![\"Fes\"](\"http:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Fes1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMy guide Ahmed, dressed in a hooded djellaba, looks as through he has walked straight out of a Harry Potter movie as he\u00a0leads me\u00a0down a kind of Diagon Alley, where displays of scarves are stacked high next to huge jars of olives and a jumble of shiny silver tea pots.<\/p>\n
He stops to talk to his chum Idris who is furiously propelling a concrete wheel with one leg at his knife-sharpening kiosk. Idris, 74, has been honing blades for customers from the same tiny stall for the past 30 years. We stayed at one of a very few hotels in the Medina; the Palais Amani, a 300-year-old restored Riyadh just inside the Medina walls. The Palais Amani www.palaisamani.com<\/a> is a quiet oasis, a mere doorway from the crazy chaos beyond.<\/p>\n A short chicane bring you to a traditional open air courtyard with a little fountain in the middle surrounded by citrus trees. It took three years to restore the four-storey Palais with balconies overlooking the interior and a roof terrace with views over the medieval city. The rooms and suites are all individually decorated in traditional mosaic and stucco (a mixture of powdered marble mixed with egg whites) with stained glass windows. We stayed in a suite on the ground floor and woke to sparrows singing and splashing in the fountain.<\/p>\n The staff are charming and if you have time the head chef will take you shopping and show you how to cook a local dish.<\/p>\n Little has changed in the Medina, known as Fez El-Bali, since biblical times.<\/p>\n Covering some 250 acres it is a city within a city and home to some 300,000 people. There are locals who have never been outside it and some who live nearby who have never been in it. They don\u2019t know what they\u2019re missing.<\/p>\n While Ahmed chats with Idris I watch a wall appear on the move; encrusted with snails which have escaped from a huge pannier on the floor.<\/p>\n \u201cI am sad my children don\u2019t know the Medina like I do,\u201d laments Ahmed who comes from four generations of Medinites, but moved out to a new modern apartment in Fez \u2018new town\u2019 before his children were born.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone knows everyone here; there\u2019s a real sense of community. And\u00a0it\u2019s the safest place on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n My husband and I have chosen to spend a long weekend in this fascinating place during early spring. There aren\u2019t too many tourists, in fact we don\u2019t hear a single English voice which we rather like. What\u2019s more the stall sellers no longer leap out at you manifesting their aggressive sales techniques, like they used to.<\/p>\n The Medina in Fez is the largest car free area in the world. People still transport their goods on donkeys, mules and hand-propelled carts so you have to be on your mettle (particularly with the ones travelling at speed with live produce on board).<\/p>\n The secret worlds that exist within the Medina are endless. Ahmed led us through one door into a vast antiques shop selling exquisite jewellery, china, carpets and art.<\/p>\n Here a silver and coral bracelet costs \u00a3350 (compared to less than \u00a33 from a stall a few feet away outside) and a silver and silk carpet, \u00a38,000.<\/p>\n Shoppers come from all over the world to sift through the exotic paintings and mirrors hanging on the mosaic walls. The antique silver daggers are particular popular with the Rockefeller family whose members organise shipments to America.<\/p>\n However, the medina is most famous for its tanneries which are particularly pungent during summer. A viewing balcony looks out onto a massive arena of conical concrete tubs. Each one filled with a vegetable dye \u2013 poppy for red, henna for orange, cedar for brown, wild mint for green, indigo for blue and skin of pomegranates for yellow.<\/p>\n Some vats contain lime which makes it easier to get the animal hair off, while others are filled with pigeon droppings which softens the leather.<\/p>\n As you might expect there is a warren of shops on various levels selling bags, belts, wallets, jackets, coats, hats you name it, at all prices. The most expensive stuff is on the top floor where I headed; where all the designer clothing is made.<\/p>\n I bought a beautiful soft brown suede jacket for \u00a3180 from the \u2018Prada\u2019 rack, negotiated down from \u00a3250; but would retail for about \u00a31,500.<\/p>\n Just as you start to feel claustrophobic; some of the alleys are really that narrow, a lovely courtyard opens up. In Brass founder\u2019s square a discordant clanging, crashing and banging of hammers leads you to picturesque displays of bright copper pans, pots and containers which hang at all heights and glisten in the bright sunshine.<\/p>\n Each square and alley seems to have a theme. Nejjarine Square with its stunning mosaic fountain, has a museum of wood dating from the 17th century and nearby souk of glitzy wedding chairs!<\/p>\n There\u2019s dyers alley where locals bring their clothes for a colour change, and techno street where you can exchange your old mobile phone, pick up a second hand radio or an old charger and cable.<\/p>\n The Medina is not for the squeamish or those concerned with health and safety issues; but for a step into another world and some great bargains you can\u2019t beat it.<\/p>\n For more information visit www.palaisamani.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n 12 Derb el Miter, Oued Zhoune, Fez Medina, 30000, Morocco<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a> He is an essential cog in the wheel of life in the medina where everything is recycled \u2013 including the donkey droppings.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a>The one Arab term you learn quickly is \u2018barak\u2019 \u2013 get out of my way!
\nThe lofty walls, colour coded to help you find your way, are punctuated with big heavy oak doors. They open into airy courtyards of traditional blue and white mosaic columns, leading to an ornate shrine, ancient university or private home.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u201cYou have Tower Bridge we have the tanneries,\u201d declares Ahmed as we stared out at the vista of vats watching the young men dunking the animal skins.<\/p>\nThere are some excellent restaurants in the Medina if you know where to look \u2013 Dar Roumana serves near Michelin-star standard cuisine and is a must for dinner as you dine under a candlelit mosaic and stucco cathedral ceiling www.darroumana.com<\/a> while Patio Bleu, a similarly ornate restaurant served less sophisticated but delicious local tagines and couscous dishes and is ideal for lunch.<\/p>\n