Medieval Fes

Rooftops in Fes. Everyone has a sattelite dish...
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Fès, pronounced Fesse, not Fez, is the second town on our gastronomical route through Morocco. Its principal attraction is its medina, the old medieval town, with its labyrinthic "streetlets" that enchant you instantly. You can get lost easily but all you have to do is find one of the few arteries and follow the crowd. The bigger streets are lined with all sorts of little shops that sell everything and anything, ranging from touristic shops to common fish stands. Unesco is giving  money to the government to preserve this amazing medieval city.

Jan by a Moroccan cafe.
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One night, just as I was ready to take a shower, I read in the guide that there is a nice Hammam (public bath) near our hotel, so I decided to try it out. It was already past 23h, the little streets were almost empty, and the mood was very strange, just as the cultural experience I was going to live. :)

So we got to see the King of Morocco!

So after I took off everything but my boxers, I entered an extremely steamy and hot room, where a few men were sitting on the floor pouring water on themselves. An older man signals me to sit down, so I do so, not really knowing what to do. Then he brings me a few buckets of really hot water and I start imitating the others. Hmmmm... Felt so great! I washed myself thoroughly with soap and rinced myself several times, but I couldn't help but feel dirty, since I was sitting on the floor where everybody's dirty water was. Then I went to a second hot and steamy room, where another man told me to sit on a bucket and wait for him to give me a massage. It's actually not a massage, and i reckon the word "massage" should not be used in that case. What they mean by massage is actually a full-body scrub with a very rough glove. I sat there for almost half an hour, waiting for the man to finish "massaging" his kid, sweat dripping profusely from my whole body, not realy knowing what to do. Every time I got up to get a new bucket hw would tell me to sit there and wait for him. I was just generally confused. That man left, another one came, and he scrubbed me hard on the legs, the belly, the neck, the back, everywhere but my private parts. It lasted not more than 10 minutes, after which I got up, poured water over myself to rince off all the dead skin (of which there were huge amounts hehe), and went back to the hotel, thoroughly clean... In Marrakesh, the city we would go to next, both Margie and I went to a Hammam, and she will tell you all about her experience... :)

"Tannerie" in Fes, place where they treat and dye leather.
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We didn't do much visiting in Fes because of the cold weather, but we still ate loads of amazing foods. Everything was close to our hotel, so we just walked 100 meters and we could choose from some 10 restaurants to eat in. The food was great independently from the price, as it is in all of Morocco. :) The dish we preferred was the Harira (Moroccan soup), which was sold by an very intriguing character. Straight out of "mille et une nuits", this short middle-aged man wore white clothes, a chef's hat, had a neatly waxed mustache that reminded us of a Aladdin's bottled genie, and was serving Harira from an gigantic pot every evening and night we spent in Fes. Every evening we had his soup. At 2 dirhams a bowl, it's a steal, no matter how poor you are. Thank you.

Beautiful view of the city, with it's pollution.
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On the third day in Fes, we decided to go to Volubilis, a Roman ruins site some two hours from Fes. To get there, one needs to take the bus or train one hour West to Meknes, a somewhat large city, and then one more hour to Volubilis itself by taxi. An unexpected surprise was given to us in Meknes, since the bus had deposited us exactly where the king himself was about to pass in half an hour. So we got to see the King of Morocco! pass in his luxurious car waving to his people! Really cool.

Typical cafe scene.
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Of course, compared to the ones in Italy, Volubilis' are puny little ruins, but nevertheless worth visiting because of the whole setting of Volubilis. Beautiful landscape surrounds these relatively-well-preserved ruins, and Moulay Idris amongst mountains just adds to the beauty of the place. Advice to travelers: the only restaurant close to Volubilis is obviousely way too overpriced and served the worst food we had in Morocco, so bring sandwiches. :)