So - its day 2 in Fez...I just typed out what I wrote before Fez...and now I'll go from there. Basically - after Volubilis. I know I wrote a bit yesterday - but I'll repeat some of that :P
So its Tuesday (Nov 29). We didn't end up making it to Fez Sunday night. After Volubilis it was too late to keep driving (we got lost on the way to Volubilis) so we just pitched camp nearby. So we got into Fez around mid-day and met Callum - or Fassi guide. He's a bit of a shady character, but it seems all Moroccan guides are. He hopped in the bus and we saw the Royal Palace, the Jewish quarter (which included the synagogue and cemetery) and then we took the bus to one of the fortresses outside of town. There were some lovely views but Callum was a shit guide and didn't explain much of anything!!! Blah!! And then...everything got all messed up and confused. They were supposed to drop us off in town - for anyone that wanted to go to the hammam or just walk around the city centre. We basically drove and drove and drove and drove and finally we ended up in some strange part of town and there was a local hammam. I'm sure Callum got his kickback there. So a few of us girls went in there. The rest went on to the campsite because of course we were no where near the part of town anyone wanted to see!! But the hammam was an interesting experience. Of course they only spoke Arabic and we just plunked down our money and were led inside. We all figured that we had to strip down to our underwear and then stood around looking at each other Finally someone gave us baskets for our stuff to put behind the counter and pointed us back. Basically - there was a lot of wandering about looking lost! But it was a nice experience. There were a lot of local women there washing. And friends go and take turns washing each other. Its very social. A little row of old ladies hanging out...very nice. Anyways - we were pointed to a corner and motioned to sit while some ladies filled up big buckets of water. Then we were each assigned a big half naked woman (mine had super hairy legs) and she started scrubbing us down. All the dirt and gunk coming off is amazing!! I can't believe I was that dirty!!! So they scrub you down on the marble floor - which is heated. Its a bit rough but I like it - it feels luxurious to have someone wash you - even if you are just laying on a dirty floor in a dirty Moroccan town :P
Well - unfortunately not everyone enjoyed it. Hiekke (however you spell her name) is a crazy German woman - she was super upset because they didn't wash her hair properly. So all she could do was whine about that and how she would have to go back to the campsite and shower. And then crazy Toni thought we were getting massages (like proper table massages) so that caused like10 minutes of frantic discussion with the ladies...ahhh!! What a mess. But I was happy. Then Toni and I went to the internet cafe and lunch where I wrote the other post. Then I went to meet Geoff and Eti in the Fez Medina for dinner and to get a room for the night! Its a very basic hotel with shared toilet and shower, but I slept like a brick and hopefully the guy is having our laundry done today. And since it was nice and sunny it should all be dry (fingers crossed)!! We tried to have a walk around the Medina last night but it is SUPER confusing!! And of course we look like tourists so every junkie around comes out to try to lead us somewhere. Eti doesn't like them at all and had a bit of a tiff with one of them for leering at me and saying something sleazy! Anyways - we gave up trying to walk around and find a restaurant that the guide book recommends and just ate in a touristy one next to the hotel.
This morning we woke up and had an AMAZING breakfast over-looking the city. We had some traditional Berber bread with homemade honey and orange juice! YUM!! Then Geoff went and found us a guide. We decided not to meet up with the group who were doing a city tour with Callum at 2:00pm. We set out on our own with Ahmed...our "official" guide. He basically led us on the tour of all the big shops where he would have gotten a commission had we bought one of the $1,000 rugs or a leather jacket or something. It was interesting to see, but we didn't get much actual information from the tour. Just a hassle free walk through the medina. At one point some little boys were following me and begging for money. After about 10 minutes Ahmed noticed and gave one a good cuff on the side of the head. LOL! OH!! The best part of the tour was Ahmed took us to his house. He lives inside the Medina!! So that was reallycool - to see inside of a medieval place that is actually still lived in. Its basically like 2 rooms on the ground floor with a ceiling over the main one that's open to the sky. His wife gave us some tea and we met his kids. It was very interesting. The house was ... well, not up to western standards and a mouse ran up the wall while we were sitting there- but it was super interesting to actually see a bit inside someone's life!
Ok- my time is almost up on the internet. I'm going to close this post off now. We are leaving probably super early tomorrow morning! We are heading to Todra Gorge tomorrow I think. Which is - well I don't know - something with some trekking and we'll be camping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todra_Gorge). Basically no internet access for a few days until I think its Marrakesh after that. So I'll be back online!!!!
So its Tuesday (Nov 29). We didn't end up making it to Fez Sunday night. After Volubilis it was too late to keep driving (we got lost on the way to Volubilis) so we just pitched camp nearby. So we got into Fez around mid-day and met Callum - or Fassi guide. He's a bit of a shady character, but it seems all Moroccan guides are. He hopped in the bus and we saw the Royal Palace, the Jewish quarter (which included the synagogue and cemetery) and then we took the bus to one of the fortresses outside of town. There were some lovely views but Callum was a shit guide and didn't explain much of anything!!! Blah!! And then...everything got all messed up and confused. They were supposed to drop us off in town - for anyone that wanted to go to the hammam or just walk around the city centre. We basically drove and drove and drove and drove and finally we ended up in some strange part of town and there was a local hammam. I'm sure Callum got his kickback there. So a few of us girls went in there. The rest went on to the campsite because of course we were no where near the part of town anyone wanted to see!! But the hammam was an interesting experience. Of course they only spoke Arabic and we just plunked down our money and were led inside. We all figured that we had to strip down to our underwear and then stood around looking at each other Finally someone gave us baskets for our stuff to put behind the counter and pointed us back. Basically - there was a lot of wandering about looking lost! But it was a nice experience. There were a lot of local women there washing. And friends go and take turns washing each other. Its very social. A little row of old ladies hanging out...very nice. Anyways - we were pointed to a corner and motioned to sit while some ladies filled up big buckets of water. Then we were each assigned a big half naked woman (mine had super hairy legs) and she started scrubbing us down. All the dirt and gunk coming off is amazing!! I can't believe I was that dirty!!! So they scrub you down on the marble floor - which is heated. Its a bit rough but I like it - it feels luxurious to have someone wash you - even if you are just laying on a dirty floor in a dirty Moroccan town :P
Well - unfortunately not everyone enjoyed it. Hiekke (however you spell her name) is a crazy German woman - she was super upset because they didn't wash her hair properly. So all she could do was whine about that and how she would have to go back to the campsite and shower. And then crazy Toni thought we were getting massages (like proper table massages) so that caused like10 minutes of frantic discussion with the ladies...ahhh!! What a mess. But I was happy. Then Toni and I went to the internet cafe and lunch where I wrote the other post. Then I went to meet Geoff and Eti in the Fez Medina for dinner and to get a room for the night! Its a very basic hotel with shared toilet and shower, but I slept like a brick and hopefully the guy is having our laundry done today. And since it was nice and sunny it should all be dry (fingers crossed)!! We tried to have a walk around the Medina last night but it is SUPER confusing!! And of course we look like tourists so every junkie around comes out to try to lead us somewhere. Eti doesn't like them at all and had a bit of a tiff with one of them for leering at me and saying something sleazy! Anyways - we gave up trying to walk around and find a restaurant that the guide book recommends and just ate in a touristy one next to the hotel.
This morning we woke up and had an AMAZING breakfast over-looking the city. We had some traditional Berber bread with homemade honey and orange juice! YUM!! Then Geoff went and found us a guide. We decided not to meet up with the group who were doing a city tour with Callum at 2:00pm. We set out on our own with Ahmed...our "official" guide. He basically led us on the tour of all the big shops where he would have gotten a commission had we bought one of the $1,000 rugs or a leather jacket or something. It was interesting to see, but we didn't get much actual information from the tour. Just a hassle free walk through the medina. At one point some little boys were following me and begging for money. After about 10 minutes Ahmed noticed and gave one a good cuff on the side of the head. LOL! OH!! The best part of the tour was Ahmed took us to his house. He lives inside the Medina!! So that was reallycool - to see inside of a medieval place that is actually still lived in. Its basically like 2 rooms on the ground floor with a ceiling over the main one that's open to the sky. His wife gave us some tea and we met his kids. It was very interesting. The house was ... well, not up to western standards and a mouse ran up the wall while we were sitting there- but it was super interesting to actually see a bit inside someone's life!
Ok- my time is almost up on the internet. I'm going to close this post off now. We are leaving probably super early tomorrow morning! We are heading to Todra Gorge tomorrow I think. Which is - well I don't know - something with some trekking and we'll be camping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todra_Gorge). Basically no internet access for a few days until I think its Marrakesh after that. So I'll be back online!!!!
loving your warts and all commentaries ;o)
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