Day 16 - Chefchaouen to Fes

---

From Chefchaouen we head to Fes. The driver picks us up at 10.30, we say goodbye to the Riad cat (Elroy) and head off.



The Riad in Fes is very nice, right on the edge of the Medina. It has 3 levels with an open courtyard in the middle. It serves alcohol which is a bonus. Given we have arrived early afternoon we need food. First up we head for Café Clock which is recommended in Lonely Planet. It’s a funky café which caters for a young crowd (like us). It has movie nights (the shining), cooking classes and jam sessions. Pretty good lunch and Gus has the camel burger. After lunch we explore the Medina and souks which are supposed to be amongst the best in Morocco. Despite an earlier agreement, no sooner is my back turned than Becs is in a pottery joint buying bowls and Constance is looking at handbags. The Chief Negotiator steps in and the shopkeeper’s tears have barely dried and Becs is walking out with some new bowls. The Fes souks, whilst still having the touristy shops, also have a lot of fruit and veg, meat and spices and there are more locals wandering around. It also doesn’t have the motor scooters/bikes weaving their way through the souk like Marrakesh which insane as there is wall to wall people and then a constant stream of guys on scooters pushing their way through. For dinner we went to a French/Moroccan restaurant called The Fez Cafe and had a bottle of Tandem which has become our favourite red, although it is a little on the expensive side. Morocco is pretty cheap for food. An average joint can probably see 4 of you fed with wine for about $150 (DHM1,100) if you want to go upmarket you’d struggle to pay more than say $350 even with a couple of bottles of wine. There is massive variation in Moroccan wine from cheapies (say $25 in a restaurant) to some pretty good wines like the Tandem Shiraz ($90). Given how confusing the Medina is most restaurants will send someone to get you and to take you home. But not the Whittles. We are expert and we made it to the restaurant without a mishap. On the way back we made the fatal mistake of trusting a child who starts to lead us down a lane. Luckily a local adult yells out to us that he is taking us the wrong way. The little bugger was probably leading us off to some white slave trade market. Over dinner we had discussed the lack of planning involved in the day’s sightseeing so we agree to an intensive sight seeing day tomorrow!

---