Today is the day!
For what, you ask? For buying a tagine! Fez is known for having the best clay and therefore clay pottery in the country. In fact, many museum pieces are made by Fez artisans from their uniquely grey clay. Every five minutes I poked Mohamed and said, "you're going to buy a tagine today!" He was not as convinced as I was, but I just knew.
There were so many beautiful items to choose from. After making my rounds around each table, I looked for Mohamed. He had a stunning tagine with unusual metal detail, including handles and feet, in his hands. Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner!
We then returned to Fez's medina where we saw the Blue Gate, which is known as the most beautiful of all the historical gates, and the medieval (14th century) school of Bouanania.
It was starting to get close to lunchtime, and I felt an unfamiliar sensation since coming on this trip: a pang of hunger. I ate my emergency snack (a fruit OneBar, if you're curious) as we headed to see an authentic house. A smiling man in orange opened the door and invited us into his family home. But this wasn't just any family home: it was one of the many lavish palaces previously owned by the Glaoui family, of which he is a descendant and had an enormous amount of power and wealth during the first half of the 20th century.
We were served freshly brewed mint tea and those yummy almond cookies, which I gladly accepted despite my emergency snack. After finishing our tour of the house and his art studio -- he's a very creative painter -- we then headed back to the hotel for lunch on our own. My seafood pasta was fantastic.
While the musicians got started, the staff unwrapped plates of cookies. The circular ones with powdered sugar were soft and chewy -- yum! Towards the end, the musicians started pulling people up to dance and as usual I somehow got picked. The gnaoua music, though fun, was not conducive to belly dancing -- but that didn't stop me from trying out some of my favorite moves. Mohamed captured the episode in 3D video!
Dinner was ready for us back at the hotel. I could tell that they created a Western menu for us as a change of pace, which was quite nice. The tiny caramel dots on my dessert plate were my favorite part of the whole meal -- I could tell that they used fresh butter in that caramel.
For what, you ask? For buying a tagine! Fez is known for having the best clay and therefore clay pottery in the country. In fact, many museum pieces are made by Fez artisans from their uniquely grey clay. Every five minutes I poked Mohamed and said, "you're going to buy a tagine today!" He was not as convinced as I was, but I just knew.
Oh, and those beautiful designs made of itty-bitty pieces of colored tile? They're chipped off and shaped individually by artisans. No wonder a large riad would likely cost six figures to repair -- it's a LOT of work!
Mohamed and I decided to take a nap, as we wanted to be alert for a special private concert later that afternoon featuring Souffi Aissawa and Andalucian music. The venue was stunningly gorgeous, and I just loved all of the furniture and decorations. I would be thrilled with any of these table-and-chair sets in my own riad, wink wink!
