Blogs from Fès-Boulemane, Morocco, Africa - page 7

Today we explore Fes. There is an old section from the 9th century and a "new" Fes from the 14th century. The new, new town is on the outskirts. We visited the palace from the 14th century, still used by members of the Royal family so we could only see the outside. There are 7 huge gates because 7 is a lucky number in Islam. However, the highlight of the day was spending about 3.5 hours walking through the 9th century medina or marketplace. Fes is known for this medina. It was crazy! Narrow alleys, 9400 to be exact, that wound through the place like a maze. If you didn't know where you were going, you might as well just sit down and hope some nice person comes along. There is a meat section, vegetable section, ... read more

Prispeli na letališče in... kaj sedaj? Čakali smo približno 20 minut na avtobus, šli nanj in nismo vedeli, kaj naj pričakujemo. Do centra je bilo približno 20km, vmes pa smo videli vse: blišč in bedo - na ducate luxuznih apartmajev popolnoma praznih. Po drugi strani pa ljudje živijo v razpadajočih stavbah... ceste so brez označb in večine pločnikov ni, samo ogromni jarki, in nič ne kaže na to, da bo jih kdo v prihodnje zasul... Prispeli smo do centra mesta in se vsedli na kavo, ker smo nujno rabili WiFi, da sploh najdemo naš hotel... Nato pa po zelo zabavni panoramski vožnji z taksijem, kjer cestnih pravil preprosto ne upoštevajo, smo prispeli v majhen hotelček. Prvi vtis: ljudje so neverjetno prijazni, shandlaš lahko čisto vse, in stvari so relativno poceni. Trenutno uživamo ob vročem metinem čaju ... read more

Morocco 31 Aug to 8 Sept 2013 WE have just returned from Morocco so here is the story of our adventure. I will send it in 3 sections. After flying out of Madrid Airport at 12.20pm and flying over the Strait of Gibraltar, we arrived in Casablanca, Morocco at 1.10pm. After about ½ hour we saw the Insight Travel person who was to take us to the city. We had to wait for several other passengers coming on other flights and left the airport at 3.00pm. One couple that was coming on the tour with us was from Brisbane and Tom worked with him and I had an association with him through Greening Australia (Tom Crothers). We were driven 14kms to the Sheraton Hotel in Casablanca. Our 1st impression was of a very tired city that ... read more

Today, Dave and I decided we wanted to check out the 2nd largest city in Morocco - Fes. Mike decided he wanted to get back to Spain so Dave and I took the train to Fes from Marrakech at 9am (just about made it as it as per usual - Dave is now known as 'Mr Faffy' or 'Faffy number 2' by the way). It was a 7 hour train ride, however took longer as we were delayed by an hour and a half due to an accident - the train had hit a car! :-/ Coming out of the station was lovely and sunny. It also was very much cleaner and less polluted than Marrakech and not a donkey in site! There was less hassle from the people and we enjoyed a stroll around the ... read more

We are now in a luxury riad, but still paying 50 euros/night....the staff here is wonderful: much laughter and helpfulness! We spent time on the roof terrace today, then in a rooftop restaurant, and then hiked up to the ruins of the tombs on a hill outside the walls. In between, we walked through the Medina again and visited the largest merdersa, which is one of the few places in the country where non-Muslims can enter a building that is still used for prayer. After our hike up the hill, I returned alone to the Medina, strolling down one of the main passageways, and wandering off into some of smaller side streets and squares. I ended up at the henna square, which we had visited yesterday. It was once the site of the first psychiatric hospital ... read more