“You took a lot of pictures today?” I asked, trying to keep the surprise out of my voice.

“On our walk,” Dad replied.

“Our walk” is, of course, the tour that I took my family on. (Think: Dad navigated and I just read from the guidebook.) Our walk took us through Fes Jdid, or New Fez. We started at Point 1, which was a long walk from the nearest Medina gate. It was warm (first time in two days), and my down jacket with the guidebook in a pocket was hanging over Mom’s arm to protect her sore, swollen, sensitive hand.

We started the official tour at the palace gates.

“Made in the Andalusian-Moroccan style, this gate was built in the sixties.”

“Nineteen-sixties?”

“I don’t know! The book just says ‘sixties!’”

That’s how most of the tour went—me mindlessly quoting the book and Mom asking for more detail.

We ended up at the Moulay Hassan Square, where we interrupted a game of soccer just to get to the center. From the center, we could see Bab Sbâa (Lion Gate) and Bab Sagma, which is named after the pious Amina Sagma. She was buried there in 1737.

Dar Makina forms part of the square’s high walls. It was the weapons factory ordered to be built by Sultan Moulay Hassan I in 1888. The factory was designed by Italian architects. Another Italian part of the square was the gondola, randomly sitting in a corner. Cats (some fat and some not) were huddled around it—trying to keep warm?

As we walked toward Bab Sagma (we’d come in Bab Sbâa) a man, who had been standing by the gate, came towards us, telling it was forbidden. We’re not sure what was forbidden, but he let us out the huge gate anyway.

Ciao!