Tour of the Medina

Our kitty friend we named Simba takes a nap in our room

                Today was a holiday in Morocco and the American Fondouk was not open for business. We still had morning treatments to do at 7:00am. Just before starting treatments, I gave Michelle, my friend and classmate that arrived last night, a tour of the American Fondouk. The patient treatments were fast and easy and Michelle and I took a two hour nap after breakfast. At noon we went to the supermarket and stocked up on groceries for the week. I had a chance to practice the little bit of French I knew by talking to the cab driver and the cashier at the supermarket. I surprised myself with how able I was to properly communicate with the locals and get Michelle and I to and from the supermarket.

A cinderalla like horse drawn carriage in the Fez El-Jdid

              After we returned from the supermarket, we ate some lunch that Ilham had prepared called BMW which in Arabic stands for eggs, tomatoes, and the W is just for fun. We then headed to the medina for a few hours of shopping. Our shopping experience was amazing. Neither Michelle or I had anything in particular that we wanted to buy, we were just going to look and see what happens. We walked to the Medina through the Jewish sector of the city called Fez El-Jdid. It was nice to see some of the ancient architecture in the daylight that I had seen last night on my way back from the Medina. I was almost a tour guide as I pointed out things in the Medina that I had learned during any one of my several previous trips to the Medina.

A view inside Fez El-Jdid, the ancient Jewish sector of the city

Michelle with the nice man she bought a drum from

On of the first shops we stopped in was small store with everything from musical instruments, ceramics, wood art, and Berber knives. The older man running the store was very nice and spoke very good English. He gave Michelle a lesson on a beautiful ceramic goat skin drug which she ended up buying for only 150 dirham. I bartered a little for a Berber knife which I paid 150 dirham for.  We stopped in many stores down the main drag of the medina. We looked at traditional women’s clothing, scarves, leather purses, hand carved wooden figurines, brass work, and much more.  I ended up buying another black leather purse for only 150 dirham, a bronze horse sculpture for 200 dirham, and three wood figurines for 100 dirham. It was a successful shopping trip and I also realized how much I over paid this past weekend when I had let Yesim take me to his friends shops. I’m sure now that he received a cut from the products I purchased and I was severely ripped off. Either way I learned my lesson and have become much better at bartering. It’s supposed to be a fun process and Michelle and I would just keep smiling and laughing, whether we bought something or not.  It was all just for fun. We found many nice store owners that treated us very nicely and gave us nice prices whether we decided to buy or not. Hopefully we can get back to the medina before we head home.

A view inside a massive trinket store. Look at all the beautiful things! We were overwhelmed.

A beautiful palace we used the bathroom in

Some beautiful Morracan dresses I am tempted to buy but know I will never have an oportunity to wear

Some of the things I have boughten so far on this trip

We witness a mule being stacked high and wide with large heavy boxes on our way back to the American Fondouk.

Tomorrow we will talk with Dr. Gigi about out plans to travel to Marrakech this weekend. We will probably leave Friday afternoon and travel by train. Hopefully we can arrange a stay at a nice affordable hotel and get to see a lot of the city. Tomorrow may be a busy day since we were closed today. It will be Michelle’s first day on the job and we will see how she likes it. Until tomorrow, Au Revoir!