One of the first things Pat and I decided when we were planning our trip to Morocco was that we were going to buy a carpet while there. Morocco is known for its hand woven carpets and rugs and we thought that if we were ever going to make this investment, what better time than our honeymoon?… Read More »
The Hustle and Bustle of Fez
We weren’t initially planning to visit Fez during our trip to Morocco, but I’m so happy we did. We were absolutely captivated by the hustle and bustle of Fez’s medina, I think even more so than Marrakech.
One of the best things about Fez’s medina is that there aren’t the crazy mopeds tearing through the winding streets like we found in Marrakech. Just a lot of donkeys.
The hassle we received as tourists was also slightly less aggressive than in Marrakech. People were so friendly!
Fez is known for its hand-painted pottery. If you know me, you know I don’t need an excuse to pick up new dishware, so of course we brought some home!
I fell madly in lust with the famous Fez blue and white scheme, so we loaded up my new leather bag from the Fez tanneries with a bunch of pieces wrapped up carefully. I’m so thankful they all made it home in one piece!
One piece of advice for buying pottery in Fez – be mindful of things that you should try in advance! We bought a pretty little teapot and sadly, upon trying it at home the spout only pours a little dribble and it seems to go everywhere but in the cup! Alas, this will only be a decorative piece for us now.
The oranges are absolutely amazing in Morocco! Sweet and juicy with hardly any seeds if you luck out and buy the right ones. There wasn’t a lot of fruit available in most restaurants, so we got our fix by shopping at street vendors.
We learned a little about how the famous Moroccan argan oil is made. Each argan nut is hand cracked and then the fruit of the nut is placed in a large grinder where the argan oil comes out looking a little like peanut butter. It is then further refined into oil. There are two types, a lot quality version for cooking and a higher purity version for beauty.
If you find yourself in Morocco, I highly recommend making a stop in Fez. It’s 8 hours by train from Marrakech and truly captured our hearts.
Our progress so far:
Other stories from our Moroccan adventure:
A Day by the Sea in Asilah, Morocco
Magical Blue-Hued Chefchaouen
Chefchaouen – Our Favorites
Northern Morocco Road Trip
Visiting the Fez Tanneries
Moulay Yacoub Spa in Fez
Riad Louna Fez, Morocco
One of our biggest travel strategies is what I like to call the splurge-save technique. We pinch our pennies for the majority of our vacation and then live large for a few nights. This means the plush experiences really have meaning and we get to live within our budget.
Because we had a honeymoon registry for our wedding, we had a little bit extra ‘fun money’ than we normally do. This meant a few extra splurges for this trip. One such splurge was a two night stay in the beautiful Riad Louna in Fez. This luxury riad is run by a Belgian man, Jean Pierre, and his wife. The location of the riad is right at the entrance to the medina, but tucked away so it’s very quiet.
The online reviews of Riad Louna say that it’s lovely, but overpriced. I absolutely agree with the consensus of those that have traveled before me. Even with a wood-burning fire (they refused to make one for us our first night), space heater and in-room heating unit we were freezing. The high ceilings, though majestic, are no match for the cold Fez winter nights. I think our nights at Louna were some of the chilliest of the trip, even though the weather in Chefchaouen was much colder.
I have a bit more to add about the ‘value’ of Riad Louna. Our first night, we were abruptly awoken at 6am to a strange man in our room yelling in French. Sleepy and disoriented, my French was not . Instead we called out, “hello, HELLO?”, more than a bit frightened. Eventually the man started speaking in English, “Oh, you are guests?!” It turned out the man was the owner, who had returned late from a trip and did not realize the riad had guests. Luckily, we were able to fall back asleep.
We officially met Jean Pierre, the owner, at breakfast. The breakfast spread at Riad Louna was wonderful, one of the best of the trip. He apologized for the rude awakening and invited us to have dinner at the Riad. He also promised a bottle of Moroccan wine. We thought this was a lovely gesture, given the expense of staying at Louna and the fact that he woke us up!
Given my love of cooking, I asked Jean Pierre’s wife if I could help make dinner. She graciously agreed and gave me a lovely cooking lesson. I was able to do most of the chopping, stirring, seasoning etc., under her guidance while she played with their adorable daughter. I even helped out with the dishes.
Dinner was delicious. It was one of the best meals we had in Morocco and extra special because I helped make it. The wine was also very good! It was so good that we were inspired to buy a few bottles at the supermarket to take home.
If the story ended here, I would say that Riad Louna was a bit overpriced but overall worth it, despite being freezing cold and the morning awakening.
Unfortunately it doesn’t. When we checked out, we were given the bill for our stay, which included several unexpected charges – the meal, a ‘cooking lesson’, and the wine were all on there. Despite no mention of anything, and if I do say so myself, slightly misleading statements from the owner (we were under the impression that at least the wine would be complimentary, given that we were woken up from our slumber), the food at Riad Louna turned out to be the second most expensive meal of our trip. Alarmed, Pat questioned the bill and was told that all prices were outlined on the Riad Louna website. When I looked at the website, the only thing I found mentioned was that there would be a complimentary cake for special occasions. There was no mention of the hefty prices for meals. We felt completely taken advantage of.
So that is the story of our stay and my review of Riad Louna in Fez. I cannot recommend this lovely Riad due to these hidden fees and mistakes by the management. There much warmer and equally lovely places to stay in Fez.
Now excuse us while we drown our sorrows in a mini bottle of wine that we smuggled away from the plane ride here….
Les Thermes Spa at Moulay Yacoub, Fez
Both of our guidebooks recommended checking Les Thermes Spa at Moulay Yacoub, a thermal hot springs located about 20 Km outside of Fez. Given that we were honeymooning and all, we thought that a day of pampering at the spa was just what the doctor ordered.
Confusingly, there are actually two Moulay Yacoubs. One is a posh, Western-style resort and the other is a traditional Moroccan hammam (bathhouse). The Thermes de Moulay Yacoub is exponentially more expensive than the traditional Moulay Yacoub, Between you and me, you’re better off saving your money. Despite the glamorous photos on their website, the spa is a dump. The staff was indifferent at best and downright unfriendly at worst. The place has the musty air of a public pool locker room. To add insult to injury, the price of a massage (more than $30 USD for 30 minutes) is more expensive than back home. We still ponied up for a 30 minute apricot oil massage and as I laid naked and uncovered on a thin exam paper sheet on a table, all I could think is that Pat’s massages are so much better. For even more exorbitant prices, you can get spa therapies that cure everything from the common cold to rheumatoid arthritis. Science?
Slightly bummed, we walked over to the public hammam version of Moulay Yacoub. The waters of Moulay Yacoub are felt to be healing so people come from all over to bathe in the steamy waters. Someone told me that the water temp coming out of the main faucet is 51 degrees C (xx F)! It was my first hammam experience, and to say I was bewhildered is to put it lightly. Luckily, our nervous faces caught the eye of one of the local ladies, Fatima. Fatima was perhaps more overwhelming than the bath experience itself. She kindly but firmly bullied us into buying all of the necessary bathing essentials from her shop – a large bucket, a small pail, soap, a towel, and a scrub mitt. She then scootched us away to the bathhouse entrance, which has seperate pools for men and women. Once inside, I stripped down to just my underwear bottoms and joined the throngs of women taking a bath around the common pool.
Given my Western tendencies (ok, I’m a prude), it was quite the experience. At least fifty topless women sat around and in the common pool happily scrubbing themselves clean. Thanks to the pantomimes of a few ladies nearby, I slowly figured out the drill.
Taking a Turkish Bath: Fill the big bucket up with the scalding hot water from the faucet, then add cold water as needed to get it to a tolerable temperature. Using the small pail, get your skin all over, place soap on your scrub mitt and scrub yourself roughly with black soap from head to toe. I’m talking so hard it feels like your skin will peel off. Pat actually had red marks on his back for two days after his first bath. For this part, you have to sit on the side of the pool so the dirty water goes down the drains and not into the pool. You then use the small pail to dump water all over yourself to wash the soap off. The final result is a cleaned and exfoliated new you. And in my case, a humbled and slightly bedraggled tourist. After the bath, you change into new underwear or go commando. Wet panty lines are a no-no.
To get to Moulay Yacoub, we took a public bus outside the blue gate of the medina. It was about an hour journey and included nice views of the countryside.
I highly recommend checking out the traditional hammam at Moulay Yacoub. It was my favorite hammam experience of the trip. I also recommend skipping the western-style Thermes de Moulay Yacoub. Save your money and check out one of the western-style hammams in Fez proper instead. They are often located in the fancier Riads and tend to have co-ed options.
Other stories from our Moroccan adventure:
A Day by the Sea in Asilah, Morocco
Magical Blue-Hued Chefchaouen
Road-tripping in Northern Morocco
You can also see what we’re up to, while we’re up to it on Instagram!
Visiting the Fez Tanneries, Morocco
The Fez Tanneries, where leather is produced, are some of the biggest in North Africa. Visiting the tanneries was one of the most memorable experiences we had in Fez. On the train ride from Tangier to Fez, we were befriended by a Moroccan man who told us he worked at the Tanneries. At first it seemed he was just being friendly, but as the story unfolded, it became clear that he was an illegal guide and may or may not have been riding the train looking for unsuspecting tourists like us. He offered to pick us up at our riad the next day and take us to work with him. Despite our misgivings, we agreed to this plan.
Illegal guides are rampant in Fez. You can pick them out because they don’t have the correct identification and when they guide you through the medina, they walk several steps in front of you so that legitimate guides and the tourist police do not know that they are connected to you. This was definitely the case with Abdel.
Despite this, it was nice to have Abdel guide us to the tanneries, as they are located deep in the medina. You can definitely smell the tanneries before you see them. When you enter, you are given a handful of mint to mask the smell.
The tanneries consist if large vats that the skins get soaked in. First, they spend several days in pigeon poo. You heard me right, the workers use pigeon excrement to soften the skin! Apparently Fridays are pigeon poo days where they buy poo at 20 euros per kg from locals. Next, the skins are soaked in vats of dye for up to 20 days. In the past, the dyes were vegetable-based and made from things like saffron and indigo. Although our tour guide wouldn’t admit it, my understanding is that these vegetable-based dyes have now been replaced with chemicals. This is unfortunate for the tannery workers, who spend their days wading in these cancerous substances. Apparently jobs at the tannery are passed down over generations from father to son.
At the end of the tannery tour was a high-pressure sales pitch. We knew it was coming, and although annoying I understand that it’s part of the system. First was the push for Pat to buy a leather jacket. When we made it clear that we weren’t interested, the conversation switched to the traditional Moroccan slippers. Also a no-go.
When the conversation switched to purses, my ears perked up. Unbeknownst to our guide, I had had my eye on the bags you see below since I first spotted them in Chefchaouen. I feigned indifference though and bargained hard. In the end, I ended up with a bag for about 30% of the initial price. The first job I had in mind for the bag was to cart our precious Fez pottery home, which I’ll write about in a future post.
I read that prices at the tanneries are higher than shopping in the medina, but I didn’t price check once the money was spent. My theory on bargaining is that once the money is spent, it’s better to not ask the questions you don’t want the answers to. I’m satisfied with the purchase and the deal is done.
We finished up our time with our illegal tour guide and bid him goodbye. I’m certain he received a nice commission from my purchase so everyone had a good day.
Other stories from our Moroccan adventure:
A Day by the Sea in Asilah, Morocco
Magical Blue-Hued Chefchaouen
Chefchaouen – Our Favorites
Northern Morocco Road Trip
You can also see what we’re up to, while we’re up to it on Instagram!