The many faces of Fez

There is a side of me that wishes I had a pedometer to see how many miles I have clocked, but it's been lots. I have walked the Medina end-to-end several times, though I still feel like I am just scratching the surface. Yesterday I began to venture off the main paths, which of course means getting lost. Then again getting lost is more relevant if you are trying to get somewhere, which I was not.

I also went deeper into three other parts of the western end of the Fez Medina: Moulay Abdullah, Fes el Djedid and the Mellah. It is fascinating to see how different these parts are from one another. Once again I found the Mellah to be more cramped but also less touristy and more fascinating. I stopped at a sort of sandwich window and gestured toward some odd-looking orange fried dumplings. The asked me something in Arabic to which I said yes, which apparently meant "do you want the eggs with that?" So I watched as the cracked a couple eggs on the griddle, threw a couple of dumplings on it, mixed it all up, and threw it in a sub-style piece of bread with hot sauce, olives and some sort of oil. Yum!

A totally different face is that of the Royal family. The King has, I believe, at least five palaces (in Fez, Marrakech, Ifran, Rabat and Meknes). Each is an enormous, walled-in piece of land that is off-limits to mere mortals. You can recognize these palaces (other than the obvious fact that they are closed off and guarded) by the lavish doorways. The three photos below were taken within a quarter-mile radius.



Yesterday I also saw the Medina at night, when they block off a large portion for security. I had been warned by my hosts that it is not easy to get back from the other side of the Medina when they block it off, but I thought I'd give it a try. It was like being in a maze, with all the stores shuttered, and some of the normal paths closed off. I had to ask a few times but (obviously) I did make it home safe and sound...