A get-away

Jesse and I were delighted last week to sneak off for a few days together. His ever-amazing and brave parents—here visiting still—stayed with the boys while we were gone. We took a quick, direct hop-flight to northern Africa: Fes Morocco. The price was what we'd pay back home for a budget roundtrip between Philadelphia and Boston...amazing! We arrived on Thursday afternoon and left in the wee hours of Sunday morning, but despite the short timeframe we had an unbelievably rewarding, adventurous, relaxing, overwhelming time (yes, all those things rolled into one; if you've been to a similar place, I'm sure you understand).

We stayed in the heart of the ancient medina, deep in the maze of over 9000 miniscule alleys, roads, and often dead-end passages that all teem with the commerce and living of several hundred thousand people (not to mention a shocking number of donkeys and cats too!). It's like nowhere I've ever visited—full of such different sights, such vastly different ways of life, such varied and often assaulting smells, so many people in your face and business, all non-stop and jostling and swirling around from dawn until long after dark. Muslim calls to prayer sang out at their appointed hours through the day starting around 5 a.m., the shopkeepers with their haggling and stories were equal parts entertaining and overwhelming, and the jagged mixture of ancient slammed up against modern felt bizarre and exotic and yet also somehow fitting. It was fantastic.

With all that said, if you want to hear stories, send me an email and I'll give you a call. Beyond dropping in a big bunch of photos below, it's hard to write more!

*  *  *

This is one of the major tanneries in Fes, where huge quantities of leather is treated. I can't imagine a life working in these huge, stinking vats...especially in the intense heat of summer...

Jesse looks rather demure with his bundle of mint leaves, given to visitors as a counter to the incredibly foul smell of the tannery.

*  *  *

The mosaics everywhere (floors, walls) were beautiful. 

*  *  *

Friday is a very quiet day in the medina, a family/weekend day. The many shuttered stalls and echoing streets were a stark contrast to the crazy bustle the rest of the time, with people everywhere, goods and tables and piles spilling out into the street.

*  *  *

We stayed in a lovely little riad—an entire house shared between us in one bedroom and another couple of guests in a second bedroom. We paid $50 a day, and that included a super breakfast prepared by the young housemaid/cook who was at the riad several hours each day. Unbeatable! (And what were the chances that our housemates grew up in York and Hummelstown, PA??)

Here's Jesse in the central part of the house, enjoying his morning Moroccan mint tea (i.e., a bunch of fresh mint crammed in a glass with boiling water poured over).

The shower room was hammam style, a big shower head raining down from the ceiling.

The window pictured here was in our bedroom, looking down on the central "courtyard" below (I stuck my head out the opening to take the photo of Jesse).

Most rooms of the house were accessed on different levels off this very narrow, spiraling, tiled staircase. It was a little spooky and echo-y getting to the bathroom in the dark of night!

Below you can see the early morning view of misty rooftops from the riad's own roof on Friday. There was a really nice sitting area up there. The smoke you can see in the middle smelled fantastic; it came from a bakery just a few doors away.

I took a photo of the street next to "ours," since the riad was accessed from a teensy alley so dark and narrow I couldn't really get a picture. Perhaps obviously, this was taken on quiet Friday morning.

*  *  *

After a good breakfast of olives, fruit, perhaps some soft goat cheese or eggs, various flat breads, etc., we definitely didn't feel the need to splurge on a big lunch. We found that for less than a dollar total (?!), we could buy a couple of traditional round loaves of bread plus several oranges and bananas to munch on. Then we had a traditional Moroccan dinner most evenings. Well, usually traditional. We had several delicious tagines, soups, and couscous dishes, but Saturday night Jesse went for a touristy camel burger. It was yummy!

Two bananas = 1 hectogram + 2 old spark plugs. 

We bought our bread each day, piping hot, from the bakery next to the riad. It was in a dark hole of a door off the street, and the last day the man let me step down and in for a photo. It was a baker/wholesaler place, pumping out hundreds of these flat round loaves every hour; bread like this was for sale piled in towers around every turn of the medina.

We "splurged" a couple of times by popping in somewhere or other for an orange juice. It was usually about a dollar and was pressed on the spot, a mixture of several oranges and clementines. So unbelievably good.

*  *  *

The sights were beautiful. In the religious school we were in below, you can see the basic tile work on the floor, the far more intricate tile on the wall, which was topped with about 15 feet of insanely intricate plaster (?) carvings, above which was about 10 feet of astonishing wood carving! 

 

Carpets, carpets, carpets. Everywhere! Beautiful.

This was in a wood craft museum. Photos weren't allowed in the exhibit rooms, but the central atrium was fair game. I enjoyed seeing these two cleaning staff having a little chat in the middle of their dusting!

We did a fair bit of shopping (which meant an insane amount of haggling/bartering, sometimes in English and sometimes in French). Tim, you have a bag full of fresh spices from this stall en route home to Lancaster. Jim and Tillie arrive in a couple of days!

 

*  *  *

On Friday afternoon—a beautiful, sunny day in the 70s—we headed up to a hillside nearby. It was lovely to see the medina sprawled out and shining below us, as opposed to being viewed from its teeming, dark, at times even claustrophobic interior.

This photo below was taken facing the other way on the hilltop.

The tower was on the top of the hill. From a long distance we couldn't make out what the red coloration was. Flowers? Red rocks?  Ah, animal skins! There were a few men there flipping them, arranging them, piling them. It made for a surreal flock / herd on the hillside...

We (I) eventually caved and bought a winter knit hat from this guy here (not the one he'd put on Jesse's head, though). As it turns out, it was absolutely beautifully knitted of lovely wool. But...neither Jesse nor I needs a hat. If you're reading this and interested in it, let me know...seriously. It's an olive-y green and black color. 

*  *  *

It was great to be reunited with the boys on Sunday afternoon; somehow our 3.5 days away seemed so much longer and so rejuvenating. They had a great time with their grandparents (naturally!) and Jesse and I had a mini-vacation we won't soon forget. I couldn't ask for much more than that.  :)