What the Fez?
Shortly after booking our trip to Italy this past summer, we learned about the 90 day limit for staying within the Schengen Area. Oops, we were going to be over by a week. The easy thing to do would have been to update our flights to fit within the 90 day limit. But no! We instead chose the adventurous route of leaving the EU region in the middle of our Italy stay. And that is how we ended up spending a very hectic and memorable week in Morocco!
Our first stop was Fez, the second largest city located in the north of Morocco, a couple hours inland from the coast. We stayed in the historic Medina, which is the largest urban area in the world that is car free. There are reportedly 9000+ different small streets and alley ways throughout the Medina. It certainly made getting around stressful, as many turns lead to dead ends that send you back to try another route. Of course the kids were always full of patience when we took a wrong turn, and not once did we despair that we’d perish in the middle of the labyrinth. To get a sense of the the craziness of walking around the Medina, take a look at this video of how we got to the front door of our hotel (that tight first passage way is about half a meter wide!):
Along the larger streets in the Medina are lined shops of all colors and kinds. It is quite a sight to behold, but when you pause to take it in, you’ll immediately find a shopkeeper or restauranteur directing you into their place. It can be a struggle to keep going. Another very noticeable feature of the streets is the abundance of stray cats. Avery enjoyed photographing many of the cats she saw, and she frequently would save some of her leftovers to feed to them. As her essay topic on Morocco (attached at the bottom), Avery even chose to write about the stray cats.
While in Fez, we took a guided tour through the Medina and saw the oldest university in the world as well as the tanneries where leather goods are produced. Before entering the tanneries, tourists are given what they call a “gas mask” - a bundle of fresh mint to hold to your nose to hide the pungent smell of the chemicals and apparently pigeon feces that are used in processing the leather. It doesn’t work well. We will remember the smell of the tanneries for a long, long time!
The best part of our stay in Fez had to be the food. While there wasn’t a ton of variety on restaurant menus, we did enjoy a lot of tagines, tangias, pastillas, shakshoukas and many various sweets. Of course, we also had the freshest and most delicious mint tea to go along with the food. Austin chose to write his Morocco essay about food (attached below), so I won’t go into too much more detail about it. Instead here are some photos!
After three tiring days of navigating the labyrinth of Fez’s Medina, we left the old historic city and took the train to our next stop, Casablanca. Stay tuned for the next post on our Moroccan adventure!
Kid’s Morocco Essays
Wow! These essays are really great! Good job with all of the research, Austin and Avery! I remember seeing the tiny kittens on the street in Marrakech too. They were so cute. I especially loved reading about the foods that you tried in Morocco, including all of the spices. I wonder what that snail soup would've tasted like!
Very professionally written essays!! Bravo!! Love reading your posts, so witty and informative