Embracing life - tj style: Day 23 - Shopping with Hakima

Breakfast then off on a guided tour of Fes. Again it is misty rain so have rain coat ready. Our local guide Hakima was a lovely lady who has a wealth of knowledge and information on the city and its people. Our day tour started at 9am and we did not get back to the hotel til 8pm! In that time we did the following:
1) to New Fes to see the entrance to Dar el-Makhzen )Royal Palace) with grand doors made of brass doors, surrounded by fine zellij (colourful tiles) and carved cedar -wood (they clean the brass with an orange):
2) Royal palace - spread over18 hectares
3) Jewish Quarter (Mellah)
4) Andallusian section where there are windows where women can look out on the street without being seen
5) Bab Bouijioud - blue and green entrance to the medina
6) oldest koranic school
7) up to a castle!former military base for panoramic view of Fes
8) place that makes ceramic tiles, pots, plates etc where I bought a rose water vase and presents for the munchkins
9) in to an old medina for silk dying: metal work; tannery - amazing photos; restaurant with a crazy 70 odd year old man who fed us camel burgers; (now have an english keyboard for typing...oh joy); bought snacks of nuts and dried fruit; university built by a woman in 808AD; house of carpets; weaver of silks; herbal pharmacy; and a moroccan clothes shop where we dressed up in berber clothes. At some point along this journey I sampled the local delicacy of snails - not as good as french ones but ok.

The group chilled out in the evening after the long day with a few drinks and nuts and dried fruit we bought at the market. It was an incredible day - part of it was shopping but we saw how the items were hand-made rather than machine made, in traditional methods. I could've bought many beautiful things such as a leather jacket, handbag or bedspread but I can't spend all my money in Morocco!!