Hi dear Hive community,
Today we will present you the notorious city of Fez, place of art and incredible artisan paradise!
It's been a while since you've heard from us. Spring has come with it's warmer weather which is making us spending time outside enjoying in the nature. Still we were finally able to sit down and finish our Moroccan story.
From desert small town Merzouga we took a night bus to Fez. Bus was comfortable and time went very fast by. Since it's taking quite some time we did not want that we spend one whole precious day for driving. It was very good decision to travel by night, we can really recommend it.
We were really looking forward to visit Fez,as it's one of most recognised and appreciated by tourist. It's a paradise for artists, cultural enthusiasts and creative souls. You can get so much inspiration here! City is very photogenic and has some amazing architecture pieces which let's you in awe.
The city Fez is very large, mainly tourist go to see the old university and the old medina. The entry is marked with the famous blue gates, which greet the tourists. The arch is giant and made with such a precision. It looks glorious from far away, however as soon as you approach It you see how much effort was put into this. It's simply brilliant!
The streets are narrow and some parts are closed to create some shadow as it can be very hot during summer months. Every centimeter of street and wall is decorated by some products or shops. Tourism is for majority main source of income and due to many competitors it's getting more difficult to sell things, specially when your products are not unique and you are some sort of a resellers.
One of the main sightseeing here is the rooftop from where you can see the leather making. There are many pools where they clean and colour the leather, from which they later make bags, backpacks, belts, shoes etc. The smell here was very unique, to real leather.
After the gates, you are thrown into a huge labyrinth of streets and shops selling variety of things. The place is perfect for anyone curious about art, however it can be very overwhelming as well. There is a lot of people and area is very busy. You can hear people talking, children laughing or tourists lister to their guides. Continuing to walk the streets you can admire many artisan products like copper products, nicely decorated pottery and textile pieces like carpets and blankets. If you want to support lokal, here you will enjoy a lot!
The second day we thought we could not be impressed more about the liveness of the city. We were so wrong, as we were suddenly by colourful art painting made in various styles and motives. So much colour around you makes you immediately feeling happier and more loaded with such positivity!
The roads are paved and narrow. The only vehicles you see are small motorcycles and horses carrying a heavy load. The smell varies from pleasant aromas of street foods to strong smell of leather and milk products. Our favourite spot had been a rooftop restaurant were we enjoyed a cup of coffee or fresh orange juice. From the top we could observe what is happening on the streets and sometimes you can take really awesome street photographs.We were observing the local people minding their own business. It was nice to observe an older woman making traditional dishes we were having every morning.
The next day we wanted to take a break from all the market rush and escaped into the outskirts. There we climb on a old fortress from where we had really beautiful view on the old medina. We saw many huge cementeries there as well. We had a chance to hear some more silence and observed big city which expanded so much more from it's original center.
We would stay one more night there to meet local friends we met along the way, however something came in between and we decided to leave this place and boarded a train to the coast - hello sun and Casablanca!
Overall experience was very exciting. We enjoyed the fine art pieces, learn how to make handmade things and tasting new food and exploring different flavours.
As always thank you for reading and hope to see you in the next one.
Wish you a nice day!
!worldmappin 34.083630 lat -5.014186 long <Colourful Fes, a city of art and hadmade crafts, Morocco> d3scr