Into the Maze

Many cities in Morocco contain a medina. The medina is generally walled in, and is a warren of narrow and maze-like streets, lined with white-washed and tiled buildings. The first medina I visited was in Tetouan, near the northern coast. It was market day and many of the Rif mountain women had come into town to sell their produce. 

The Berbers from the Rif Mountains are the original inhabitants of this north Moroccan area. They call themselves Amazigh, which means The Free People. The Berber name for Tetouan means literally "the eyes."

The surprisingly quiet corridors were bordered by mounds of fresh fruits, caged chickens, mules pulling carts, fresh fish, nuts and spices. Further into the maze there are quarters for different craftsman, tailors or woodworkers store fronts clustered together. All throughout the medina were small children, just watching the adults go about their day.  At the center I found and incredible Tea House, an unimpressive exterior gave way to incredible carved walls, and a fountain amongst the colorful table clothes. 




In the Berber complex there was a carpet sales room. And once the seller had you cornered it was a deluge of unrolling carpets. Though he was disappointed that I would not buy anything, the carpets were like works of art and he shared a lot of interesting information about how they were made. For instance, all of the dyes are made from local elements, mint or absinthe to make green, saffron petals for blue, paprika for yellow, turmeric for orange, and sumac for  black.