Fez

Thursday, January 12, 2017
Fès, Fès-Boulemane, Morocco
We arrived to Fez after our desert trip for a 3 night stay at a 17th century palace turned Riad. There's a large courtyard and multiple sitting areas with fireplaces and winding stone staircases that go up and up to the rooftop terrace. Everything here is stunning, with supersize wooden doors, carved stone and brightly colored tiles. There is a tall stone wall surrounding the old city we're staying in. The streets may be even more confusing than Marrakech, but there are no cars, motorbikes or bicycles allowed in the Medina so that helps.

We've been enjoying eating a puffed pastry sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar, stuffed with vegetables and what we thought was chicken . We've liked it several places and recently made the mistake of asking what all was in it, learning that the local delicacy we've been enjoying is pigeon. Michael and Dean ate a camel burger today, comparing it to buffalo meat. All in all the food has been excellent. Lots of tangines, covered clay pots baked with meats and potatoes and carrots, eggplant dishes, olives, and plenty of breads to fill up on.

Fez has brought a few more days of wandering the crazy Medina. Because of the Islamic religion, it's been difficult to find anywhere that serves alcohol, but we did stock up on several bottles of wine in the new part of the city before we got here. There are a few restaurants outside of the wall that serve it as well. Everywhere makes their mojitos with lemons instead of lime, which have been really good. We stumbled upon a beautiful 1000 year old cemetery, took a taxi up to view the city from old ruins, then walked back down. We were entertained by a herd of sheep crossing a major thoroughfare and returned for a second time today to a lush park, full of palm trees, flowers, cacti, planted herbs and spices and walking paths.

Tami and I found another yoga class this morning (taught in a combination of French and English from a woman with a Spanish accent) and after filling up on a big breakfast, we're about to take off to Vilubilis-an old Roman ruin and Moulay Idriss-an Islamic holy city then to Meknes (about an hour away) for 1 night before continuing on to Casablanca. Everywhere we've stayed has been incredibly hospitable and everyone wants to make sure we are happy.

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jpstarshine
2017-01-12

2025-02-11

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