FEZ
All about what
to see, what to do, what to eat and where to go ...
Medina
Maps
Fez Medina Bouanania Medersa courtyard
The ancient medina of Fez lies in a bowl created by the surrounding Zalagh mountains. The city was founded during the 8th century by Moulay Idriss, who lies buried deep within the medina at the shrine (zawiya) bearing his name. Today the old city houses some 187000 people. The new city of Fez built by the French during their Protectorate of Morocco, lies a few kilometres to the west and has the feel of a French provincial town, with its pavement cafés and wide boulevards. By contrast, the medina has tiny winding streets of cobble-type bricks, some alleys only just wide enough for a donkey to pass through. There is vehicular access only to the periphery of the medina, where you will find parking and taxi ranks. The medina covers an area of approximately 1,5 square miles or 2,5 square kilometres. It has many entrances or gates, which are called Babs.
Lonely Planet's Fez Encounter 1, published in March 2008, is the best guide to Fez with details on where to eat, drink, shop, sight-see and play. There's a good pull-out map, too.
There's another excellent book called Fez Bab to Bab available in bookshops situated around the Central Market in the New City. It contains a series of well-structured walks through the medina, a large map, and is available in English, Arabic and French and costs Dh160.
In the streets of the medina, you'll spot star-shaped street signs in different colours. These denote colour-coded tourist walking circuits with different themes, such as walls and ramparts, traditional crafts, palaces and gardens and so on. They relate to wall maps that are placed in strategic areas, and also to the Fes Guide book that has recently been published in English by ADER-Fès. It's also available in French, and contains a good map. It's available at hotels and guesthouses, as well as bookshops in the new city for Dh100.
What to See
Place Seffarine
Cedarwood door detail, Bouanania
|
Just wandering the Medina
streets and absorbing the sights, sounds and smells is a fine introduction to Fez.
You will probably get lost. Stick to the busy streets and you'll
eventually find your way out or back onto one of the two main streets, Tala'a
Kebira (Big Slope) and Tala'a Sghira (Little Slope). These streets merge at the bottom, deep in the
Medina. It's probably a good idea to engage a guide (see below), but if
you decide not to, don't miss the Bouanania Medersa (Qur'anic School) between the
two Tala'as with the entrance on Tala'a Kebira; the Attarine Medersa at the
bottom of Tala'a Kebira, the Moulay Idriss Zawiya (shrine), the Karaouiyne Mosque,
the tanneries, Seffarine Square and the Nejjarine Museum. There are other
museums such as Batha and Belghazi which are worth a visit too. Note that
non-Muslims are not allowed inside mosques and zawiyas. A visit to the old
Jewish Quarter, Fes El Jdid, is also interesting; there's a synagogue and
old cemetery.
Bouanania, Tala'a Sghira |
Guides
Employing a properly trained guide who speaks your language is a good idea if you only have a few days in Fez as you will then get the best out of the Medina. The usual rate is around Dh150 per half day if you are going shopping. If you don't intend to shop, tell the guide so and pay him more, say around Dh200 or Dh250. This makes up for his loss of commission.
You may well be pestered by small boys insisting on showing you the medina. Do your best to shrug them off as only official guides (wearing a permit) are allowed to assist tourists. You'll pay more for anything you buy if you're accompanied. If necessary, you can call on the Tourist Police who are visible in the medina (wearing navy blue), and have their headquarters at Bab Boujloud.
BEWARE: It has come to our notice recently that tourists are being approached by Moroccan men who board the train at Meknès (just before Fez) and try to lure them away from the guesthouses they've booked. Alternatively they offer their services as guides. There are also men on motor-bikes that approach motorists as they're arriving in Fez, with the same ideas. Don't use the services of these men. They are touts and con-men (and make lousy guides!) and should be avoided. It's best to rely on your guesthouse to recommend a guide they know.
Weather
The temperatures in Fez are pretty extreme: it gets very hot in summer in July and August, and very cold in December and January. Some accommodation has air-conditioning and all have heating for those cold winter nights. Spring (March and April) and autumn (September and October) are very pleasant.
Dress
It's not necessary to cover up completely, but bear in mind that it's best to dress conservatively to avoid unwanted attention. This means knee-length skirts or pants for women, as skimpy clothing, bare midriffs and strappy tops are not suitable. For men, shirts or t-shirts are preferable to vests.
Medina Shopping
Copper worker in Place Seffarine
Petit Bazar du Bon Accueil, antique shop on Tala'a Sghira |
The medina has specific
areas for different kinds of goods, eg the tanneries and surrounding areas for
buying leather clothing, bags, pouffes, belts and shoes; the coppersmith areas
for trays, teapots, plates and basins; tailoring where you can have a djellaba made
(traditional hooded robe); babouches - slippers with pointed toes that come in yellow or
white leather for men, and a multitude of designs, colours and fabrics for
women; ornate yellow gold wedding jewellery; and carpentry, including gorgeous
golden thrones for weddings, carved tables and artefacts. There are excellent
craft stalls selling lighting made of metalwork or thin, brightly dyed
goatskin stretched over frames and painted, the ceramics for which Fez is famous (particularly blue and
white), carpets both old and new, antique shops featuring jewellery, objets
d'art, furniture and fabrics, including particularly fine embroidery from
various parts of Morocco. Look out too for hendiras, the traditional
cloaks of wool and linen (and sometimes sequins) that Berber mothers wove for their marriageable daughters, as well as cushion covers and
traditional wedding belts. Near the Moulay Idriss Shrine, you'll find
stalls selling votive offerings such as candles, incense sticks and pieces of
frankincense and musk with charcoal to burn it. There are also shops selling
gold-embroidered clothes for weddings and circumcisions, and it's here you'll
find a real red fez complete with tassel. This makes a good souvenir, cheap at
around Dh20 each. The Henna Souk off Tala'a Kebira stocks ceramics as
well as traditional cosmetics, argane oil (excellent for skin care), soaps and
essential oils (cedarwood and rose are particularly good in Morocco), as well as equipment for applying henna in pretty designs to
hands and feet, usually done for weddings and celebrations.
|
Bargaining
Much has been written about bargaining for goods in Morocco. Perhaps it's good to bear in mind that, as a Westerner, you are always going to pay more than a local. The point should be reached where you are happy with the price, and so is the vendor - a true 'win-win' situation. By all means bargain, it's expected, and you can get some very good deals.
Eating Out: Medina
So-called 'palace' restaurants serve traditional Moroccan food to as many tourists as they can squeeze in and tend only to be open for lunch. They are best avoided! Good medina restaurants are:
Fresh fruit and vegetables at Sagha Market
Fresh and prepared olives |
If you're self-catering,
check out the markets at Boujloud and at R'cif. These are good to
wander in, even if you don't intend to buy. There are vegetables and
fruit galore, fresh and organically grown, as well as various types of bread,
patisserie, spices, legumes and eggs (loose!). While you can buy meat here
(anything from camel heads to live rabbits and pigeons), it might be safer for Western
palates to shop for meat and fish in the Central Market in the New City (see
below). There are also Western-style supermarkets in the city; ask
the taxi driver for Acima (medium-sized) or Marjane (bigger, with more choice).
Eggs and dried fruit, Sagha Market |
Street Food
You'll find numerous small shops offering sandwiches in both the Medina and the New City. The sandwiches are usually small baguettes or round breads and your choice of filling cooked to order. Choose from an array of vegetables, olives, chicken or turkey, kidneys, minced beef, fried eggs, sausage and spicy tomato sauce. A side-order of chips or m'qouda (deep-fried potato fritters) are usually available too. These make a good snack or lunch and are very cheap, usually around Dh12 or Dh14.
The traditional soup of Morocco, harira, can also be found on every street corner in the Medina. It costs a couple of dirhams per bowl. Harira is a thick tomato soup with meat, chickpeas and coriander and is served with a squeeze of lemon.
New City Shopping (Ville Nouvelle)
Shopping in the new part of Fez is more formal, with most of the shops centred around Boulevards Mohamed V and Hassan II. It's less usual to bargain here. Look out for superbly embroidered fabrics for women and good shoe shops. The Central Market (ask the taxi driver for the Marché Centrale) is found on Boulevard Mohammed V. Here you'll find a vast array of fish and shellfish fresh from the coast (except on Fridays), all types of meat, beautifully fresh vegetables, spices, flowers, fruit, olives of various flavours, nuts, dried fruit and groceries. The two alcohol shops in Fez are found on either side of the market, where you can find good local beer and wine, as well as imported beer, wines and spirits. Note that these are closed during Ramadan, and for three days each side of Ramadan and other religious holidays. Alcohol is also available in the big supermarkets, though during Ramadan the cellars are closed. At this time, you might be lucky and find some wine at the grocer's in the Central Market.
The Central Market in the Nouvelle Ville: fresh fish ... ... and fresh fruit and vegetables
Eating Out: New City
There are western-style restaurants in the New City, usually licensed and reasonably priced. The Majestic and Trois Sources will organise a taxi to and from the medina if you phone ahead.
Many of these restaurants also serve traditional Moroccan food. There are numerous cafés, juice bars, ice cream parlours and patisseries. It's perfectly acceptable to buy croissants or petits pains in a patisserie and then eat them at a street café. Coffee is generally good; the national beverage is very sweet mint tea.
Art in Fez
More and more art galleries seem to be opening in Fez, some private and some municipal. There's the Al Houria Cultural Complex in Avenue Palestine (a wonderful building shaped like a stepped pyramid or, some say, like the hanging gardens of Babylon) that has exhibition space as well as a theatre. There's the municipal gallery close to McDonald's. The French Institute often has art exhibitions. The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music headquarters at Dar Tazi in the Batha area of the Medina hosts a contemporary art exhibition during the Festival each year (1-9 June 2007). In the new city, the excellent Orientalist Gallery can be found on Avenue Abdelaziz Boutaleb (a continuation of Avenue Chefchaouni) and is a superb space for the varied exhibitions it holds. Café Clock often has art installations.
New in the medina is the Galerie Jamil des Beaux Arts near Seffarine Square (with your back to the Karaouine Library, take the street to your right, and the gallery is on your right). There's a wide selection of work here, ranging from oils by Hassan Jamil to work by his son Mohamed Jamil who works in the gallery, and even some interesting Jewish antique furniture.
Fez Festival of World Sacred Music 2010 4-12 June Journey of Initiation: from Mystery to Revelation
See the Programme and press release here. For more information on the Festival and the city of Fez, see The View from Fez.
Whirling Dervishes from Konya in Turkey perform at Bab Makina
©Helen Ranger updated 2010.
