fes, part two

adventures in fes, continued —>

after our half day tour and that amazing lunch, we explored the markets of fes a bit more on our way to the see a madrasa (ancient school) and a royal palace outside the medina gates. 
 
^^ there are so many cats in morocco’s cities. i had to snap a few photos of them to remember how often we saw them roaming the streets. ^^
 
 
 
^^ here is the famous blue gate entrance of the medina of fes, called bab boujloud. ^^
i was so sad that several of the madrasas in marrakech and fes were closed for renovation during our trip. but madrasa bou inania was open and did not disappoint. there’s just something so pleasing to the eyes about all this symmetrical, intricate detail. 

 
 
 
^^ how about this suuuuper colourful alley we happened upon?! i love it. ^^
 
we got a little lost trying to find our way to the royal palace, and ended up winding through a random residential area of the city. it was serendipity - i loved seeing a quieter part of town and i loved  how the buildings in this area were painted pink and blue. 
 
 
we ended up walking down a busy market street where there were zero other tourists, but definitely more than zero cats ;)
 
the seven golden doors of the royal palace were quite the sight to see. can you tell that i considered ian my maternity photographer throughout this trip?! (haha!) our little thirty three week baby bump had quite the adventure in morocco!
 
 
we spent our last morning in fes at this really peculiar place called glaoui palace. it’s this suuuuper random and very run down old building that a friend recommended we check out … and i totally loved it. it’s unclear who runs the place, and turns out people actually still live there (we met a live-in artist and his son) and there’s just stuff kind of lying around all over. but i just found it all so full of character and beauty and weird charm.
 
 
 
we took a bus that afternoon up into the rif mountains to the little town of chefchaouen, which i think is one of the very, very most special spots on earth.
pics from there coming next!