You might be surprised about how cheap and easy it is to pop over to Fes, usually less than £50 each way outside of school holidays, but sometimes as little as £22. I should know as I’m a bit of a regular, having studied Arabic there a year ago.
My visit this time coincided with the start of the Fes Festival of Sacred Music, which takes place every year in June and hosts an impressive range of concerts in beautiful venues. After freshening up at my hotel I headed first to my former Moroccan family for a welcome of much kissing on both cheeks followed by mint tea and homemade biscuits. Then on to the travellers’ haunt, Cafe Clock.
Spreading out over several levels with a choice of roof terraces and mixed clientele of both travellers and young Moroccans, Cafe Clock sells fresh fruit smoothies in English pint glasses, mint & other teas, coffee, burgers, Moroccan tapas. There is live music, films, cooking and more. The aim of the cafe is to make travellers feel welcome and prolong their stay in Fes. So it’s an essential first stop.
Next morning, I ventured out early into the souks and visited some of my favourite photographic haunts. Fes is timeless and, despite modernising fast, some of its smells never change: heady spices mix with the odours of foetid carcasses (in the meat section), burning incense, mint tea and mule manure. One of my favourite foundouks (ancient trading centres where merchants could stay when in town) was closed and undergoing renovation, not before time. Another was full of recently shorn wool and men weighing it and bagging it up.
Don’t miss Fes’ most beautiful hidden garden, the Jardin des Biehn. This little oasis is slightly off the beaten track, but worth seeking out. The doorman, dressed in new robes, welcomed us in with a smile and was happy to pose for our cameras. Tea and coffee here cost double the usual price but the surroundings more than make up for the prices. An evening meal here costs around £12 per person.
I hurried back to lunch with my Moroccan family, expecting the traditional couscous, but instead we had pasta and salad with different mezze followed by chicken and prunes, with melon to finish. We ate communal style using bread to scoop up the delicious, rich chicken sauce. I then went for a cup of tea with my favourite cafe owner, who said “hashuma” (meaning I was insulting him) when I tried to pay for it.
Fes – Three Cultural Tips
1. Bou Inania Medersa, a stunning 14th century place of learning, which never ceases to amaze. It costs less than a pound to enter (10dh), its architectural details exquisite.
2. Nejjarine museum (right), another of my favourite buildings, again an old, restored foundouk, housing exhibits of wood products. (20dh).
3. A tie between the Tidjani mosque and weavers area, and Musee Batha, where I saw a concert in a beautiful setting amidst huge trees including purple flowering Jacaranda and palms.
By now the festival was starting and the town buzzing, with women and young children out on the streets in anticipation. Although many Fassis can’t afford the official concerts, there are plenty of free fringe events on offer. Thami’s, a restaurant on the corner of one of the main medina streets, Talaa Saghira, was the place to begin the evening over kofte brochettes, salad and chips – and lively for people watching, too.
Back at Cafe Clock, a Sufi boy band had gathered to practice for one of the later performances that night. They had come up from the south and were excited to be in town. Outside around Bab Boujeloud, crowds were gathering for the later free concerts and the side attractions. I didn’t attend the later Sufi ones, although many young Fassis don’t sleep until dawn during the festival. But sadly I had a plane to catch first thing – with a 5.30am wake up time.
Sally Lyall Grant’s exhibition on markets at New Space Gallery on Queen’s Crescent is on until 28th June. She will also be showing a few Fes pictures at The Fields Beneath on Prince Of Wales Road from the start of July.
Interested? Read editor Stephen Emms’s account of a trip from Tangier to Fes here.
