متجر التوابل (Spice Shop)

I am researching education in the Middle East and North Africa and I was super excited to give out my surveys to Moroccan students. I researched this topic back in the United States, and it's so cool to have something that you read be in front of your eyes.

After school today, I went shopping in the medina. I was surprised at some of the prices from people that were vending on the streets without a store because they were so much cheaper than other ones. We also went to a really big spice store, whose owner is actually a friend of my friend's host dad. He was so hospitable! We were greeted by super sweet cherries and the best tea that I have had here (which is saying a lot considering I have tea like three times a day). He had a real pure supply of perfume stones, essential oils and spices. This spice shop definitely had the best spices I have smelt in Morocco. Just a side note-- most spice shops also sell drugs that are illegal in Morocco.

I am definitely going to miss the hospitality, (most of ) the smells and the eagerness of the people of Morocco!

\My amazing tea! Yes, it has a rose in it!

The row of essential oils.

So many spices!

استكشاف المدينة القديمة في فاس -2 Exploring the Old City of Fes

السلام عليكم!


Today was part two of my exploring of the old medina! This time we went really deep in to the old Medina and I'm so happy that I didn't end up super lost, something that would be really easy to do/.  We started out by looking through the Batha Museum, which had very nice Berber artifacts. My favorite things that to be the jewelry and clothes. After that, we traveled down Rue Tala Kabirah, one of the most important and hilliest streets in Fes. There are a lot of فنادق (Fnaadiq - market squares, can also mean hotels) on this street. I went to honey فندق! It definitely had a very distinct smell. Other فنادق that I visited were the honey, cloth and ceramic ones. We were also able to see the street where Ibn Khaldoun, a famous anthropologist from the 14th century, used to live. On that street there was an artisan store and so many beautiful oil lamps which looked like they might have had genies inside. Another museum that we visited was the Museum of Woodwork. and my favorite things there were the magnificent doors and a wooden carving of a Quran surah from the 13th century. We looked around at the mosques that were around the old medina and got to go inside the Qarawiyn mosque and pray. It's beautiful and in the past it used to be a university. It actually rivaled universities like Oxford and the likes. It was founded in the 9th century by a wealthy woman, Fatima al-Fihria. We also went to a loom where they made there scarves, clothes and curtains out of cactus silk in front of us. It was gorgeous! Afterwards, we needed to finish off some of our shopping and actually found pretty good deals.




I'm not done exploring this city yet though! I still have some places I want to see. I'm not ready to leave yet!

A view of Fes from the rooftop of the Woodwork Museum!

Inside the woodwork Museum -- even that was beautiful.

Inside the Qarawiyn mosque!