I just returned from a brief trip to Fez--time for another post!
I went to Fez for Friday afternoon/Saturday morning with a group of friends this past weekend. After the taxi ride there, we spent the vast majority of Friday afternoon shopping in a Marjane (مرجان), the equivalent of a Wall-Mart, to get some school supplies/snacks/cake mix/other miscellaneous items, the most of important of which was a camera! It was nice to shop in a fixed price/hassle free environment for a change. Also, when we ate dinner that night many of the patrons went to a specially-prepared corner of the restaurant to pray before their meals; definitely something I've never seen in the states! We spent Saturday morning touring the Old Medina, which is really, really old (founded in 789). We were immediately stopped upon arrival by men demanding that we take guides into the city--after awhile we relented, but as it turned out a guide was a definite necessity! We first stopped by the famed leather tanneries; they smell absolutely horrendous, but the store owner there gave us large mint sprigs to ward away the noxious odors (and we were in a viewing balcony, three floors up...I can't imagine what it would be like to work there!). And of course, we got stuck in the store bartering with the owner over leather goods--he told me that I 'bartered like a Berber' because I would pay so little (which I took to be a compliment, seeing as everything is so purposefully overpriced!). We had such a good time, we took a picture with him (its below). We spent the rest of the morning following our supremely helpful guide to random historic cites in the city, and made it back to the hotel just in time for checkout. And I didn't lose my camera!
Darija Phrase of the Day: بوفة, pronounced 'poofa' (darija is a spoken language, so this word isn't actually meant to be written, and the closest letter to the 'p' sound is the letter b, ب). The name for the leather cushions hanging throughout the leather store.
I went to Fez for Friday afternoon/Saturday morning with a group of friends this past weekend. After the taxi ride there, we spent the vast majority of Friday afternoon shopping in a Marjane (مرجان), the equivalent of a Wall-Mart, to get some school supplies/snacks/cake mix/other miscellaneous items, the most of important of which was a camera! It was nice to shop in a fixed price/hassle free environment for a change. Also, when we ate dinner that night many of the patrons went to a specially-prepared corner of the restaurant to pray before their meals; definitely something I've never seen in the states! We spent Saturday morning touring the Old Medina, which is really, really old (founded in 789). We were immediately stopped upon arrival by men demanding that we take guides into the city--after awhile we relented, but as it turned out a guide was a definite necessity! We first stopped by the famed leather tanneries; they smell absolutely horrendous, but the store owner there gave us large mint sprigs to ward away the noxious odors (and we were in a viewing balcony, three floors up...I can't imagine what it would be like to work there!). And of course, we got stuck in the store bartering with the owner over leather goods--he told me that I 'bartered like a Berber' because I would pay so little (which I took to be a compliment, seeing as everything is so purposefully overpriced!). We had such a good time, we took a picture with him (its below). We spent the rest of the morning following our supremely helpful guide to random historic cites in the city, and made it back to the hotel just in time for checkout. And I didn't lose my camera!
Darija Phrase of the Day: بوفة, pronounced 'poofa' (darija is a spoken language, so this word isn't actually meant to be written, and the closest letter to the 'p' sound is the letter b, ب). The name for the leather cushions hanging throughout the leather store.
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