I really do love Fes. I know the old medina has an artificial antique patina to encourage tourism, but I enjoy it. I love that it’s not just one street, but a whole town’s worth of the city that is completely pedestrianized. There may be some hills, but I don’t have to walk up them quickly. Since the last time I was here, electric scooters have invaded, but there are still not that many.
Also it’s a city of cats. There are so many cats here, and I have yet to see anyone trying to push them away. People put out food and water and sometimes even cushions for them. It’s up there with Istanbul and Beirut in the great cities for cats, and that makes me feel more warmly toward the place.
Apparently if it’s just one house built around a courtyard, it’s a Dar, but if it’s multiple families it would have been called a Riad. The breakfast at Dar Hayati is a lovely cultural sampler. The trio of mini tajines is for condiments and has two kinds of jam and some honey. There’s also a double bowled ceramic with olives and soft cheese, but you can lift out the olive bowl and have another bowl below it for your olive pits. The fruit in season right now seems to be grapes. The market carts also have some kind of berry, but I haven’t had small change at the right time to stop and buy those. What else? There’s a fried egg and a whole sampler of many kinds of bread. Two flat fried laminated breads – one just bread and the other with scallions and maybe a red/orange spice. Then there were semolina? griddle cakes, a chocolate croissant, and a white bread that wasn’t too crusty.
The place I’m staying is just a short walk from one of the main streets of the old medina, Rue Tala’a Kebira. And it’s right about in the middle. Yesterday I explored toward the right, so today I went left. Most of the streets are pretty narrow, but here are a few spots where things opened up around trees and was particularly sunny.
Last time I was here, there was a custom made shoe place in the eastern side where the walkways have wooden ceilings, but I couldn’t find it this time. And none of the premade show merchants accosted me to show they were willing to try to find something for my wide feet.
But I did find a weaver. He was pleased when I knew cactus silk was sabra. This store had woven works in camel, wool, and cotton fiber as well, so I suspect the loom was just for decoration.
About this time, I was looking for a spot to sit down and drink some fortifying tea. And I spotted this bright place down a corridor, and it ended up being an interesting establishment called Chemmaine Mall.
As best I understand this riad complex (3 adjoining courtyards?) is owned by the restaurant that has seating on all three levels from ground to terrace, and then they also lease shop/studio space to local craft people. When I was ready to leave, I was led around by my arm to visit the shops in the main courtyard and over to the area with the women’s crafts. In the “women’s” area there was a guy making musical instruments, a guy who did his very best to sell me perfume and argan oil, and another guy who was selling in a shop for a woman who designed exquisite couture dresses. Neither the guy selling nor the guy leading me around had any doubt that I could wear these dresses (of which there was only one of each model and they each had a story, another symbolic or an origin story).
No sooner had I escaped then I carelessly got lured into a rug shop
I did not take any pictures of the rugs I was being shown because I didn’t want to encourage them or show enthusiasm. But I was talked into a very pretty rug that goes with none of my existing interior decorating. But it was an exquisite design that was woven so that both front and back looked equally finished, supposedly with all natural dyes that would also be colorfast with hand washing at home (both claims have a little side eye from me). And I thought I’d done a pretty good job negotiating the price down, but he was so pleased that he skipped over to the neighboring store to buy me a bottle of water. Ah well.
So then I started slowly walking back up the hill. I was a bit peckish when I was getting tea but decided that I wanted to wait so that I had a good excuse to stop and relax partway up.
The first place I stopped had gorgeous comfy couches. But then I noticed that I’d been given a menu without prices. Luckily I asked because their prices were almost double what other places charge. Possibly their portions are also larger, but when I’m traveling I appreciate the smaller portions because then I can try more places. Anyway, I excused myself and continued up the hill.
The next place that had sturdy seating on level ground ended up being great.
When I was chatting with the server, he told me that his family has more than one home. They are living near the old tannery, and they also have a riad further uphill. I asked if they rent out the road if they’re not living there, and he told me they just have one person living there who is the cook who makes all of the food they serve.
Everything was very good. Verbena is a lightly citrusy herb, and the tea was refreshing. Refreshing sounds astringent – it was not that, but I was trying for a more informative description than yummy. The meatballs were yummy! The spicing was on point and rich without being overwhelming. There was a cat curled up under the table, but I had to wait a bit before offering food to her. But I started right away – dipping bread into the luscious sauce before the meatballs could be approached. Don’t not worry, though, the cat still got one and a half meatballs.
And then I finished with the oranges with cinnamon. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was peeled and sliced (and maybe with seeds picked out as well) and cinnamon just generously on top. The only trick was to not inhale the powder as you were taking a bite, but it was a great combination.
And then when I got back to where I was staying, there was a cat resting on the doorstep! And so unbothered! I unlocked the door and stepped around, and the cat didn’t even twitch. Nor did the cat try to sneak indoors. But I did!
Off to bed early for a quick start tomorrow.