A Maze-Like Medina, a Pungent 11th-Century Tannery and a Moroccan Dance Party: How To Spend 24 Hours in Fez

It’s a good thing our tour leader Mohamed is wearing a red Intrepid hoodie. I’m keeping his bright beacon of a jumper in my sights as I traipse through the labyrinthine Fez medina, backed by the cacophony of hammering coppersmiths. Stalls of fragrant food and spices, nougat and camel heads line the narrow lanes, while fast-moving trolleys and donkeys piled high with deliveries force me to leap aside.

The medieval walled city and Unesco World Heritage Site is the oldest medina (old town) in Morocco, and the largest car-free urban area in the world, with over 9000 twisting streets. It’s an exhilarating symphony of sights and sounds and narrowing dark passageways, and I’m wondering how on earth I’d find my way around here without our local guide.

I’m joined by a group of 10 travellers, including solo sightseers from Perth, the UK and US; two sisters from New Zealand; a mother and son from Wollongong; a pair of friends from Melbourne; and Broadsheet photographer Kate Shanasy. We’re on Intrepid’s eight-day Classic Morocco tour, which takes us from the coastal metropolis of Casablanca to the bustling, frenetic souks of Marrakesh via Fez, the Sahara and the rugged High Atlas Mountains. And I’m fast falling in love with Fez. Here’s how to spend 24 hours in Morocco’s enchanting cultural capital.

Visit the Art Naji workshop

On our first day in Fez, we venture outside the medina walls to the Art Naji workshop, where local artisans craft intricately decorated ceramics and zellige (tile mosaics). We peek into every stage of production, from pot-throwing and painting to hand-chiselling and assembling the tiles. Our group observes an apprentice preparing the clay (he kneads two tonnes of the stuff each day) and then a 73-year-old master soldering decorative metal to a freshly fired tagine. It’s a slow, deliberate and involved process, mesmerising to watch. We’re told we can shop the collection or order a custom-made piece, and Kate and I are eyeing some jewel-toned bowls and plates. We decide to save our money for the rugs at Akhnif Glaoui, a women-run carpet weavers’ cooperative in Ait-Ben-Haddou in the High Atlas Mountains, where we’ll be going in a couple of days. But several members of our group purchase ceramics and mosaics to take home for a lasting memory of this impressive artisanal workshop.

Stroll through the ancient medina

We enter Fez El-Bali – the city’s ninth-century medina, made up of over 9000 winding, unmarked streets – weaving our way through a maze of twisting alleys, past stalls selling everything from catfish and camel meat to dyed fabrics and mountains of spices. A woman making warqa (brik) pastry catches my eye: the paper-thin, almost translucent sheets of dough are thrown over a hotplate and then used to wrap meat and spices (as in the chicken pastilla we’ll be eating tonight), or sweet fillings such as almond paste. Distracted by the many sights and sounds of the souk, Broadsheet photographer Kate and I momentarily lose sight of our group. As we try to guess which lane in this dizzying warren they’ve gone down, a couple of helpful stallholders point us in the right direction. “Shukran!” we yell to thank them.

The American in our group – a science researcher from Philadelphia – has also wandered off and returned brandishing a flan-like dish made with chickpea flour and eggs. It’s a staple of northern Moroccan street food and goes by a few names, including kalinti, caliente and chalawane, and I’m suddenly regretting not sampling more of the incredible traditional food around us.

As we rejoin our tour group, I’m thankful we have Mohamed to help us manoeuvre through the medina and its many alleyways, narrow corridors, unmarked doors and dead ends. Trying to navigate this place without a local guide to provide directions, translation, history and cultural context would mean missing out on so much of it. We continue through the souk, every now and then jumping out of the way of fast-moving trolleys or donkeys piled high with goods.

Stop by the pungent Chouara Tannery

As we turn a corner, the fragrant aroma of spices suddenly gives way to the pungent odours of the ancient Chouara Tannery, whose methods remain unchanged since the 11th century. The smell is thanks to the animal hides and the cow urine and pigeon poo used to clean and soften them. Each of us is handed a crucial sprig of mint to hold near our nostrils as we watch the workers wash, process and dye the hides in a honeycomb network of circular vats filled with colourful liquids. It’s a striking sight, unlike anything I’ve seen before. As our tour group moves into the adjoining shop to browse the resulting leather goods, including bags, shoes and jackets in vivid colours, Kate and I find Mohamed at a cafe across the road and join him to enjoy the much more pleasing aroma of coffee beans.

Have dinner, a drink and a dance at restaurant Dar Chadia

Mohamed leads us through the medina to a restaurant in a beautiful riad belonging to the charming Chadia, who was born here, lives here and cooks here. Meze-style plates of smoky eggplant, candied beetroot, spinach salad and sweet, spiced pumpkin hit the table before the main event: pastilla, a flaky, fragrant, sweet and savoury pastry filled with spiced, shredded chicken and dusted with powdered sugar. We finish dinner with fresh fruit and mint tea, which Chadia pours out for us theatrically from up high – as is customary, to achieve the right amount of froth.

After dinner, Moroccan music starts to play, and our waiter rolls out a clothes rack of traditional garments for us to try on. Before long, our entire tour group is costumed and dancing alongside Chadia and her staff. Some subtle shimmying turns into hip gyrating and a lot of belly laughs. Before we leave, the 67-year-old Chadia ushers Kate and me over to show us a Snapchat filter that ages you down a few decades. We’ve both fallen a little bit in love with her and Morocco’s warm hospitality.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Intrepid Travel. Intrepid’s Classic Morocco tour is a fully guided eight-day trip that includes all transport and accommodation. Starting in Casablanca and finishing in Marrakesh, it takes in city and country – including the Sahara Desert and ancient ruins.