December 2019
Fez was high on my list of places to visit in Morocco, but I will admit to some trepidation before going. Fez was also extremely touristic and Morocco, like many other tourist spots, was rather famous for cheating unsuspecting travelers. I honestly did not know what to expect.
The souk in Fez is old. The "madina" (old, walled historic center) dates from the 9th century. Fez has one of the oldest universities in the world (if not the oldest). Walking through the famous "Blue Gate" into the old city was like walking back in time. Fez was crowded and difficult to navigate due to its narrow maze of unplanned streets. Similar to the confusing streets of Venice, at some point one just gives up and starts roaming. I did have a few panicked moments where I thought I had become hopelessly lost, but I eventually spotted a familiar landmark (usually a minaret) and found my way back "on track" once again. The old city is actually quite large and difficult to traverse simply due to the crush of humanity in addition to its lab-experiment-like street grid.
Like Bali, Fez had become such an international magnet for tourism that it started to cater to hipster travelers. I will never forget the sign pointing me to the "best Thai food in Fez". Really? I didn't come to Fez to eat Thai food - Moroccan food was fabulous. A lot of the stuff sold for tourists was junk. I spotted the ubiquitous Native American "dream catchers" in a few places (for me, always the mark that a place had started to decline). Fez still was overwhelmingly Moroccan, but the main thoroughfares were starting to sell items that the average resident was not going to be interested in nor need. Fez was losing its soul. Still far from becoming a place only for tourists (again, like Venice), it teetered on the edge of that slippery slope.
I found an internet-recommended coffee shop for a rest break only to find the place MOBBED with everyone else who had done the same google search as me. The restaurant/coffee shop was very trendy with a "fusion" menu. The service was slow because they were overwhelmed. I just had a coffee (tasted good) and waited for my friend Khalid to show up. He grew up outside of Fez and was going to walk around with me for the rest of the afternoon. I breathed a sigh of relief when he arrived - at least I wasn't going to get lost for the rest of the day.
....or so I thought.
Khalid got turned around in the old city as much as I did. Unlike me, however, he could ask directions! We exited the old city and climbed a hill overlooking town and explored an old cemetery that not only afforded views of Fez, but also of the snowcapped mountains beyond. It was an incredibly scenic spot and we had the place to ourselves and a few random goats. It was nice to be out of the claustrophobia-inducing old city.
Fez Souk is a special place, but has been tainted by mass tourism. I still found the old quarter of Tetouan [see: Christmas in Tetouan] near Tangier, to be the best traditional market in Morocco simply because it was not touristic at all. For anyone with limited time in Morocco, I would definitely point them to Fez, but for people with a little more time and a sense of adventure - I would tell them that Meknes next door and Tetouan to the north would be a far more "Moroccan" experience.