We spent the day exploring Fes. The oldest city of Morocco. The origin. The city that started it all. The city that has been around since 808 AD. That’s a lot of years. And in the last 1200 years, it has gone through a few…additions. A major one in the 1400s and another one in the early 1900s. Each area is distinct and each area tells a story of the way of life in that time period.
We couldn’t help, however, comparing Fes to Marrakech. Each city is about the same size and is of equal importance. They are so similar, yet, they have a very different feel. We went on thorough tours of each of their Medinas (Old Towns/Markets).
Marrakech was vibrant. Lively. Loud. Bright. Used by the locals, but had the feel of being there for the tourists. It wasn’t lived in, it was visited. It had all of the shops, artisans, bakeries, and necessities needed by the locals. Even so, we felt…no, we knew…that at the end of the day, all those shopkeepers, bakers, artisans and locals went home, away from the market.
Fes offers a different experience. The moment we stepped inside the Medina, we felt like we were walking in somebody’s neighbourhood. It was weird – how we felt so different. The chaos of the Medina was the same. It was lively and bustling and filled with people yelling at each other, mostly in good humour, but not always. Here, we were infiltrating the culture. We were experiencing the daily life of these people. At the end of the day, people went upstairs to their homes, to their families. We were but an afterthought.
I am so glad that we were able to take the time to fully explore these different cities – it gives us a more rounded view of Moroccan life. Morocco is more than snake charmers, more than the Sahara, more than tajines. It is culture, mosques, phyllo dough, narrow streets, mint tea, multi-lingual, natural dyes, traditional medicine, and so much more.
We are not done with this country – how much more is there for us to learn? I can’t wait to find out.
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