Batha Fes

After a pleasant breakfast spent discussing eyebrows, it was back on the coach for the drive north into the hills to visit the Holy city of Moulay Idriss. Named after Morocco's most revered saint, and creator of the Arab dynasty, it remains a place of pilgrimage. A sign over the entrance to the city, written in French, declares "Entry forbidden for non-Muslims." During the day this applies to the centre of Moulay Idriss. At night it applies to the whole town. The Mausoleum of Moulay Idriss is...

Day 5 of the tour and we had already covered many miles and savoured countless wonderful sights. My mind was reeling with historical facts, delivered in a brief yet informative manner by our fantastic guide, Mohammed. It was our second day in Fes and one I was particularly looking forward to . After viewing Fes El Bali (the old city) from the North Borg tower yesterday afternoon, we were going inside the walls of the infamous Medina. Horror stories abound concerning this massive maze of narro...

We were taken back to the hotel and had a free afternoon but first needed to eat. A couple of the guys from the group mentioned a nice restaurant they had visited last night which was only a 5 minute walk away so we decided to go there for a quick lunch. Cara the teacher, and Leoni, an Aussie living in Africa joined us, the guys striding out purposefully in front. Cara, who had also gone to the restaurant last night, voiced concern within 2 minutes that we were not going the right way. This c...

Our last day in Marrakesh was an enjoyable one made up of simple pleasures. The local pastry lady remembering who we were and scaring away the children trying to get something out of us. A little boy introducing himself to us and all he wanted was a bit of conversation. He was one of the nicest people we have met here. I don't know if we should call it a pleasure or just an experience, but we ate at one of the little hole in the wall food stall. It smelt so good we couldn't resit. It also loo...

Fez is the spiritual and cultural capital of Morocco, and it was here that I was finally able to experience the exotic Morocco I had been looking forward to. Having previously had a tantalisingly brief visit to Tangiers in Morocco, as a day trip from Spain, it was the other-worldliness of the food and spice markets that had inspired further travel to the country. The medina at Fez provides one of the greatest opportunities in the world to explore a preserved medieval Islamic city. It is not m...

Bill of the hotel: 2 double rooms for 2 nights, 2 meals at the restaurant of the hotel, something like 10 bottles of cold water (it's really hot) adds up to around 1200Dh=120€. That means 30 euros/person fo the two nights and the meals!!!Really good quality/price!! We start our way again and make a first stop at Ouazzanne or maybe Ouazanne, depends on where you read it. The town is like going back into the medieval ages, it's very small, in one hour you've taken a walk around the whole t...

Oh no! My intestines! As soon as I wake up I run to the toilet... bad, bad day, some fever, and the whole day running between the toilet and the bed, (I can hardly stand up witout getting dizzy). I take some Loperamide but it doesn't do much except give me a stomachache. Gonzalo and Tato are more or less the same, only Angel has kept himself fit. So we have to stay another day in Fes, during which I only sleep (fever makes so sleepy) and run to the toilet. Gonzalo's a little better and he tak...