Blogs from Fès-Boulemane, Morocco, Africa - page 11

Our journey from Chefchaouen to Fes was much more comfortable and far less interesting than our first Moroccan bus journey! It took about 5 hours including a halfway break at a service area which included a 25 hour mosque and sheep carcasses. (The cooking skewers smelled delicious.) Arriving in Fes we negotiated our way into a petit red taxi to bring us to Funky Fes hostel in the Medina, on the off-chance that they had rooms free. They didn't but were very accommodating and told us to relax in their lounge, bringing us complimentary mint tea as they tried to sort something for us. It nearly worked out perfectly - we were going to stay in a nearby Riad for the night, then stay in Funky Fes Monday and Tuesday nights. But then it turned out ... read more

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive - (Robert Louis Stevenson) The real challenge of travel begins today because, after all, travel in French means adventure. We are hiring a car, heading south through the Middle Atlas Mountains and then onto the Sahara Desert. Right now The Sahara seems faraway and exotic. Firstly though, a greater challenge: the Moroccan Post. We walk in the front door and are immediately escorted to the back. The gentleman were incredibly official and speak perfect French (which was not to our advantage). Kathy is mailing some excess baggage so to speak. The package is weighed, scribbled on, searched, written about, spoken about and finally paid for. We have booked a car on the internet this morning over breakfast, we were told it was important to do this ... read more

Fes – The Medina (Tarsh) Lonely Planet describes the Medina of Fes as being an attack on the senses, and this is no exaggeration. Its intricacies of its layout are unfathomable. The source of its mystery and charm. The streets are dizzying with narrow, empty lanes dissolving into boulevards lined with markets bursting with colours and smells. Mosaic fountains introduce hidden mosques; stalls selling cashmere scarves or fine pottery are nestled in between butchers displaying heads of camels or bulls; decadent restaurants neighbour dingy coffee shops accommodating leering men lost among the clouds of smoke. Our attitudes towards tackling this maze of towering, honey-coloured walls fluctuate continuously throughout the day. We begin perhaps a little arrogant (considering ourselves seasoned travellers and all) but this arrogance quickly dissipates and we become completely overwhelmed. We ... read more

The wailing began at 5.37 am, the calling for prayers, and we are situated right next to the mosque. His singing is grand but ear piercing. It is quiet again at 6am. Would be quite scary if you didn’t know what it was. Breakfast consisted of pancakes, wheat cakes, yogurt, jam, tea and coffee. We have organised a guide for the day, Ali. He is going to show us around the medina. The medina is home to 350,000 people, over 9000 alleys and unknown number of souks (shops). You could easily become lost in here and be never found again. The Touts (shopkeepers) are very aggressive, yelling out to you as you pass by. Kathy keeps telling them she will be back tomorrow, their reply “Madam you promise you will be back tomorrow?” and in seeing ... read more

The medina - a 250-hectare honeycomb of 9,400 streets and alleyways;a warren of dog-leg passages and dead ends; 320 mosques, 5,000 furniture shops and 400,000 people. A map is no help at all. We saw an Italian man trying to scribble his own map at every turning - impossible - so many Mohammeds and Jalils wanting to show you the way, so many souks, shops, and hole-in-the-wall eateries. There are no street names, no ground plan. Better face it - you're on your own. We dived in headfirst. Part of the enchantment is getting lost. Looking for the Mokri Palace, we discovered nothing in reality corresponded to our map, and the three maps we had didn't correspond to each other. Two little boys ran up, schoolbags bouncing on their backs, all grins and eagerness, bounding puppy-dog ... read more