Fez

This was the last of three rest days. Today we had a guide to take us through the medina. The medina in Fez was unlike any of the other medina's we'd visited. The movie, Jewel of the Nile, was filed here. There are no cars or scooters allowed inside the medina. The only mode of transportation was the donkey. This medina was a true city inside the walls. Over 400,000 people live there. There are mosques and schools and just about everything else you'd need. There were very twisty and narrow alleys. It was truly a unique experience!

All over Morocco there are stray animals. This little fellow was just too cute...

These are some images from the food market in the medina.

Snails anyone??

The locals like their food fresh. I witnessed this first hand. There was a stand with live chickens. I was walking by, minding my own business, checking out the chickens. A local picked one out they liked and before I knew what was happening, the vendor snatched the chicken up and snapped it's neck. Yew!!!

Probably the highlight of the medina was the leather tannery. Again, this was one of the things I was looking forward to seeing. We went up a few levels and could look down at the tanning pits from a balcony area. The area had a very strong, not so fresh, odor. The store handed out sprigs of mint for you to hold to your nose to help ward off the smell. This was a very memorable experience.





We enjoyed exploring the vastly different world of the medina. Here are a few more pictures.





I thought this was a pretty store. That is candy. I tried a sample. I guess you could say it's kind of like taffy. It was okay, but not really what I was expecting. It wasn't very sweet.

This is the famous Blue Gate. Famous for what, I don't know. They said this was the most famous entrance to the medina. We came back here at night and had dinner at a restaurant just inside the gate. Just getting there was a bit of an adventure itself. Both of our tour guides were sick to their stomachs so we were fending for ourselves. We walked a short distance from our hotel and found a taxi stand. After a few tries, we were able to find a taxi driver that spoke a little English and that knew what we meant when we said we wanted to go to the Blue Gate.