Fes was somewhere that wasn’t necessarily top of my Morocco travel list, and I think it is a little bit forgotten, but I loved it.
As with all the places we visited in Morocco, the people are what really made Fes such a great experience but, because this was the first place I experienced in Morocco, the people were especially important. From the lovely staff at Dar Victoria, who immediately made us feel welcome, to our amazing guide for the day, Jamal, we were lucky with the people we met. If it wasn’t for them we probably wouldn’t have eaten that delicious barbecue meat pitta for lunch, or made our way into the depths of the medina with only the aid of a hand drawn map. It’s these little interactions with the people of a country that give any trip another dimension, and made Fes so special.
My favourite thing about Fez was how it feels like it’s stayed in some bygone time, looking across the rooftops you can imagine that not a huge amount has changed since Roman times – except, of course, for all the TV satellites. We were told that all the mosques face to Mecca, all the satellites face Europe!
We weren’t in Fez long, only 2 nights, but in that short time we were able to see a fair amount with the help of the people we met. The Médina in Fez is notoriously complicated and labyrinth-like, but we were lucky that on our first day Mohammed from our hotel, Dar Victoria, drew us a map from memory of a simple walk to get us oriented. Only once you have experienced the madness of the Médina, and it’s countless turns, can you appreciate how impressive drawing a detailed map from memory is!
The next day we took advantage of Mohammed’s offer to arrange a guide, and were greeted after breakfast by the lovely Jammal. Jammal is a local Fez resident and a force to be reckoned with. His English is fantastic, and he speaks four other languages to boot. He was really invaluable for navigating the Médina, showing us the main sights and really just having someone there to answer all of my many, many cultural questions. He wasn’t pushy or rushed, and he didn’t seem to have any interest in taking us to a friends' shop to earn a few extra quid.
Everything we did was what we wanted, and Jammal was just so nice to talk to and learn a little bit about Moroccan culture – for example, did you know that a lot of Moroccans are boycotting buying water and milk because of the inflated price compared to living wages? Or that, despite the heavily Muslim society, the young people use Tinder and bunk off school to meet up in the parks?
We only intended to stay with Jamal for a couple hours, but ending up spending the better part of the day exploring the Dar El Makhzen (Royal Palace), Mellah (Jewish Quarter), public gardens and everything that the wiring streets of the Medina have to offer.
To top everything off we even had an amazing lunch afterwards with Jammal once we were back at the hostel, which was definitely not something that he had to do but so kind of him. It was a sort of pitta bread full of lamb and chicken, spicy sauce and cucumber; so simple but so tasty and definitely not something that I would have bought off the street myself!
I would recommend contacting Jammal for anyone visiting Fez for the first time, it is well worth the time and money. You can email him at Info@jamalmorocco.com
My favourite thing that we saw in Fez was the tanneries, with their pits of lime, pigeon poo (yes, really), and coloured dyes. People say that the smell is horrendous, but somehow it didn't smell at all when we were there. Even so, the guides will give you fragrant herbs to minimise any potential smells. It’s worth going up onto the roofs of a workshop to get the birds eye view and learn a little bit more about the process. The workers there are hard salesmen, but there are plenty of beautiful things to buy if you are willing to haggle hard (and I was).
One of our best off the beaten path discoveries in Fez was courtesy of Jammal, who over lunch recommended that we take a taxi out of the old city to Hotel Les Mérinides. You may ask why anyone would leave the mayhem and excitement of the Médina to go to a luxury hotel on a hill, but the views are truly spectacular and as the sun goes down you get a totally different view on the medina. As an added bonus, if you do like a small alcoholic tipple with your sunset, they do serve alcohol – which we didn’t find anywhere else in Fez, not that we were looking that hard.
Our time in Fez was sadly all too short, and it is definitely somewhere that I would go back to for more exploring, but the short time that we did have was filled with so many fun and interesting things and it was the kindness of the people here that really set the tone for the rest of our time in Morocco.
Where to Stay
Dar Victoria, is a stunning property and is a huge part of what made our stay in Fez so good. It is in the maze that is central Fez but surprisingly easy to find, especially with the help of the airport transfer we organised from the Dar.
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| The door to our room |
A Dar, for those not in the know, is much like a Riad, basically a Moroccan style residence - dar actually means house in Arabic. The basinal difference between a Riad and a Dar is that, while they both generally have central communal courtyard areas, Riad have a garden in the courtyard where a Dar has a more simple courtyard without a garden, but probably with some kind of fountain.
Despite any lack of courtyard garden, Dar Victoria is simply put, stunning. The courtyard stretches endless up to the sky in a cascade of colourful tiles and the whole atmosphere is a serene haven from the manic rhythm of the city streets. Every morning breakfast is served in the courtyard and is a delicious, I would also definitely recommend ordering dinner for one night. It needs to be ordered in the morning, but the forward planning is worth it. Make sure you come to dinner hungry though, because you will be getting a multiple course feast and delicious introduction to Moroccan home cooking at its finest.
We stayed in the Emerald Suite (Suite Emeraude), which was a split level room and perfect for the two of us. It is a huge room and beautifully decorated.
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