16 Fez and Things We Don't See at Home

Arrived in Fez after a long drive on Monday. The plan was to break up the 7 hour drive by stopping in several places. Unfortunately we didn’t head out from the desert until 11 and really didn’t want to drive in dark so we just drove straight through. The day was actually great. Scenery was varied and spectacular, kids were fun and we had great conversations. As we arrived in Fez we got caught up in some crazy traffic. The caretaker of our house waited for us and was there on arrival to escort us inside the Médina to our Riad.  We rented an entire Riad for our 2 nights in Fez. It was fantastic. The house is almost 800 years old and located in one of the oldest areas of the Médina. We had arranged in advance for the caretaker to provide dinner for us because we didn’t want to struggle to find something after dark. We thought he would just drop something off. Nope! He came and cooked for us, served us, cleaned up and then wished us “a great life!”

Tuesday morning we hired a guide for a half day tour of the Médina. He guided us through all the different souks and we learned a ton. We went to the tannery and it’s still as disgusting as it was 30 years ago! They are still offering you mint to stick up your nose so you don’t gag while you’re looking at it. This is the only place we have experienced the hard sell. After viewing the tannery you exit via a very nice, high end leather shop. Very Disney-esque! The kids were excited that they got the seller down from $350 a jacket to 2 for $400🙄 not happening...!

There are different souks (markets) for anything you can think of.  The butcher area was probably the most interesting and disturbing. We watched a little boy walk up to a stall, talk to the vendor, not in agreement, then hand over a chicken he was carrying. The vendor gave the kid some money and then proceeded to slice the chicken’s throat, bleed it out, then put it on the cutting board!😮 Definitely fresh chicken , but so different than our life. Helpful tip; if you are looking to buy camel meat, go to a  shop that has a CAMEL HEAD hanging outside.🤢

Back to the leather coats...after explaining to the kids that our tour guide gets a commission for steering us into certain shops, the kids decided to try shopping on their own. They found a leather market and the starting point was $200 per jacket. CJ was very pleased with himself for getting the price down to...2 for $120! Merry Christmas!

We really enjoyed Fez, There were so many crazy things we can’t even begin to describe them. Even the pics just can’t convey it.

The pics below are a random beautiful door, CJ and Chris in the “ritzy” leather shop, the butcher with the chicken he just killed, the tannery, door to a mosque, random street, olives in market, lamb heads, butcher with CAMEL HEAD on display, another beautiful door.