Some pictures from the train ride to Fes:
During the train ride, we met a man who claimed he worked with Rick Steves, TV host/writer expert on European travel. He was very knowledgeable, eloquent, and trustworthy. He gave us Moroccan history, geography, and cultural tips which made the long train ride entertaining. At the end, he referred to us his friend who would serve as our guide through the endless mazes of Fes. It seemed like a great idea at the time since he seemed honest and trustworthy after we learned more about his family and background. So we obliged to hire his friend. A decision that quickly became regrettable as I will later explain.
Before I arrived in Fes, I was eager and anxious to finally visit the oldest imperial city in Morocco. The medieval walled city has been a center of culture, religion, arts, and ideas throughout it's robust history.
Here are some pictures of my arrival in Fes:
After meeting our tour guide, we had Moroccan lunch at a restaurant near the old medina. Our friend we met on the train suggested we shouldn't go to a restaurant with a fixed menu and should opt for an a la carte menu instead as it was cheaper and more authentic. Unfortunately our guide took us to a restaurant that had fixed price menu only. We didn't mind so much since we were exhausted and hungry from the long journey from Tangier. The meal turned out to be delicious and the interior was nice since it was a converted old house.
Here are pictures of the restaurant:
Here are pictures from my meal (with side dishes) which was pastilla (pigeon pie) which I first saw on Anthony Bourdain's old show: "A Cook's Tour." Basically, it's a filo dough like pastry stuffed with minced pigeon meat with ground nuts, cinnamon, and other sweet and savory spices. It is then baked and topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar.
After lunch, went with the guide for a tour through the Medina maze.
Pictures of the Fes Medina and Souk:
Historic sites in the Medina:
As mentioned earlier, we regretted hiring our "guide." After a short orientation of the Medina and Souk area, we visited an old house which was currently used to sell carpets. I thought we would be given just an explanation about carpet making in Fes and we would be on our way. Then, we were greeted by the shop's caretaker (who supposedly was a lawyer for widows), he gave us this elaborate sales pitch that their carpets were the "finest quality" and most of the proceeds went to the widows. Then, I realized, now they were trying to sell us carpets so I showed disinterest (due to my past experience with sales people in my many travels) the best thing was to ignore and refuse to give in. Despite this, they showed us a "demonstration" in which the owner kept ordering his henchmen to keep rolling out carpets for us to "look" at. We kept reiterating we couldn't afford them (since each rug was like $1,000-$3,000+) and they kept saying.. "but if you could afford it, what would be your final price..." and "you can take now and pay later..we take dollars, Euros, Pounds, Dirhams (Moroccan currency), plastic... we also accept installments..look at our salesbook, we have clients from all over Canada, US, New Zealand, Australia... " I almost walked out from the aggressiveness... we literally spent almost 2 hours there.. what a waste of time. Finally, we sternly said we won't be buying anything and the owner felt annoyed and said we were still his "friends," but his body language said otherwise. To my surprise, this was only the tip of the sales iceberg. Our guide kept taking us further into the narrow Fes streets to shops trying to sell us stuff. There were many times I just wanted to ditch the guide and run away, but the streets were so confusing and we didn't know our way around. We ended up "touring" these shops for like 5-6+ hours. I have pictures of some of these places, but I don't want to promote them or endorse them at all! Later, my friend found a blog about a similar experience. Apparently, the "tour guides" get commission from these sales (made on their customers). The commission sums are higher than the amount they get from doing tours. Now, I can see we were taken to so many of these shops... pure greed and shadiness! I was so upset because I was paying for a cultural/historical guide of Fes since we only had 1 day there and I came to Fes for that reason. I did not go to Fes to buy carpets, silverware, wood carvings, or any other crap they wanted to sell to us. Word of advice: DON'T TRUST ANYONE to be your guide! Check tripadvisor for legit ones if you want to hire one.
On a slight positive note, we did get to see the ancient Fes tannery (which I wanted to see). It was amazing to see this business has survived centuries under one family and continues to produce tanned goods the old fashioned way.
Pictures of the tannery:
I don't regret visiting Fes because we got to see some historic and cultural sites like the tannery, but I definitely felt like I wasted time with that so-called "guide." I can understand wanting to make some commission from like 2-3 places, but like 10+?!! Give me a break!
If I wanted a shopping tour, I would've booked one!
Eventually, I do want to visit Morocco again, but to places I haven't been to like Marrakech, Rabat, Casablanca, and a Sahara Desert excursion with the Berbers (to have the bread that's baked into the sand and a roasted lamb).
If I wanted a shopping tour, I would've booked one!
Eventually, I do want to visit Morocco again, but to places I haven't been to like Marrakech, Rabat, Casablanca, and a Sahara Desert excursion with the Berbers (to have the bread that's baked into the sand and a roasted lamb).
