A typical day in Fez

One of our readers, who is interested in buying a house in Fez, emailed with a question that usually doesn't get asked. "What do you do on a typical day in Fez?" So,  we sent one of our photographers out to recorded his Sunday.

It looks tame, but...

7.30 am

The first job of the morning is feeding the cat. Tigga, belongs to Karen and Peter, but as they are in Australia doing a renovation of a house, I have been "blessed" with the presence of a VERY demanding and totally crazy animal. As they say, "you can take that cat out of the street, but you can't take the street out of the cat." The upside is that at least the constant attacks keep me alert!

Renovator's neck.

9.00 am

John, who has a keen interest in assisting people with renovation, called around to take a look at Riad Zany as he had not seen it since the major work was completed last year. He had been invaluable is helping us find our great team of workers and babysitting the project when I had to go to Europe for a few weeks. His own blog gives some fine description of he and his partner Jenny's renovation adventures.

10.am

Time to jump into a taxi and head to the Mellah - the Jewish part of Fez. Coming out of the car- free Medina into the busy streets always requires a quick change of attitude... being hit by a car is a little more serious than a brush with a donkey.

Crowds heading to the Mellah

The other change is the architecture. The balconies and open windows are a distinctly different from the anonymous walls and closed doors of the streets in the rest of the Medina. There are some superb old buildings here and, sadly, many are in need of restoration and preservation. This part of the city has not had as much attention paid to it as areas such as Batha or around the two main streets (the two talaas) in the Medina.

Typical Mellah architecture

There is much to explore in the Mellah - an interesting gold souq, a furniture souq with some fine antiques hidden away between the dusty display of chairs and tables, the synagogue and a garden centre. Outside of the main gate (Bab Semmarine) I found a large pile of freshly combed wool, so if that's what you're after, then this is the place to come.

Wool sale outside Bab Semmarine

You will find the furniture souq in a courtyard to the right just before entering the central lane of the Mellah. It doesn't look much at first, but inside there are some amazing old doors, cupboards, windows, some modern sofas and ghastly TV cabinets. Other items I spotted were incense burners, orange-flower water shakers and a set of fabulous candlesticks - all sadly out of my price range.

The middle of the furniture souq

11.00 am

If you come out of the Mellah and wander downhill, you will walk past the Belladeire's office on the right and shortly after a break in the wall, a gate and a set of steps heading down an unmarked path. This is the garden centre.

Butterflies everywhere

A huge array of plants.

The river through the garden centre

Unfortunately the one thing I was after was the sweet smelling jasmine that seems to be everywhere... but not in the garden centre. "Next week, insh'allah." Still, it was a very pleasant place to visit with a lot of interesting plants . I finally bought a small pot and a couple of geraniums - not the modern hydrides - the original one with small flowers but very strong scented leaves. Beautiful.

12.10 pm

Back to R'cif for a cup of mint tea at my local cafe. Usually this is a great spot for watching the passing parade and "tourist spotting". However, for the first time in years the front area of the cafe had been completely taken over by a tour party of about forty English tourist. I have never seen a Gnaoua musicians touting their performance here - but with the arrival of the tourists, one was doing good business within minutes of them having sat down. He must be psychic!

Tourists inundate the cafe in R'cif

1.00 pm

After hading home to change into slightly smarter clothes I was whisked away through the streets of the Medina by Mouaniss (Sidi Fixit!) who was directing me to my friend Sanaa's house where I had been invited to lunch. It was the full- couscous - mint tea, biscuits and a mountain of fruit and I stumbled out, stuffed to the gills, about 3 pm. All I could think of was sleeping it off... so much delicious food is never a problem, except that I was expected shortly after four for another meal on the other side of the Medina...

3.30 pm"It's Irish John. I'm back in Fez. Can we meet up at R'cif?" That woke me up and a few minutes later I was back in R'cif with a group of English, Irish and Italian house owners. You forget how much there is to gossip about until someone returns from Europe. So we talked our way through a gallon or so of coffee and mint tea.

Then it was time for a minibus from R'cif to Batha ( the taxis were in short supply) - I hadn't thought of taking a minibus before as I usually walk up, but it turned out to be only 30 dirhams which was cheaper than if we had had to take three taxis.

6.00pm

The evening is time for a special occasion. A meeting of the Purple Circle members and guests to celebrate the first meal cooked by Louis da Fez in his new kitchen and to be eaten on the renovated and restored roof terrace. As the guests assembled in the grand salon for pre-dinner drinks, our Italian friend Antonio was accepted for probationary membership and is ecstatic.

The kitchen is small, but the aromas floating out are huge! What is in store is almost unheard of in Fes - a traditional English Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding - unbelievable.

The first supper from the kitchen of Louis da Fez.

Louis' work on his terrace is superb. Muted colours, great tile work, a fine selection of pot plants, subtle lighting and good use of Iraqi glass. Wonderful and surely a contender in this year's Golden Amster Awards.

Louis directs Cafe-Mike with the inaugural cut

Antonio - applies for membership

A senior Purple Circle member discusses the catering.

Deep Purple? The discussions continue...

A Golden Amster Award? Part of the beautiful roof terrace.

9.30 pm.

Time to wander home wondering if I will ever need to eat again. As I walk into the courtyard of Riad Zany I am greeted by the cat who insists that she is starving... and so it goes. Another ordinary Sunday in Fez.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news