Well, this last weekend was my first traveling weekend here in Morocco, and it was, of course, wonderful. Saturday morning was spent touring the Fes medina (the ancient center of the city) for three hours. It is a World Heritage site and I think probably the largest and oldest medina in Morocco.
In any case, it was beautiful with mosques tucked in among the souks (markets) and donkeys carrying various wares around the tiny, cobblestone streets. We visited the copper souk, the carpentry souk, the tannery, and of course the food. The smells in each of these places is probably what will stick with me the most. It varied from the lovely smell of carved wood to the rather rancid smell of the tanneries and butcher shops.
In the afternoon, a couple friends and I decided to travel to one of the nearby mountain towns called Ifrane. It was not a traditional village, but rather was settled by the French in 1929. As a result, it looked more like an alpine village with a bit of Moroccan flair. Very disorienting, especially after spending the morning at such a traditional place as the Fes medina. Buildings in this town were designed for snow (which they get plenty of), and rather than have the city designed with its market medina as the center, Ifrane was built around several large parks. Very European.
Even the attitude in Ifrane was different from in most of Morocco. Most, if not all, the girls and women were dressed in Western clothes, couples walked around holding hands and kissing, and we even saw two young teenage girls comparing tongue rings! People just in general seemed far less impressed and curious about three westerners wandering around, which was a nice rest. However, along with all the western feel was the lack of Moroccan warmth that I love so much. Aside from the day being a bit chilly, the general feel of the town was just much less welcoming that I have ever felt. A lot more closed off and unavailable to outsiders (which we definitely were). All in all, I was very glad to return to Fes and find the hospitable, wecoming Morocco that I know and love.
The next day, I traveled with another housemate to an old Roman town called Volubilis. It is extremely well preserved, especially considering how little has been done to keep it that way. We spent about an hour and a half wandering around the ruins. It was actually quite a large town! After that, we visited the village on the hill directly above Volubilis. We had an amazing dinner, then wandered around a bit.
In the square, just as we were about to get a taxi to head back to the train station, a little man stopped us and asked if we needed a guide. We had already sort of seen the medina, and the town wasn't that big, so we figured we had pretty much seen all there was to see. However, he was pretty adorable and quite cheap, so we accepted. Thank God we did. He knew we were on a limited time frame, so he took us to a few of the main sites and then we started climbing stairs to the top of the town. On the way up, it wasn't that impressive...typical Moroccan town. The houses were tall and the roads small, so there wasn't that much to see. However, all of a sudden, one of the tiny alleys we were in opened up to an incredible panoramic view of the whole town and valley with Volubilis below. At that point, the sun was beginning to set and the view was about as perfect as it could be. Definitely worth the 30 dirhams we spent, and something we never would have found had we not accepted the guide's offer.
On the way down, we thanked the guide profusely, tipped well, and headed home. For such a short trip from home, the day was a great break from the city, and it felt like we had been gone a lot longer than we actually had. We got home, I started homework, and then the week began. There are pics from the trip in the photo gallery labeled "Fes Medina, Ifrane, Volubilis, and Moulay Idriss". Enjoy! :-)
