Fez was overwhelming. I could have spent the whole trip there and still not managed to see all of it. As it was, we were there for a night and a bit of a day, and it felt like a lifetime.
We explored the city with the help of Hmad’s friend Rashid, who works as a guide there. We started at the royal palace. The king has 19 palaces, each fully staffed, but mostly lives in Rabat. He only comes to Fez about once per year. The palace is not open for tours, even when the king is elsewhere, but tourists (us) come to admire the elaborate gate with seven doors, built in the 1960s. The tile work was amazing; virtually the whole gate was covered in mosaics with massive brass doors.
I asked Rashid why the craftsmen all organized themselves to build this incredible gate. Was it to celebrate a national holiday or something? Was there an occasion, I wanted to know. He said no, it was just an honorable thing to do that for the king. It felt good, and it also improved their standing in society. People were impressed by the craftsmen’s proximity to the king. Similarly, the palace staff have more social prestige than people who do similar jobs for employers other than royalty.
After we had gazed on the palace gate, Rashid took us literally across the street to the Jewish Quarter. It is the poorest section of the city, right across from the palace. When the Jews lived there (they don’t anymore), they were primarily salt merchants, which was a prestigious trade.
Rashid pointed out the buildings that had balconies facing the street—a mark of Jewish architecture. Muslim buildings are built around a courtyard and face inward. I was curious about why, or about what that said about the different people who created these buildings with their specific orientation, but I wasn’t able to get any answers. The Jewish quarter raised a lot of questions that didn’t have answers.
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