Morocco! Fes

One of my favorite places in Fes-the candy shop! How can all those colors not make you smile!
Beautiful, intricate doors were everywhere. In the mosques, down dark alleys, on the palace. I really, really wanted to bring a few home.

Here is the city wall around the medina (old town) in Fes. I could really picture Samuel standing on it. I know, wrong culture, wrong continent.


Camel meat anyone?

An example of the beautiful mosaic and plaster work that was everywhere. They aren't allowed to use pictures in the Islam culture so they use calligraphy to decorate everything. The plaster here says "joy".

No vehicles are allowed in the medina so donkeys are everywhere. They are all dressed up and treated like royalty. They definitely have the right of way.

This is the tannery seen from above. And this is as close as we wanted to get. We were given sprigs of mint to hold in front of our noses so the smell wouldn't over whelm us. See all those white vats? Pigeon poop.

This is a door in one of the mosques. We weren't able to go inside because we weren't

Muslim but we could stand in the doorway and look. The wood, plaster and mosaic craftsmanship was amazing everywhere we went. And the ones that were 9 centuries old looked just as amazing as the ones that were 100 years old.

Every once in awhile as we were walking around the medina we would see a tiny little door. We wondered what was behind them. It was a preschool! We were able to sneak in on a French counting lesson.

Apparently the counting lesson was just a little too long for this guy!

This is the alley where they make the wedding chairs. The silver one in front is what the bride is carried to her wedding on. The gold one in the back is where the couple will sit for the first night of their marriage. They will leave this chair every so often, anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, to go and change their outfits. A Moroccan bride doesn't get just one dress she gets lots! This alley gave us all a glue high!

Yes, this is an actual alley to several homes. We were just wondering how you ever get new furniture. And I think it is safe to say that the families on this street don't have refrigerators.

This is a view of the medina in Fes. We walked from one end to the other. And if we hadn't had a guide we would still be wandering around.

This is one of the workshops where they make the mosaics. They actually use a chisel to cut the pieces of tile the right shape and size. And I thought they had some kind of mold that they made the tiles in.

From Fes we headed through the mountains and into the desert. More pictures coming!