There’s much to say about Morocco, from musings over the tourism industry to seeking out beneficial experiences, but as usual, it’s the little details that marinate in your mind.
I try not to overly romanticize visiting any location — in the sense that, considering what I usually discuss online and offline, being cognizant of sensitives regarding politics, nationalities, and my own limited knowledge, a topic for another time — but often, a community gets something right.
The walls of most of the buildings in the old Medina of Fez look like this. Unadorned. Our tour guide, a local, took us through the winding streets and into the residential areas, away from shops and monuments, to spend a few minutes pointing this out. We even strolled past what was an old palace and you could not tell from the outside that it was a palace. It was simply a long stretch of beige, mostly cement wall.
When the medina was built, normal homes were not built with balconies, but rather, if you could afford it, some homes had a courtyard inside. Residents then and now don’t adorn the walls, but they hide decadent interiors. The floor plan allows for a small corridor that turns immediately after entering, so anyone at the door can’t immediately peek and see what lays inside the atrium — the home of a rich person, or a poor person.
