Fez el Beli: rain rain rain

Arrived late Tuesday to Fez, another imperial city. It rained overnight and most of today. The rest of the week we expect rain as well :-(

Here in the Middle Atlas the evenings are cooler, it was the first night I needed to turn on the heater.

Had an interesting conversation in the train with fellow passengers, one of whom turned out to be the sister in law of the artist currently exhibiting at Casablanca's Villa des Artistes ( see earlier blog).

Had dinner at the hotel because I was rather tired.

On Wed Dec 1st: went to Fez el Bali, the old Medina. Started at one of the main gates Bab Boujeloud, with marvelous tile decorations. Continued to the museum of Dar Batha, an old home, with beautiful ceilings, a courtyard, a garden, and two wings with display cases full of ceramics dating from pre-history to early 20th c.

This is by far the oldest and best preserved of the cities I have visited so far, with 8-9 centuries old schools, yet there is quite a contrast between the old and the modern: young ladies in tradional garbs are sitting next to me in the cyber-cafe, flirting with others long distance. Cell phones are all over (the local telecom just went public, all you investors).

After lunch today, in a beautiful corner shop with terrace, I walked down one of the 2 main arteries, Talaa Kabira (the larger hilly road) towards several of the sites; the famous one, Medersa Bou Inania, is closed for repairs. The street is full of vendors, and many are labyrinths; difficult to avoid the fake-guides, but as my guidebook warned me I was able to discourage them; they give up after a while!

Medersa el Attarin, near the spice market is a historic site, and like many others, has a 10 dirham entrance fee (just over a US dollar, the exchange being 8.3 dh to the US dollar). Then moved on to take a peek at the Karaouine mosque which is an active one, therefore not open to non-muslims. Followed the path to the market where the skins are dyed, but the smell is pretty bad, so just continued north to exit from another gate Bab el Guissa. More rain pouring once again, and as it gets dark around 5 pm here, headed back to the new city. Hoping to have dinner with a fellow traveller who is staying nearby.

Mailed some postcards, inch'Allah they make it to you all.

More tomorrow...