After another day of travelling, Vincent and I found ourselves at a fancy little hotel in Fes called Dar Al Ouali. We payed less than we would in Paris or Barcelona, but we still sought out a better deal today. Although our first night spoiled us with air conditioning, hot water and a private bathroom for under 15 euro, we decided to move locals and take a room at the Hotel Cascade. Hotel Cascade is a larger hotel with two amazing terasses and friendly international guests. We had the choice to sleep on the terasse for only 50 dirma (5 euro) but we decided to put a roof over our heads for the first night for 9 euro each per night (180 dirma, breakfast included).
A view from room 8 at Hotel Cascade
Regardless of a tiresome day of waiting in line at the airport, and regardless of the really sketchy un-authorized taxi driver that brought us into the city for 50 dirma instead of 120, we decided to walk the streets for a little bit. As expected, the husteling is absolutely incredible. Each salesmen will latch on as soon as you make eyecontact (thanks Campbell for the heads up etc, oh and your friend Charli from Notre Dame says bonjour) so after an hour or so we decided to hit the sack.
This morning, Sunday May 10, we started out the day with some deep-fried dough, and sought out an official guide. Missourri, a 66 year old Moroccan soon found us, and was more than willing to give us a three hour tour of Fes. This energetic, turban bearing, crazed Moroccan native took us all over the city of Fes. From Boujeloud to all of the mosques, to the tanneries and lunch at the best place in the city, the old character cracked jokes and laughed for the entirety of the five hour tour. That being said, the Moroccan gentleman stayed true to the initial agreement of 100 dirmas even though the tour last 2 more hours than agreed upon- he even treated us to tea; Vinny had special tea made for him to help cure his queasy stomach. The tanneries were gross but at the same beautiful and we both agreed that view and escape from the claustrophobic maze-like city was more than welcome.
In general, everything here is cheap. 2L bottle of water is $0.75 CAD, Softdrinks are $0.45, dinner is $4.50, and the excitement of a completely different society is no doubt priceless.
Cedar thatching provides cover from the scortching Moroccan sun
I'm calling Thalid's sister tonight to find out if there are any more must sees, and if not, tomorrow morning we'll leave for Moulay Idriss and Meknes.
Vinny and I hope to meet up with JP, Sean, Taylor and Caitlin from Kabul in Barcelona somewhere along the line in Morocco, so chances are, I'll be on the internet more frequently than before in hopes to organize some sort of rendez-vous.
A view during our lunch
Oh, and my FCBarcelona jersey seems to be a hit here, sometimes even causing verbal disagreements between the Real Madrid fans and Barcelona fans that seem to populate the narrow city streets.
Spectacular colours and comments. Thank Vinnie for the Mother's Day reminder. Mom was thrilled and Granny was excited with the update. I showed Granny the blog yesterday, it's pretty good even on dial-up and I'm with Bachan now. She's thrilled and wishes you and Vinnie well and wants you to make sure you're careful. Glad you bought the FCB jersey, it'll make a good souvenir. That gives you a Euro soccer team to root for. Take care, love the updates and the pictures continue to amaze.
ReplyDeleteGoing to forward your blog link to Norma and the other Anuts & Uncles, they were feeling left out I think.
ReplyDeleteHere's the headline on BBC Sports tonight: Barca claim Spanish league title
ReplyDeleteBarcelona claimed their 19th Spanish league title without kicking a ball after title-rivals Real Madrid lost 3-2 at Villarreal on Saturday.