Why You Should Visit The Riads of Fes in Morocco
Despite having. hard time finding my room, my stay at the Fes Riad was something I would recommend to anyone. Read on to hear about my trip and why I think you should visit the Riads of Fes yourself!
A Maze To Find Your Room
The delights of this North African city of culture and learning could certainly teach you a thing or two about navigation. While I struggled to find my room at first, it was only because there was so much going on, making me excited to get to exploring!
What made it so hard to find my room, was because I didn't just have to look along the streets, but also up! Winding narrow stairs of black, green, white and yellow mosaics force you to go up before you go down and it's easy to get twisted around. But thankfully I had a clear head, and was able to find my room, That's when my trip truly started and I explored all the Fes had to offer.
The Riads of Fes
The Riads of Fes but some also spelled Fez, do offer a more authentic type of stay in the city, with rooms right off an open central courtyard with fountains and pools giving the the sound and cooling effect of running water as a relaxing option to get away from the large international brand style of hotels.
A Riad provides a wonderful oasis from city life. the inward looking architecture design shields guests from the bustle outside. In a true Moroccan style with no two rooms looking the same I found, Riad Maison Bleue, a charming retreat and located in the perect spot.
Staying on the very edge of the medina, my room had open views to the hills that lay to the north of the city but it was also the perfect spot for exploring yet another labyrinth that of the medina itself.
The Medina
The busy narrow market alleys that we entered were yet another challenge for tourists to navigate to find and experience another ancient culture. This medieval complex that is the oldest part of Fes is a wonder of color, sound, and smells!
The smell, I will deal with first. It is what Fes /Fez is ironically the most known for. It is the colorful paint pot-looking leather tanning area just off the medina that gives off the strongest smell.
Describing the aroma, well I have to say it does take your breath away and the chances of smelling it anywhere else in the world is damn well slim. Rotting flesh and pigeon droppings are involved, to give you a clue if you want to try to imagine it for yourself.
Animals are important in the area around this part of Northern Morocco. With its history as the ‘bread basket’ of the country, it's pretty obvious when driving towards the former Imperial city of Meknes, you can see that nearly every square metre of this fertile farming area is planted with a many crops or with grazing farm animals.
A Roman Outpost
This is Berber country, but it was also the most Westerly outpost for the Romans 2,000 years ago in North Africa. With the ruins of Volubilis just over an hour drive away from Fes, it's so worth seeing with its typical Roman street layout and some very fine mosaics still standing.
As the most remote outpost in its time, it would have been a stunning city to visit sitting high on a plateau with all 360 degree views, ideal for defending it, with running water sewers and under-floor heating. The Romans stationed there would have felt very much at home.
A short journey back to Meknes with its high-fortified defensive walls some 25 miles long winding around it is, astounding! The ornate fortified gates in the wall are really the main focus for all visitors, because this Bab Monsour gate is a work of fine Arab style and detail.
The Grain Store
Near to its city centre, inside another two walls, is a giant granary that was a big part of ‘The Bread Basket’ and the adjoining Royal Stables covering nearly four acres.
Back in the day, the ruling king at the time, Sultan Moulay Ismail, was able to store enough grain in it for three years should the city be attacked to feed both humans and its horses, that he appeared to love even more.
Much of the massive grain storage buildings are still standing, but what a sight the stables must have been when they were in perfect order. It's still worth the visit to see the tens of interlinked arches that can still be seen.
One unexpected and strange find before I left the city was a beautifully manicured golf course right found within the former grounds of the royal palace.
Fes is the Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard of Morocco as a seat of university learning that is also the oldest of any in the world, a 9th century institution. As well as a spiritual center it was, at one time, the political and commercial one. But Casablanca now takes on those roles.
Exploring The Streets
The narrow streets of Fes’s medina were surely not that different than they are still today. The alleyways in the old town are bustling, crowded and colorful. It's almost overwhelming for a first time visitor because it’s hard to know where to look first.
In the shaded alleys with fierce sunshine slashing through every once in a while glistening off shiny copper or brassware, focusing in on what to look at is not that easy. Trying to take photographs in some tricky lighting conditions was tough too, but satisfying never the less when they come out this good.
Uneven and on a slight slant, the main street in the medina is simple to navigate but with so many left and right turns its very easy to get disorientated, but you are sure to discover sights and smells that you have never seen before, but may prefer never to again!
Abandoned Wonders
I came across an abandoned building described as a former palace, with chickens and cats having the run of the large central open garden, the most ornate mosaics on the walls in pretty perfect condition but much of the highly detailed carved and painted wood was in drastic need of refurbishment, with collapsed ceilings and roof sections it was sad to see that it had not come to the attention of the city elders as a project worth bringing back to life.
Fes or Fez is certainly a place I would highly recommend; four days would be enough to scratch the surface of this labyrinthine city, but as with any city of such great age and culture you could be there four weeks, four months or four years and still be learning as they are still doing at the University of Karueein 11 centuries later!
Links
Morocco Tourism
http://www.visitmorocco.com/index.php/eng/
Original Article - Thanks to Geoff Moore :: Travel photographer, writer and blogger Geoff Moore has been a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers for 10 years and has traveled the world for over 30 years.
Outdoor Revival - Reconnecting us all with the Outdoors