourists. And again, as it was in Chefchaouen out of nowhere a dude emerged and wanted to show us the city. We have agreed. It was a 19 years old boy who knew the city very well. Besides bringing us to his commercial partners (tanners and weavers) he showed us some insider places too.
Fez is one of the most touristic towns in Morocco. Similar to Chefchaouen, everybody is trying to sell you something using aggressive sales tactics. Once we even had an argument with a seller who invited us to his shop full of decorative furniture, dishes and small knick-knacks. At the beginning he was funny, way over hospitable and polite. As he forced me to speak out my final price for a jewelry, he was not not happy with what he had heard. He threw that jewelry on the floor with anger, screamed: “Get out!” and called me “dirty”. That story became our running gag for the whole journey.
Walking through endless mazes of medina is an experience. The old city is divided by districts and each district concentrate a special handicraft. Metal workers, carpenters, tanners, weavers, ceramic etc. A special aspect of Moroccan architecture is claustrophobic narrow streets that may look dirty and shabby but once you enter a house a beautiful interior might appear to your eyes. Fountains, picturesque furniture, delicately crafted carpets, national music instruments and harmonious mosaics on the floor and the walls create a peaceful and coherent environment.
After this trip I became even more sensitive to interior design. When you browse through booking websites of Moroccan apartments, riads and houses you will notice how many accommodations you can find with beautiful interiors. I wish Spanish homeowners would have a better taste. For example, you want to rent a nice house on Costa Brava. You browse hours through ridiculously kitschy interiors until your eyes start to vomit. And all this for shamelessly high rent prices. At one point you even begin to wonder if all you see is a bad joke.
Place R’cif
Panorama of Fez medina
CHOUARA TANNERY
The most popular place in Fez is the largest leather tannery in town called Chouara Tannery. It was built in XI century and it still operates in the modern days. The whole process looks disgusting. What striked us the most is the unbearable stink that we could not get out of our noses for days after visiting the tannery. The stink comes from the mixture of pigeon feces, cow's urine, salt and water that are used to soften the animal's skin. As we were told, Chouara use natural colorants such as mint, poppy flowers and henna to color the leather. After the leather is dried, bags, babush, jackets etc. are made. We had a kind and helpful host in our riad, with whom we had a conversation about the Chouara Tannery, I was impressed that some men, with whom I have spoken, work there for more than 20 years doing that hard work. Our host told us, that working in the tannery is a prestigious and well paid job in Morocco.
Chouara Tannery
Cow skins
Drying animal’s skin
Ready products - traditional Moroccan slippers “babush”
The next stop Marrakesh…
© Yuriy Ogarkov
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MOROCCO - CHEFCHAOUEN
He took us through the mazes and circles for about 10-15 minutes so that we had a feeling that without his help we would not have found…
In December last year me and Emre, my friend with whom I went to Siberia in 2017, decided to go to Morocco. We have never been to Morocco before and as soon as we stepped out of the Tangier airport the first impression that we had was that everyone is trying to fool you just because you are a foreigner.
Chefchaouen is a touristic city with the population of over 40,000 inhabitants situated in the mountains area. All the buildings in Chefchaouen are painted blue. As we got to Chefchaouen we were met by a random dude who appeared out of nowhere offering us his help to find our riad (a traditional Moroccan house/hotel). He was not happy that we gave him only 3€. Later on we have figured out, that our riad was just 50 meters away from the spot where the sincere dude met us. He took us through the mazes and circles for about 10-15 minutes so that we had a feeling that without his help we would not have found the place. On every corner and every street Moroccans men speak to you in all the languages, trying to convince you to buy souvenirs or to see their hashish plantations.
Despite penetrative sellers Chefchaouen has its charm and cosiness. Together with cute cats on every corner, playing children, polite people and bluish colors Chefchaouen stays in our memory as an atmospheric and welcoming city.
Berber alphabet - Tifinagh
After a few hours of Moroccan nonstop mantra "Hello my friend where are you from? Do you want to see my hashish plantation?" we have decided not to see the hashish plantations, but to go up the mountains to get out of the city and to see the sunset from above.
Next stop Fez…
© Yuriy Ogarkov
External links are selected and reviewed when the page is published. However, Yuriy Ogarkov is not responsible for the content of external websites.
All images are protected by copyright. Reproduction of any kind without permission is prohibited.
Sharing the link to the publication is welcomed.