The Fez Medina

Big mistake - I took my camera to the Medina, and should have taken my phone as I have no way to load photos from camera to iPad Mini until I get home. Lesson learned, so words will have to suffice. The Medina is the old-fashioned marketplace, and this one is the largest in Morocco. - mainly because Fes was once the capital, and is still one of the 3 largest cities in the country . The King is here! Silly, it reminds me of the story of the emperor who had no clothes. 😊. He's a popular King and flags are flying.
There's a large presence of policemen and secret service men in black suits around the medina which was cleaner than I expected. My last visit to an old market, a souk, was in India, and there's a huge difference. It was terribly dirty in India and rampant with mangy street dogs, whereas here, it's clean, no dogs, but lots of street cats! Strange the difference! Streets are narrow stone walkways and alleys running every which way and one would easily get lost without a guide - Munia was with me. We had a big language problem because she speaks French and Arabic, neither of which I can do more than say Bon Jour, Merci, and Shank-ra. We did manage to communicate I'd like to buy some lightweight cotton slacks, and we able to find some - made in China!

Tomorrow we're going to the Hammam, a spa that's commonly used in Arabic countries. No photos. All far as I understand, the women all strip to their panties or beyond and are scrubbed with a rough loufa to remove dead skin all over the body. Then rinsed, sent to the sauna to sweat, brought out to plunge in a cold pool followed by a full body massage. Khadija said the female VMI students are always shocked by the communal nudity of the women and she said our culture is much more conservative in their view of the body.

I'm still working on the trip to Chefchoueon trip. Hopefully it'll happen on Friday.

Sent from my iPad