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ArAbEsquE: A TAsTE of Morocco

The North African kingdom where Mick Jagger partied hard with Agnellis and Hermès heirs in the late 20th century sizzles anew, luring a new generation of global nomads to captivating contemporary boutiques within timeless souks,

vibrant cultural diversions and some of the continent’s finest hotels. cynthia rosenfeld lingers in the cities of Fes and Marrakech

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minaret of koutoubia mosque, marrakech

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With its bejewelled camels and belly danc-ers, ancient walled cities and vast windswept deserts, Morocco has long lured foreigners to the vast continent’s northern rim with these first tastes of Africa’s exoticisms. Enticingly visible from Spain across the cerulean Straits of Gibraltar, the kingdom reveals its juxtapo-sition of medieval and modern to those who take the time for an in-depth exploration. Travel first back in time to Fes then dip down south to indulge in the latest sybaritic pleas-ures of Marrakech.

High in the fabled Atlas Mountains, Fes is actually three distinct towns. The world’s oldest extant medieval city, Old Fes was founded in 792 AD. New Fes is a relative babe, established in 1273, while Nouvelle Ville is the French colonial town that sprung up in the 20th century when France controlled Moroc-co as what was patronisingly known as a pro-tectorate. Lanes barely wider than the mules that still work them snake through the medi-na, or walled city, of Old Fes. That’s of course the most interesting part, but the city’s most in-the-know tour guide, Salim Abdellatif, recommends starting from the top, literally, by visiting Borj Sud, a fort built by slaves in the 15th century. From this austere southern vantage point, one quickly goes dizzy trying to count the densely packed rooftops within

the medina’s 10-kilometre encirclement of stone walls. Built between the 12th to 15th centuries, that high enclosure was enough to keep out invading Turks.

ARTISANSAround 250,000 people squeeze inside the medina today, roughly 60 percent engaged in cottage craft industries such as ceramics, leather and carpets, for which Fes is rightly fa-mous. En route into this walled world, stop to see the descendents of transplanted Andalu-sian artisans continuing their ceramic tile tra-ditions in the Potters’ Quarter. Most of Fez’s signature blue-and-white pottery gets fired here, beginning as colourless clay from the sea. Craftsmen train until they can mould the clay without measurements. Peek into the painting studio to watch that painstaking process car-ried out with single horsehair brushes to best absorb the organic pigments. After complet-ing the genuinely educational tour, why resist stocking up in the Aladdin’s Cave-like show-room brimming with impossibly inexpensive, dishwasher-safe treasures and staffed by ea-ger experts in international shipping?

Thick stone walls keep Old Fes pleasantly cool even on the city’s hottest days. Toothless vendors here offer chewy camel meat and steaming sheep heads, both local specialities. Instead, sample stacked pyramids of honey and nut cakes fried in oil called shubakiya, or fluffy Berber pancakes that taste even yum-mier laced with sugar. Both go better still with Moroccan mint tea. Forge on to Medersa Bou Inania. Built in 1350, this religious school still functions, with believers coming to pray while visitors run their hands along magnifi-cently intricate wood and tile carvings, some etched with Kufic script, the world’s oldest known calligraphy.

Back in the warren of narrow lanes, watch out for the thousands of donkey carts that share these close quarters. Feel your way through the fabric souk, where even the most modern brides still come to stock their dow-ries, and walls appear lined by tactile rain-bows. At Univers des Herbes, ancient reme-dies get concocted from the brightly coloured herbs and spices lined up in jars alongside or-ganic perfume sticks and natural dyes. Best known among the stock here is argan oil,

a vendor displays his

wares in the souk. opposite:

handmade plates, fes

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a former riad serves as a carpet

market, fes

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dAPPer sAlesMeN iN yelloW sliPPers exPlAiN THAT THe FiNesT Wool coMes FroM sHeeP liviNg HigH iN THe riF MouNTAiNs

made only in Morocco from seeds spat out by tree-climbing goats. Locals swear by the ap-pealingly earthy scented stuff for skin soften-ing, hair shining and even dripping some in while cooking to intensify the flavour.

CARPETSAlthough serious collectors insist Persians are superior, Moroccan carpets have their ad-mirers. Dar Zaouia is a 14th-century harem-house-turned-carpet-cooperative, stocked with Arab and Berber carpets, tribal rugs and antique kilims. Dapper salesmen in Fes’ signature yellow slippers explain how the co- operative works: carpet-weavers produce at home throughout Morocco, then bring finished pieces here for sale. Prices are controlled by the government, they patiently explain, while holding up a well-worn list of prices per square metre and educating each arrival that the finest wool comes from sheep living high in the surrounding Rif Mountains.

Shopped out, sink onto the plush ban-quettes at Restaurant Asmae for a standard serving of 16 plates of Moroccan salads, in-cluding baba ganoush and fried eggplant, fol-lowed by the flaky pigeon pastilla at this or-nate eatery that dates back to 1324. Moroccans traditionally take their meals on padded ban-quettes that allow sated diners to stretch out and sleep, but for overnight accommodations, check in at Riad Fes, a traditional courtyard house reinvented as a 17-room inn furnished throughout with locally sourced antiques.

Next, head south towards Morocco’s styl-ish present with a few fleeting glimpses back at its fabled past. Not long after its founding by desert Berbers in the 11th century, Marra-kech was mostly gardens. Today, visitors still enter that medina by passing the sacred olive trees of the Agdal Gardens en route to the 19th-century Bahia Palace. Jaws drop on sight of its ornately carved cedarwood walls and intricately painted ceilings.

Next, leave the crowds behind to explore the medina’s newest cultural attraction, La Maison de la Photographie. Opened last year,

open-air carpet market

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the three-storey courtyard house holds more than 1,000 photos of old Morocco from the 19th and early 20th centuries. They include the first one snapped in the country, in 1862, as well as haunting images of Berber traders, Jewish women (because Muslim women could not be photographed) and young slaves, many by famous European photographers drawn to the Moroccan desert’s stark beauty.

KAFTANSNo one leaves Marrakech empty-handed. Se-rious shoppers skip the souks and head to a handful of standout addresses inside the me-dina. The Australian duo behind Kasbek Kaftans drives 18 hours across the North Af-rican desert in search of tribal embroiderers for their one-of-a-kind kaftans available at Aya’s (11 bis, Derb Jdid Bab Mellah; 212-5-24-38-34-28) in the ancient Jewish quarter. The socially conscious young Moroccan owner works with nearby village women to raise their standard of living, while creating sim-ple, sophisticated frocks and sandals suitable for the beaches of Koh Samui and St Tropez.

Moroccan carpet scraps are reinvented as black-tie-worthy evening bags at the closet-sized Lalla, conveniently positioned across from Stephanie Jewels, a bling box filled with delicate hand-wrought gold pieces as light as fairy floss. Refuel one flight up at Terrasse des Epices, a gourmet rooftop escape from the medina’s narrow confines.

Fashion maven Isabelle Duchet-Annez combines her French fashion sense with Af-rican and Indian fabrics at Akbar Delights in Place Bab Fteuh, off the medina’s teeming central square Place Jemaa El Fina, where fruit-sellers line up alongside snake charm-ers day into night. The second cinematic in-stallment of Sex and the City was filmed in front of the festive turquoise door that leads into KiS, a new, by-appointment-only lifestyle showroom stocked with ornately embroi-dered frocks and diamond-encrusted bau-bles from sultry Brazilian designer Adriana Bittencourt, who splits her time between the

THe duo drives 18 Hours Across THe deserT iN seArcH oF TribAl eMbroiderers For THeir oNe-oF-A-kiNd kAFTANs

the souk, marrakech

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