A long drive from Fes to our final destination of the day: the Tiziri Camp near Merzouga. We saw monkeys, snow (!), many many storks, nomads, what seemed to be a French ski resort, windmills, we saw our first RV, and we saw the sand dunes: beautiful, orange, soft and elegant! And here we ended the car ride after ~500 km and switched transportation…
Halfway through the ride we stopped to watch the sunset – beautiful, magic and breathtaking!
It is very rare that an artists skill creates tears in my eyes; and here we are, at a pottery producer in Fes – pottery of all! When I studied arts, pottery was never my favorite, because it is not precise enough, it is too sticky, somewhat rough compared with jewelry for example. And those artists at that pottery production place in Fes each have a different specialty. Watching them chisel designs from a finished glacéd vase, or chiseling shapes out of glacéd tiles which then are put together into mosaics – and everything upside down! Just remembering the colors of each of them makes me dizzy!
Islam has prohibited two kinds of adornment for men, while permitting them to women: these are gold ornaments and clothing made of pure silk. So what do you do as a man whose woolen kaftan is way too warm to wear in the summer? You create something as lightweight as silk, as cool as silk and as beautiful as silk, but not made of silk! Alcohol / tequila is not allowed either, so a good usage for all those agave plants growing everywhere would be to produce something wearable, right?
Fes is the oldest of the 4 imperial cities in Morocco – Meknes, Rabat and Marrakesh are the other three. Here, the oldest university in the world was founded! The oldtown, called Medina, is huge: a 10 mile long wall surrounding an area of 750 ha with more than 900 streets and alleyways, some so narrow, that you can touch both walls on each side with your shoulders!
I wonder how they transport goods in those alleyways, daily groceries yes, but how about a piece of furniture? Our tourguide of today, Ibrahim, told us that this is usually done through your neighbors houses over the roof. Big pieces are lifted up with a crane and transported over to your destination, then lowered down into your courtyard.
We walked through different areas of Fes, each dedicated to a specific craft: the metalsmiths, the woodworkers, the dyers, the weavers and leather workers, all very impressive!
My all time favorite is always seeing the tanneries! “Smell-challenging” but impressive!
