"Fes...My Home through a Hole in my Dreams" Top 5 Page for this destination Fes by JamalMorelli

Fes Travel Guide: 516 reviews and 1,107 photos

You couldn't possibly be ready for this - Fes

All your Weirder Dreams On Top of Each Other...

It is known that it is the slight smell of decay that gives jasmine it's depth and it's elusive quality. With Fes, decay is the ambient environment and yet no place has ever seemed so alive to me. It's like sharing a cigarette, there is communal decay, a delirious consensual slow death. And like a cigarette, there is the perfume of addiction; even though little changes in Fes - everything seems different from hour to hour... I can't take my eyes and ears off of it, can't stop myself from tasting her, from listening to her wild cries of cats, children, donkeys, animals waiting for slaughter, fish-shoe-driedbread salesman and collectors...cries of elated and enraged shopkeepers, glue sniffers and cripples, giggles of girls both veiled and barely dressed, boys with long greetings, soft generous eyes and puffed up chest....cries of the multitudes of prayer calls... like my long time love and other home, New Orleans, we don't bury our dead here... they dance and we dance with them..

Even more Jam
Jamal Morelli

Moroccan tips at a lick

And another pass of intoxicants...The Deading Life

Jamal Morelli on his birthday, on the Eid...

Death is presented as matter of factly as your naked body before an audience of one thousand. There is no pretty version of it made to pinken it, soften it, make you more attracted to it. Death presented as itself is such a Fessian constant - whether through the butchers, the riads, the rotting beggars, the donkey excrement in your path. It is always cause for giddy elation, the sacrifice...
This picture was taken on my birthday, which coincided with the Eid. My friend, brother SiMohammed, asked me to sacrifice a goat. It was an honor his father would have done had he been alive. There wasn't a question of whether killing the goat and my birthday would complement each other - it was just assumed they would. So, after saying, 'bismillah' and 'allahu akbar' while slitting it's throat I watched the blood form a pool at SiMohammed's daughters feet, creeping up on her like a fast moving rain cloud. Nothing. Her face registered no fear or disgust. If anything she wanted to look at the eyes, still glistening on the decapitated head of the goat

Moroccan tips at a lick

Your House as a Bridge - You as the Water Under It

Late night and deep in the medina... find me...

People are flowing under you, over you, watching you... Spying women in those tiny windows, spying tourists from their second floor cafe as well as on the streets, spying guides, and lustful men and women who follow you, waiting for a window to flirt in, waiting for you to act. You may feel tired in Fes... as if it wasn't just the wandering through the ground spider tunnels and barely passable streets... as if you have been performing - and you have. You have been on stage the second you get into Fes. The Medivael PanOpticon, you are being watched.
Well, I suppose the next thing to do is love it... become a Fassi and participate in a 1300 year ritual of commerce and communion, prayer and promotion, laywork and love...

When I am not filming or traveling, I welcome guests at my place but don't ask me anything about restaraunts, hotels, guides, etc. Just give me enough of a head's up and then it's "Marhaba, travelmonkey!" Again, I have no (and want no) connection to the tourism business here or anywhere. If you want the absolute best free help for Moroccan travel go here

and if you want to see what I am up to (and where I am up to) go here
JamJam Morelli's Gig
Moroccan tips at a lick

UPDATE LITE: The only sushi restaurant in Fes has opened about a month ago. Spot on for a chap like me who lives for the stuff.

Pros and Cons

Pros:A city with the momentum of over a thousand years...
Cons:...if you did it right, you'll have little reason to leave...
In a nutshell:Everyone will see in it whatever they want and everyone will be right

Intro Updated Dec 12, 2007
Add to Trip Planner (?)
Report Abuse

Reviews (68)

Wanted: Most Interesting Person - Sulieka Morelli - Fes

Find the Elusive Ironmonger "Sulieka... Things to Do (23)

I won't give away her location - that's for you to find, little one. Sulieka Morelli is one of the last Jewish... more travel advice

Jewish Cemetary - photo Jamal Morelli 1 - Fes

Jewish Cemetary, Habarim Synagogue Things to Do (23)

Lose an hour or two here in meditation - white waves of the tombs of the dead... the cemetary is both guarded and clean... more travel advice

Wander the medina in the late night - Fes

Wander the medina in the late night Off The Beaten Path (4)

It's dark, scary and a bit dangerous. So, cross yourself and plunge into the cave-like medina of Fes. Anything could... more travel advice

Instead of HomeLess, what about StreetMore? - Fes

Your Mind Tourist Traps (5)

Have you noticed the differences in the culture? Is it making you sick? May I offer the suggestion that 'you' are... more travel advice

Warnings Or Dangers (10)
See All theft at Hotel de la Paix Fez
Hotels (4)
See All Old Reliable
Local Customs (10)
See All Shoemakers crammed into Tiny Spaces
Transportation (4)
See All Bus

What to Pack (1)
PACKING LISTS HAVE MOVED!
Restaurants (3)
See All MANY THINGS TO EAT HAVE MOVED!
Nightlife (2)
See All Fight Club - Parking Lot outside Grand...
Shopping (2)
See All Much of a muchness - Souq Henna

Travelogues (4)

1 - 4 of 4

Comments (16)

mvtouring Jul 17, 2010 at 2:08 PM Report Abuse

I loved reading your tips, I found them rather humourous. ;-)
danmcf Nov 7, 2008 at 3:27 PM Report Abuse

Jam, Great Fes info & pics. I loved Morocco & Fes back in '81 - good to see it's still a great place. small world, my daughter is a sophomore at IUP currently!
andrea.d Jul 6, 2008 at 6:37 AM Report Abuse

Fantastic page!
angiebabe Dec 8, 2007 at 4:29 PM Report Abuse

nice to have a refresher of Fez thanks for yr tips - and I agree excellent cooks and dishes to be had which Ive had - but xlnt cooking in Risanni as well!
oceania26 Aug 17, 2007 at 10:51 AM Report Abuse

Your tips are very...ummm...interesting and entertaining...I liked the 'learn arabic' one.
amerhelmy May 30, 2007 at 11:58 AM Report Abuse

Jamal, I'm realy enjoying your photos, they are great, I was in fes last month for only a week and fell in love with it. I'm planning on going back next april for longer time. Do you still live there ? Amer ahelmy40@msn.com
florry Feb 23, 2007 at 3:18 AM Report Abuse

Making Love to One More Hour of Light in Fes.....love the photos:)
Hexepatty Jan 17, 2007 at 4:04 PM Report Abuse

I love to fondle yout tips and tramp through your back allies. FES: I must visit!
hunterV Dec 31, 2006 at 12:29 AM Report Abuse

Very useful and interesting - thanx!
AmeliaJane68 Dec 29, 2006 at 1:39 PM Report Abuse

Shukran for the tips Jamal-we had an amazing time! Next time we'll stay longer, inshallah... we were just getting the hang of Arabic and making a few friends... loved it....