http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Morocco , F s Boulemane en-us Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:51:14 BST Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:51:14 BST I arrived in Morocco several days ago now and I want to say Welcome back to the sights smells and tastes of the 3rd World On Friday the 19th we boarded the Tanger Jet for the supposed 100 pm departure for Tangiers. While waiting we received an announcement that due to mechanical problems we would have to take the 300 pm ferry instead. It felt like a refugee exodus with everyone luggi http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-326279.html 8 Sep we explore Meknes in the morning including a panoramic view of the old town Thursday's Gate Bab Agnou the main entrance to the medina lake Meknes Palace and the mausoleum of Moulay Idriss II the son of the Iraqi who brought Islam to Morocco in the 7th century AD. We wander round the souk which has numerous stalls selling dates sweet sugary pastries fruit veg dead animals butc http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-325885.html Just to let Dad know and the rest of you obviously I'm safe and quite well enjoying the city of Fes with its ancient archutecture sprawling Medinas and ridiculour number of donkeys. Unfortunatly my phone is entirely out of credit so I can't reply the conventional way but instead must post it here for all the world to see. Fortunatly Google has the world busy with all manner of more intere http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-315656.html NORTHERN MOROCCOWe travelled from Livingstone to Johannesburg and then connected overnight to Madrid and on to Casablanca Morocco. Very long trip.We were met by our driver for the next week and drove from Casablanca through Meknes and on to Fez for the start of our Morocco adventure. Our accommodation in Fes was at a Ryad. These are former very large houses for rich families that are now being http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-313844.html Bonjour mes amis im almost fluent en francias now the grade c gcse is doing me proud...Since i last wrote been up to quite a bit. Popped into a little town called chefchouen on the way to fez where i had some pretty cool days. Its a nice place very chilled nice scenery etc. There I walked up a couple of mountains thats all one of which was to gods bridge. awesome walk worked up a monster o http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-309456.html Meknes 'Friendliest city in Morrocco' according to the guide book my arse Next train to Fes please...I'd been in Fes 5 years ago and was keen to go back. It didn't disappoint. We arrived in Fes at FEStival time the city was buzzing People Donkeys 1 dead and taxis filled the streets and music mostly pretty ordinary filled the air. We spent our days wandering and getting lost in the larges http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-309435.html Coucou tout le monde Nous avons quitt le chantier hier matin c'tait un peu triste.... Nous sommes maintenant Immouzzer un petit village dans la montagne prs de Fs. Le climat est plus supportable qu' Fs et les paysages sont magnifiques. Nous sommes hbergs par un des volontaires Ali et ce soir il nous emmne visiter Fs Ce matin nous tions Ain Sultan petite rivire sous les http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Imouzzer-Kandar/blog-306720.html I have heat exhaustion. Who could have guessed that the Haiku would predict so well I am melting.I am an idiot who runs around hundreds of the 9500 little streets in the chaos that is the Fassi medina and fails to buy water because I am basically a cheap traveling hobo.Two days ago I arrived in Fes and quickly ran into some guy who showed me to my current abode the house of this very cute Be http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-304823.html A Canadian in Fez a Haiku by Stacey Watermandoes not last long. theymelt like a snowman on ahot Calgary day.Ah I would leave it like that but i promised people details. In the past couple daysI finally wrenched myself free of Essaouira. twas sad but twas time.Essentially woke up right when the bus was about to pull out of Casablanca station. Divine intervention let me tell you as the t http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-304357.html Day 22Sorry to skip ahead but we finished our day here in Fes and I couldn't wait to let it all stream out of my head...the wedding will have to waitIt's hard to know where to start. This city is unreal. It is the oldest city in Morocco and the dirt and dust and a bit of the magic of hundreds of years has settled upon it. The streets are deep and dark and cool with walkways anywhere from two f http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-303255.html Well. we left the beautiful town of Azrou. and are now in the big city of Fez. We decided to do the one hour trip in what is known as a Grand Taxi French for Big Taxi. It was neither big nor grand. It cost us only a few bucks apiece and was an old Benz sedan. There are two front seats and three in the rear. We arrived to find two women in the back so Cosmina joined them and I took the http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-302331.html a world so close to Spain and the rest of Europe but at the same time so different and distant. the travel started in husseling Tanger after a tireing and long boat trip from Algeciras Spain. After one night we went south and spent another 2 in Chefchouen. A blue village. Now in Fez en at 1 we got to Casablanca. Not much time must hurry. Soon backx http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-298337.html Will post info soon just wanted to highlight sunrise from the roof of our hotel.This morning I got up for sunrise and just missed it but I hope to catch it tomorrow. I still tookk some great shots one of which is included. I did it lone nd still testig out my camera... I'm a lil late yes. We found an internet cafe that was 7dhhr. Thanks to a crppy spacebar I spent 8dh but still not much. Eve http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-277892.html I have made the attempt but Fez renowned as an historical and cultural center of Morocco insists on keeping her charms hidden. I have sat in cafes among men in the square by Bad Bou Jeloud the seat of the action according to my guidebook drinking overpriced mint tea and banana milkshakes watching tour groups arrive and depart. I have trudged up and down the streets of the medina attempt http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-269292.html Tuesday 29 January 2008Stepping onto the pier it was now the first time either of us had set foot on African soil well concrete anywayThe docks were chaos. There were people trucks boats cars and MORE people going every which way. There wasnrsquot really any signage at all to speak of so we just followed the crowd who were in turn following people who looked like they were official in so http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-268070.html Morocco was amazing... by far my favorite trip of the semester. We went through a travel agency called Discover Sevilla that is kind of based toward study abroad students so we went with a group of about 100 with along with 4 people that work at the agency most of which had studied abroad in Sevilla and came back to work there after they graduated college... and then there was the main guy David http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/blog-266345.html Morocco or as I used to spell with a bonus r Morrocco was an entirely different universe. The trip was a 6 day whirlwind of different foods old cities arabic sand camels and seemingly countless bus trips.the very first thing that got me after the ferry ride when we were in Tangiers was the writing. It was weird first getting to Sevilla and seeing stuff in Spanish and then in Barcelona wh http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-266337.html So I went to Morocco for my spring break and it was quite an adventure I went with an organized group and toured Morocco from Tangiers to Rabat Fes other smaller towns and to the Sahara Desert.I promise to write more later but I thought Id at least get the photos up.Sorry that I have been a horrible person and not written... silly school keeps taking up all my time Expect long entries soo http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-260379.html March 14 2008This morning came very quickly as Julie and I had to leave home at 500 am 430 wakeup for me to catch the bus around 545 for out 600 departure. Bus ride 1 was a little over 2 hours and took us to Algeciras Spain to catch the ferry across the Mediterranean Sea. That was the first time I have been on a ship that big but due to the little sleep I had had I slept most of the http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-259154.html Here are some of the things we were up to in Fes. The photos are of the Medersa Madrassa Bou Inania a beautiful 14th century religious school in the Fes el Bali medina. http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-258942.html Welcome to our new blog. We were blogging on blogger.com but ran into problems when we were in Morocco and looking after a bit of searching around we found this site which we will be using from now on. This entry describes some of the tanneries we saw in Fes last week. We tried to put this up on blogger but it got a bit overwhelmed. Which is just how we felt when confronted with the powerful smell http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-258935.html WOW thats all I can say.. From the beaches of Rio to the shores of Tangier there could not be two more opposite places. I had never been in a Muslim country before and what a shock. Morocco is a bit intence at first well all the time really but you get used to it after a few days from the venders to the friends you meet on the street who just want to help a tourist out for a small price. http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-255920.html I forgot to mention in the March 4th entry just as I'd been thinking about how I would be better off interacting with people in an English or Spanish speaking country I ran into a German girl who spoke English. All 105 pounds of her walking alone in the medina completely lost genuinely seemed more thankful for my company than I for hers which was a good feeling. She's studying in Malaga now http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-255198.html I'm not going anywhere for a while just enjoying Fes. I'd like to just spend four days thinking and wandering. I want to ponder whether I'm doing enough to better myself at the moment. I suppose I need to just relax but I really don't want to end up feeling like I've wasted time. What am I doing here besided seeing stuff and interacting with people I would have much more fulfilling interac http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-255191.html I set out for a walk around the city outside the medina and the hotel areas and spent about three hours enjoying the scenery. When I decided to head for the train station and Fes I got an offer from a local to ride on the back of his bike. He was a vet with a lame right arm from a bullet he took in the battle for Western Sahara. We exchanged stories about our tatoos and he showed me the book h http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-255182.html So the guy I've been buying my fruit from was out of bananas today and without missing a beat he had the guy diagonal from him throw his two largest oranges and two largest bananas in a bag and I was out of there in ten seconds with a big smile. Also today harkening back to a conversation I had with Dylan whereby we agreed that eclairs aren't donuts I finally had an eclair today. It was delici http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-254755.html After a couple of days in Meknes we went to the train station and while talking to and petting a cat struck up a conversation with a well dressed man by the name of Rida. He told us he was an engineer from Fez just returning home and that he would be pleased if we could meet him for some tea at 1800 that night and gave us a shred of paper with the name of a restaurant scribbled on it. We got http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-253784.html