Hiking in the Atlas Mountains, Jewish Fes and More

February 16, 2014

Fes

The morning activity today was a hike.  Wow.  We drove about 45 minutes south of Fes to the lower Atlas Mountains where we started up a climb over a mountain.  The path was completely rocky with all the rocks loose, so footing was uneven and insecure. 

Berbers with gathered wood loaded on Donkeys were making their way back to the town we started from to sell the wood.  These people are mostly shepherds and goat herders and supplement their incomes this way:

Up and up we went on the rocks:

Joyce was having trouble, so we got her some help from a man riding one of his three donkeys back up the path; the others had no burden:

Finally the path became level:

But then we had to cross streams:

We got up there:

Here are some sheep with a shepherd:

Here’s one view on the way down the other side.  Note the olive tree—there are loads of them grown here:

Here’s a home with hanging blankets outside:

Finally down, we went to a local farm for a delicious veal, artichoke and celery dish as the main course for lunch:

Leah got to take a donkey ride at the farm:

We then went back to Fes and visited the entrance to the King’s Fes palace (he has at least one in every major city):

Following that we went to the Jewish Quarter.  There had been a very large Jewish population here following the expulsion from Spain in 1492.  Most are gone now, but the architecture remains and is reminiscent of southern Spain. 

The Fes Jewish community has left this part of the city and now numbers only about 500.  The old synagogue is undergoing renovation and was not open today, but the cemetery was.  Note the use of oranges instead of stones on the graves; we saw more than one instance of this:

Finally we went to a ceramics factory where everything is done by hand.  One of the artists offered to decorate Leah and she agreed:

Off to dinner at “the best restaurant in Fes and one of the best in the country”.  We’ll see.