Fez

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This post takes place from Friday 6/26 to Sunday 6/28

Friday

After our quiz MSJ went to the train station in the Agdal neighborhood in Rabat. We ate at a restaurant and had some really good cheeseburgers and then got on the train to Fez. We shared a car with two Moroccan men who listened to Arabic music over speakers. The ride was fairly uneventful, it was around 3 hours.

When we got to Fez we realized that we didn't have a map and had no idea where we were. We hailed a cab and asked him to take us to our hotel. He took us to the "blue door" and we were pretty sure that we were in the wrong part of the city. Sara called the hotel and told them where we were and yeah, we were on the opposite side of the city.

We got another cab and on the way around Fez (it kind of has a beltway) we made small talk in Fusha (formal Arabic). The guy asked if we were Muslim and Sara didn't get the question and told him yes. He was really happy and said something to us and we didn't respond at all so I think he knew we weren't Muslim. It was funny.

Once we got checked in at the hotel we went on a scenic tour by van around the beltway of a city which on the North and south sides of the city is elevated and gives a good panoramic view of the Medina. We then had dinner on a roof in the Medina, it was a very good day.

Saturday
The hotel arranged for a man named Abdul to take us through the Medina and our first stop was the tannery. It was an indescribable place, so I'll just put up the pictures. It was smelly and wet and crowded but very cool.

Then Abdul took us to a Bronze workshop where we saw how ornate bronze trays and plates are carved.

We then ended up having lunch in what could be described as a lavishly decorated hotel reception area. There were couches and mosaics and all kinds of decorations, the food was amazing. We then went to a tailor and watched how they make table cloths and stuff.

Everywhere Abdul took us we got to see how the crafts were made but the catch was that at the end of each thing we were basically dumped in the gift shop / showroom where we would be pressured to buy things.

Then we went by van again to a pottery factory, it was pretty cool too.

Sunday
We got up kind of late (9:30am) and left the hotel to go from the Medina to the new city. We ate lunch in McDonalds. A tour bus or something pulled up and the McDonalds was flooded with English speakers, which was weird.

We then sat on a bench in a small pavilion and read guidebooks to pick what to do next weekend. We then headed to the train station and changed our tickets to earlier ones b/c there was no reason to sit around in Fez for an extra hour.

When we got to the train platform we weren't really sure which car to get on so I asked a guy in Arabic and he lead us to the car. Once we were on, however, the tocket guy told us our car was all the way at the other end of the train. So we got off and began to walk down the platform. When we got near the end of the train the air brakes started coming off so we started to run. We jumped on board the train and the doors literally shut right behind us.

On the ride home I took a lot of pictures but they are kind of blurry cuz we were moving but they are still interesting. The train went by a lot of ghettos which were kind of walled in.

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