Fez Medina

Breakfast was a selection of Moroccan breads with cheese, honey, fruit, jam and olives. Our tour of the medina began when our guide met us in the living room of the riad at 10 a.m. We should have started sooner, as there was so much to see!

We learned about the double doors that open to the street for most private homes -- a larger door for deliveries (especially if they come via donkey) and a smaller door that most would have to duck through for people to enter and exit. Some residences open into recessed nooks or alleys so narrow that one has to turn sideways to get to them.

Along our way trough the streets we stopped to watch a craftsman carving a tombstone and got a brief lesson in funerals and burial practices.

Our first major destination was a madrasa (school for study of the Koran) that is one of the oldest in the world still in continuous operation. Construction on Bou Inania was begun in 1351 and it has been in operation as a school and mosque since 1356. 

Most of the building is still the original materials, except that some of the wood doors have had restoration work done. The caligraphy in the tiles is a classical script that most, other than scholars, can no longer read.

Our guide used the time here to provide a basic course in Islam, while also explaining the art and architecture.

We had a cursory tour of the historical museum of Fez. The palace-turned museum is too large, and the history here much too long, to be appreciated in a short time. We got only the highlights, and no photos were allowed except in the courtyard.

The tour included the obligatory stops at the weaving shop. Not much weaving was happening, and the merchandise was mostly Chinese and overpriced. But the students had fun getting dressed up in the scarfs and trying on the dresses. And yes, many did make purchases.

The same was true at the Chouara leather tanery. This famous old tanery dates to the 13th century, but happened to be out of operation for the first time in 800 years for a UNESCO-sponsored restoration at the time of our visit. The salesmen were not idle, however. Though the pitch was hard sell, it was quite entertaining.

Lunch was larger than we had planned, and ran until almost 4 in the afternoon! But we had still more in store in the medina for this day.