After all the new foods I had been trying, travel upseting my schedule and fear of being accosted with snakes in the souks, I awoke with an upset stomach. Sam and I crossed to the salon for breakfast, which was lovely, but after breakfast it became clear I was not going to be able to meet up with Abdoul and Najia for our tour of Fes. We did walk out to the corner to meet Abdoul and beg off for the day, but then returned to the riad where Sam did some internet research on train schedules and tourist sites, while I rested and recovered.
By midday I felt well enough to go out, so the hotel contacted Boshta to escort us in the medina. The center of Fes is a walled city. There are several gates into the medina, but this is the main gate. The tilework on the facade greeting visitors is blue, the color representing water and sky and the symbolic color of Fes.
The tilework on the alternate side of the gate is green, representing Islam. This is just one of the instances where the culture of the society is reflected in the architecture, as Youssef discussed with us. 
Within the medina there are apparently over 1000 small walkways, or derbs. The street system seems to be that there are avenues, rues, arsets and derbs, each thoroughfare getting progressively smaller. Once entering the medina, the streets rapidly reduce to arsets and derbs. The archways over these paths indicate the entry to another section of the city. The city was built from the center out, with the mosque in the center section -- representing the spiritual center of the city as well as signifying its importance. There are then sections for craftsmen, shops, and residences working out towards the city gates.
The traditional doors in Fes were all the same with a large portal, a large inner doorway and a smaller innermost door. (I forgot why this was done.) The upper hinge symbolizes the hand of Fatima to protect the house. The doors were all the same so that from the outside there was no way to tell what was inside the house -- wealth, poverty, etc.
The souks, or shops, are also organized in sections. Food souks are first, then household -- leather, carpets, woodworking, spices, embroidery, textiles. The streets are narrow, and some of them are shielded from weather by semi-transparent covers. Like Seville, they are designed to protect the ground level from the heat of the sun, and, for the most part, do not encourage claustrophobia!
So once we were in the medina, I pretty much have no idea where we went or how we got there. Luckily Boshta was trustworthy and sheltered us through a lovely tour.
We started at the former Koran school. Here Boshta told us the basics of Islamic building design. The floors are marble, because it's cool. Then, there's tiled wainscoting, also cool. (Youssef had shown us that craftsmen create the tile designs face down on the ground (the designs, not the craftsmen), then cement them (again the tiles), before lifting them up in large sections to apply to the wall. The next section of wall is stucco (invented in Morocco? I forget.) in two subsections. The first is carved with intricate designs. Worked into these designs are Arabic letters indicating the use of the building, i.e., school, mosque, home. We did discuss why people wouldn't know what kind of building they were in, but I'm guessing there was more to this idea than I managed to remember. The second (subsection of stucco, remember?) is carved or otherwise embellished with random artisic patterns -- again, no human or animal images. Finally, the fifth level is the roof, created of carved wood. The wood is generally cedar, which is soft enough to carve and also repels bugs. Good thinking.
Here are Sam and I after having been schooled. (I am just so, so funny.) The classroom is behind us. We weren't allowed to go in as we would probably have wrecked the joint. And, in fairness, later we passed a little school tucked in among the souks. Boshta told us we could "peek in." I don't know what I thought he said, but I walked in. Right into a tiny classroom where class was in session. The kids were quite well behaved and stayed focused on their lesson, but the teacher shot me such a look!
So following Boshta, we traipsed around Fes. One of the buildings we visited is where the traveling merchants used to stay. The craftsmen and merchants would have rooms in the upper rooms of the fadouk, then bring merchandise down to the courtyard to sell in, I guess, makeshift markets. This is one of the older markets still being used.
Every so often we saw donkeys and mules carting merchandise or hanging out waiting for a tip. From what I've read since our visit, Morocco has a "tipping" culture. Usually, if you take a picture of anything, the owner expects a tip of 10 or 20 dirhams. If someone gives you directions; a tip. If someone draws henna on your hand without your permission; tip. It's not much (8 dirhams to the dollar), but it gets old! 
Anyway, enough complaining about tips, on to the big bucks! At some point we started going in to old houses serving as markets. We stopped first at a woodworking shop, but as I'm not crazy into woodworking, it was fairly easy to extricate ourselves and get back on the tour.
Then we hit a carpet mart. Well I do love textiles, so we wandered around. Besides, the building was beautiful and we ended up climbing to the roof, which was really cool because we were up there for the midday call to prayer. What an awesome view!
So on our way down, we were greeted by the owner of the house, who graciously invited us to sit and have tea. Moroccan tea is quite a treat, and a sign of hospitality, so of course we said yes.
Then came the sales pitch. Staff brought in carpet after carpet and spread them before us to choose. The carpets were incredibly beautiful, but once I learned the prices, I put up my deflector shields and started with the "No thank yous," sadly, to no avail. When I protested the price, he brought out more carpets, just smaller. I started to wonder if we would ever get out, and I was sloshy with all the tea, so yes, I bought a carpet. A very small carpet, but a carpet nonetheless. Did I need a carpet? No. Did I want one? Well, yes, but it was not in my budget. Anyway, so now I had a carpet to carry around with me for the rest of the trip as a reminder of my inferior skill against a seasoned Moroccan salesman.
So I also bought a donkey and am collecting recyclables to pay for the carpet.
At some point we arrived at the tannery. That, too, was a cool tour, and I had actually hoped to purchase a leather suitcase until I spent all my money on that d@*# carpet. The vats in the pictures are where the hides are first softened for a few days (the white vats), then dyed in the next set of vats, before being spread out in the sun to dry. I forget what the dye bases are, I'll update it after I look it up. The yellow is saffron -- so yellow bags are limited and pricey. The blue is indigo. The red is from poppy petals and reddish brown is from tabla the local red clay.
Now, apparently, the tannery smells. Like a horrible odor. Those of you who know me, know I have agnosia -- limited or absent sense of smell -- so, I didn't notice any particularly distasteful odor at the tannery. Apparently everyone else did. When you enter the building, you are given a few sprigs of fresh mint (it's everywhere!) to mask the odor. Oddly enough, I could smell the mint, but not the rawhide.
At the end of the tour, Sam was kind enough to convince me that I should forget the carpet and buy myself a purse. No wonder I love her. (I love the purse, too!)
This is the sales floor of the tannery.
OK, so now I'm going out of sequence. At some point after the tannery we stopped to have lunch. It was well past 3 o'clock, so we were quite hungry! First we had traditional Moroccan appetizers. Don't know what most of it was, but it was all good. There were chick peas, herbed rice, some kind of salsa (well, probably not salsa, relish?), sweet sliced carrots and red cabbage. Served with khobz, the traditional Moroccan fresh bread.
The main dish was tagine, a dish of couscous, with a chunk of meat atop the center (we had chicken), topped with cabbage, yams, zucchini, carrot, chick peas, dates and more, and all steamed in a cute teepee shaped crock to meld all the flavors. I love tagine. Totally. As you can see from the picture, we enjoyed Moroccan sweet tea with our meal.
For dessert we had this gorgeous plate of fresh orange slices, strawberries and banana -- sprinkled with cinnamon and garnished with mint. Bee-sa-ha. Good eating! The fruit was served with reeba, these wonderful little cookies made of almonds and other nuts, meuli, cinnamon, eggs, semolina and I don't know what else. They were wonderful. The waiter wrapped a few extra for us to take back to have with tea at the riad. Shukron. Thank you!
Continuing through the medina, we stopped at a textile house and watched the weavers create fabric for scarves and djellabas.
The salesman demonstrated how we should be wearing our scarves. I contend the single women should show their faces and the married women should veil theirs.
We continued on our walk past a mosque. This first shot shows the courtyard and fountain for cleansing before prayers, much like the courtyard of the cathedral in Sevilla.
These next two shots show the women's entrance to this mosque. Women can purchase candles outside the mosque, then enter and light the candle and say a prayer to find a husband.
Once they find the husband and make wedding arrangements, they can purchase a marriage chair to be carried to and from their nuptials.
This is the one I selected for Sam.
Finally our tour led us to the Nejjarine Woodworking Museum of Fes. It was interesting and informative, but we were ready to go back to the riad.
Boshta dropped us off at the riad, we unlocked the giant door to our chamber, and went to bed.
Tomorrow, the trip back to the Gare de Fes and our journey to Casablanca and Marrakech! (I am, of course, speaking metaphorically. Who knows when I will get the next installment posted!)
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