Our day began with more meandering amidst the narrow streets & alleys that make up the medina. We were off to meet an Architect for a morning of looking at Fez architecture! Enroute we were fortunate to glance up & spot one of the very early forms of window! Note it has openings just big enough for anyone inside to look out, but not big enough for anyone to look IN! Generally Riads (houses designed for medina living) have no windows facing outwards at all. Our guide commented that the purpose of the house looking inward, was a form of protection, from both nature & it's various elements & humans who may wish to cause harm!
Our session was with Alaa, who has completely renovated this 17th century Riad. Using the structure of the Riad as his demonstration model, he explained how spiritually connected the house design is to the Koran. The thought & planning into the placement & function of the positioning's of doorways & rooms, was amazing! The photo above is taken from a hidden interior balcony, where the daughter of the house could spy on any prospective husbands who came to visit, as it looks directly into the guest salon!!! He, however, could not see her, as a cleverly crafted screen ensured that she was hidden!
From the terrace we had the most spectacular view. His Riad is one of the oldest & is situated in the oldest area of the medina, consequently it is very close to the Mosque, the Medersa & the Koranic library!! It is also close to the River, the existence of which we had heard of, but not seen until today! Some of the city is built over the river, so quite a bit of it is hidden from view anyway! In the early days of Riad living, the terrace was only used by the women to hang out washing & perform chores, however, unlike today, where the terrace is open & one can wave to one's neighbours, the earlier terraces had...
...walls with slits in them, so the women could look out, but no one could look in! (Familiar theme here!!)
We had the great privilege of being taken to the oldest existing Riad, which has just begun to be renovated. Even though it has been let go for several years, there is still quality & beautiful standards of craftsmanship evident. But oh my, what a labour of love! Alaa's Riad took 3 years to renovate! A big commitment!
The afternoon was spent in the souk, trying to find a few last minute presents that would fit in our suitcases without breakage. Shopping here is not easy & I hate wrangling over cost. As a result I didn't buy ANYWHERE near as much as I'd like to have!! So, from Jeff's perspective, probably a good thing!
I collect prayer beads, so on finding a stall that sold a wide variety, I had a hard time choosing. I would have liked to have bought some really BIG chunky ones, but I'm not ready for my husband to have a heart attack yet!!
As we walked down alley after alley, getting quite lost at one point, we came across a few young men with silk thread attached to one end of the wall, & then metres further down they were twisting & weaving it into braids.
I was determined to get one carpet cushion! We don't buy carpets because our cat destroys anything we put on the floor, so the compromise was a cushion cover!! Even so, we still had a spiel about the quality of carpets from Zennor!! I have to say that after showing us three carpets & us both adamantly repeating that we wouldn't buy a carpet...the salesperson accepted it & didn't push any more on us, which is a record in our experience!!
The thing I really DONT like about Fez (apart from bartering) is that it is hilly, which means that by the time all the purchases were made we had a LOT of uphill walking to do before collapsing in our Riad exhausted! What a great day though!!
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