Blogs from Fès-Boulemane, Morocco, Africa - page 3

The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it. - Rudyard Kipling But a sprig of mint helps! More on that later. We woke up much more relaxed than yesterday, what with our three alarms, and I had a much appreciated lovely hot shower (no time for a shower yesterday what with waking up at 8 am). We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast here in the riad, with various fruit (melon, fig, pear, bananas, grapes), a yogurt smoothie drink, bread and olives, donuts, coconut cake, and egg made to order, plus good strong coffee and orange juice. It was a feast. We headed out about 9 am, picked up our local guide Aziz, and drove to “New” Fes”(dating back merely to the 13th C.). We stopped at the royal palace (every city has its ... read more

Since I was staying in a guest house in the medina, I spent most of my time in Fes inside the medina walls, usually lost, but I did venture outside a couple of times. For me, the easiest way to get out of - and back into – the medina was through the Bab Boujloud, sometimes referred to as the Blue Gate for its tilework. “Bab” means gate, and there are a number of them in the walls of the medina. My shortcut for remembering the name of this one was to remember it as Bab “Boogaloo,” which isn’t anywhere close to correct, but helped me remember the distinction between it and Bab Jdid. Musée du Batha Just a short distance outside the gate is Dar Batha, a museum housed in a nineteenth century palace. Of ... read more

Let me start by saying I am extremely fortunate to be able to travel the way I do. I have a great respect for all faiths, and of the people who practice their faith. I am well aware of the privilege I have of living in a place with clean water that comes out of the tap, and of not living in an active war zone. I know that my complaints fall under the heading of inconveniences, not problems, but still, some days… There are a few things I know I’m good at: I am a good researcher, I’m good at organizing and planning, and I can whip up a pretty good green curry chicken. But I failed to plan as I should have, and I also thought I knew enough to not have to research ... read more

Der Tag begann schon schlecht. Nieselregen. 8 °. Zuerst Bergstrecke, so dass man nicht vorwärts kam. Dann wurde es besser. Viele Dörfer. Überall lauerten Horden von Polizisten mit Radargeräten. In zwei Orten war eine Taxlerdemo. Ich war dann hinter John und Richard. John zog heraus, um zu überholen, hinter ihm kam einer daher, der ebenfalls überholen wollte. Auto rammt Motorrad. MR im Graben. Auto überschlägt sich zweimal. Erstaunlich: niemand ist wirklich verletzt. Aber dann beginnt der Zirkus. Polizei. Keiner will die Aussagen der Zeugen. Schließlich fahre ich weiter. Die Unfallbeteiligten wurden dann ins Kkh gebracht und untersucht, obwohl klar war, dass sie ok waren. Und dann wurden beide Parteien in ein Zimmer gesetzt um sich zu einigen. Das Auto war ein Mietauto, unversichert. John fühlte sich im Recht (?), der junge Autofahrer hat schlichtweg nicht so ... read more

Another interesting day . This morning we left Chefchouen and proceeded to drive through the Rif range of mountains to the Atlas range. It was nearly all agricultural land growing wheat , lentils and some hay . The land looks aMazingly rich and the fields were in various stages ofgrowth . Some soil newly turned , about to be turned , planted with growth ranging from inches ( the lentils)to knee high , the wheat . I saw only 2 tractors ! The plowing was done mostly with donkeys ,occasionally with a horses. It seemed to be a family affair..6_8people working in the field. The plots were all side by side, sometimes a narrow ditch separating them . It looked good in the sunshine and fresh air . There were a lot of olive orchards about ... read more