Fes

Fes is the most unique city I have been to by far. It is almost completely a pedestrian city. There are roads that cover the whole city but the majority of travel is on foot through small alleys and covered market areas. Although tourism is a huge part of their economy they are still very set in their traditional ways. Large loads are carried by donkeys down the street or pushed around in a cart. The picture of the sidewalk shows the ramps that make it possible to go from one step to the next without having a ramped street.

They still have an old fashioned economy and most products are still made by hand, a process which we witnessed in person. They take more time to make but the quality is much better because each one is carefully crafted. The shops on the streets, which are operated by families still use the old practice of training their children in the same trade and making each item by hand right in the shop. The thing that I liked the best about this marketplace was the atmosphere and community. First of all, no price is fixed, everything is negotiable which I would love to use in Best Buy or Target. The other aspect that I thought was cool was that when the call to prayer comes, shop keepers will leave their store completely open to go pray and their neighbors will watch their inventory. It is a much closer community as our guide Momo explained to us.