Morocco Odyssey 14: Fes (iii)

                        On our second day in Fes, we met our local tour guide, Mohammed.

He led us through the souks of the medina, which proved to be the most exciting one we had experienced to date. It was bubbling with activity, full of all manner of stores, open-air stalls and bustling shoppers. It is no wonder that it has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There were even donkeys pulling wagons, bicyclists and even motorbikes. I quickly learned the Arab word, balak, for look out [Achtung in German]. More often than not, the bikers whizzed past without a warning, even in tight spaces.

During the course of our stay in Fes, I don’t know how many times we passed the cobbler below, who always greeted us with a smile and a hand wave. Many of the folks simply said “Welcome to Fes” as I passed by.

                             The barber in this one chair shop invited me in, but I took a pass.

 Here is a gentleman operating an old fashioned whetstone to sharpening knives and scissors.

               Foodstuffs, household items, jewelry, trinkets abounded, truly a feast for the eyes and nose.

Morocco Odyssey 13: Fes (ii)

Since our bus was too large to pass through the gate and into the medina, we had to take a 15-20 min. walk to our riad. In the meantime, our luggage was to be transported by a team porters pushing simple hand carts. Below, an exhausted porter takes a rest.

After winding our way through the congested streets, we finally turned into a narrow passageway, came to the door of our riad. We were not prepared for what awaited us. The sheer beauty of the interior was overwhelming, like Alice stepping through the looking glass and entering a different world.

                We were greeted by a lively staff who begin serving the ever-present mint tea.

That first night, dinner was in the riad. It started out with this superb set of hors d’ouvres, and just kept getting better.

Halberstadt Skies (i) [Sky Watch Friday]

After visiting with her relatives, my wife and I spent about a week touring in Germany. Having been to Halberstadt in 2012 without her, I felt that she should experience it as well. Since I have already posted good images from that earlier trip, I have tried to avoided duplication here. All these images were taken with my new Tamron 16-300mm lens. It is amazingly versatile and allows enormous flexibility in composing shots.
Perhaps the most visited and photographed location in Halberstadt is around the Domplatz. In fairly close proximity are several churches: the romanesque Liebfrauenkirche [the oldest of the three], the gothic Cathedral [Dom in German] and the gothic St. Martinikirche. All three buildings suffered considerable damage from allied bombing in WWII, but have been restored.
Today, I will focus on the Dom, which is shown below [on the left] along with the St. Martinikirche [just visible in the lower right].

            The next images are of the Dom towers, which were shot from within the cloister.

            The interior of the Dom is awesome and I managed to get some good hand-held shots

                                              Here are two figures of note, Adam and Eve.

Morocco Odyssey 12: Fes (i)

For our next installment, we travel from Rabat to Fes [often incorrectly referred to as Fez]. After lunching at a local restaurant, we rode the bus up a hillside to take in spectacular panoramic view of the city [top image]; the medina has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Taken from a closer vantage point, in the lower image one can see a small local market; note the many satellite dishes on the rooftops.

After this brief excursion, we visited a local ceramics workshop. Our guide [top image below] described the steps of pain-staking [and dusty] handwork in creating mosaic tables, etc. The workers below are paid according to the number of pieces they contribute.

Of course, there were potters and all that goes into the creation of tajines, bowls, dishes, vases, etc.

 Here is a huge vase with Hebrew writing and Star of David. Fes once had a substantial Jewish population, but most left for Israel after it was declared a State.

Following the tour, we could  make purchases in their large shop, where I bought several bowls; the young woman below wrapped them up for me.

Morocco Odyssey 11: Rabat (The Chellah) [Sky Watch Friday]

Being the capital and one of the imperial cities of Morocco, Rabat has one of the King’s royal palaces. Our tour group was not allowed to approach its Bab ar-Rouah [Gate of the Wind] closer than ca. 100 meters; the picture below was shot using a telephoto lens. The men standing guard were from 5-6 different military/police/security units.

One of the unusual sites we visited was the ruins of a Roman city and wild gardens of the Chellah, a 14th century Merinid necropolis [located within fortified walls shown below]. The Merinids were a Berber dynasty that ruled over Morocco and parts of Algeria from the mid-13th through the late 15th century.

 The entrance below is another fine example of the horseshoe arch. The holes in the wall on the left were not used for armed defense. Rather, they were the locations to insert heavy logs to build scaffolding for repairing wear and tear damage to the wall.

                               The Chellah is home to a large number of storks, as well as cats.

Morocco Odyssey 10: Rabat (The Medina)

The medina in Rabat is similar to those we had visited previously in Chefchaouen and Tetouan, although the streets were not as narrow and the blue and white buildings fewer.

Olives and spices were in available in abundance, as well as sweet munchies [the baklavah and coconut macaroons were incredible].

                        I was determined to get more portraits on this walk and was rewarded.

Finally, outside the medina and on the street near our hotel, I encountered a young man [from Senegal] selling bracelets, necklaces, etc. that he had made. He commented on the jembe necklace that I always wear, and this brought us into discussion. While chatting, he was always smiling widely, but the sight of the camera elicited a more serious mien.