I am feeling kinda homesick in this proud moment. I wish I could be there to join the celebration at home.
Either way my heart is overflowing with joy for my brother and is overflowing in little salty tears (that may be the tiredness and bright sun in part too) This may be interesting to explain if any of my fellow tour mates notice.
Congratulations Jo! You have made us all proud!
It maybe to cold and early for animals so only rocks and old houses dot the landscape with the mountains shadowed on the horizon. Most people on this bus are sleeping or reading.
There is also the odd Juniper tree plantation (sorry not G&T's found here) and olive grove. I on the other hand am looking out for power lines. Yeah yeah geek-alert...
So we finally arrived in Fes and drove to our hotel in the old town. The hotel is one of the prettiest we have been at with mosaics and fountains and courtyards and balconies. My room was also pretty with painted wooden doors but smelt like some horrible middle ground between tomatoes, eggs and tuna.
We drove into the new town and had a very pleasant dinner at a simple modern city style pizza place. I had the tuna and onion pizza which was delicious.
Today we were due to spend the who day discovering Fes.
First we met the tour guide at the gate to the King's Palace. The gate actually has 7 different entrances representing the seven days of the week with the central biggest most ornate one being for Friday - the islam holy day.
Then we walked through the Jewish quarter and past the entrance to the Muslim Quarter. Weirdly the shops right by the Palace gates (a major tourist attraction) were very ordinary and common local people oriented - mattress shops and appliances and a green grocer.
According to the tour guide, the Muslims and Jews live in peace in this country because they are all Moroccan and the Jews left only to respond to the call to return to Israel. This is a pretty cool thing if what they say is true.
Perhaps they save all their disagreement energy for the Algerians.
Then we drove up a steep hill to a military post to take pictures of the overview of the medina. The medina is characterised by tall square buildings close together and narrow streets and many many many satellite dishes.
If my facts are correct, I think Fes medina is the biggest car-free zone in the world. (this does not mean the air in there is clean and fresh on the nose)
The Medina is ENORMOUS and only the locals know how to not get lost in it... Well even the locals Sometimes get lost.
Then we drove down the hill to a ceramic factory to see how the tiles and mosaics and crockery is made. The ceramic factory is outside the Medina due to the smoke from the kilns and the smell. I may or may not have spent a chunk of my holiday money there.
Then we finally drove down the hill and walked into the Medina (after a serious talk about not getting lost and watching out for criminals and pickpockets and not buying from funny looking people.)
First we hustled through the streets and stopped past a few pretty historic sites to finally reach the famous 14th century leather tannery. (which smelt so bad, the factory shops automatically give you springs of mint for free to push close to your wrinkling nose) I may or may not have spent another chunk of my spending money on some really beautiful awesome leather shoes.
Then we walked across to a factory where fabric made of cotton and or silk and or wool and or velvet is made. The fabric was very beautiful and I nearly spent my months salary on sheets and curtains and tables cloths and pretty other things until I realised that I don't have a months salary with me and it would just silly. The salesmen took head scarves and made Berber head dresses for us (think Lawrence of Arabia) and photos were taken.
I picked out some pretty scarves for some lady persons I am fond of and was then lured upstairs to the kaftanand djellaba shop. I bargained my way (with help entirely from the tour leader) into a pretty cool but uncheap Moroccan ladies shirt. So fashionable!
Then as Fes is famous for good food, we went to a great restaurant for lunch and had a chicken pie whose name I cannot say (pastilo? passilo? pastio?) it had cinnamon and sugar on top, crispy pastry, and chicken and almonds and other savoury filling inside. It was an odd mix of flavours about so so delicious.
We also stopped past a mosque to peer in at the door (nonMuslims are not allowed in) and visited the oldest university in the world and visited a Koranic School.
All these places were beautiful but in a years time it will be a blurred memory of very artistic colourful mosaics, carved cedar wood, plaster and marble.
Finally we went back to the bus and drove to the Blue Gate which is the main entrance to the Fes Medina.
Tonight, very little planned but the hotel walls are sure to ring of the wails of the 9 women on my tour trying to repack their bags before we leave for the desert tomorrow.
I am way way excited for the desert. Might not update blog until we get back tho...
So today was a busy busy expensive day. But if I can get it all inside my suitcase... It will definitely be worth it.
Day 4 complete :)
The view shows 7 minarets that were built. There used to be 8 minarets but one fell down in February because it was old. You can see the motor way curving around the hills and around the old city (medina).
The main gate of the medina is decorated with green to symbolize the mint tea that Meknes is famous for and blue to symbolize Fez which is the big city that we are travelling to next. The tour leader says that Meknes is in the shadow of Fez. The old men sit under the trees on the one side of the gate and play cards. The old women sit on the other side of the gate and we assume, complain about the men. (this according to the tour leader)
Now we hit the road again and are travelling towards Fez where we will spend two nights. The driver has tuned into a local radio station for some Moroccan road trip music. Doo dee doo dee doo... Yeah!
You have to appreciate the skills of the ancient romans. We saw evidence of hot tubs, fish ponds, sewage disposal, toilet facilities and sliding doors for privacy.
The only chap in the group was tricked into sitting on a stone that was part covered by the tour guide jacket. The jacket was then removed to reveal a carved phallic symbol much to the amusement of the the girls in the rest of the group. The phallic symbols were used in streets to point people to the brothel. Ill leave your imagination to figure out the kind of pointer.
We then stopped off to take in the view of the Zarhlun Valley and be alternately verbally abused and seranaded by a man selling stones and curios.
The appeal of the view is it combines the clean whites and greens of the olive growing mediterranean and the artistic beauty of the mosques and arab architecture. Along with the occasional goat and chicken.
Now to lunch! Beef couscous with vegetables... Mmmm.
It seems like a good time for reflection... Or sleeping, You can only have so many blurry pictures of sheep and donkeys on a green carpet background as the road whizzes past.
The Mausoleum was another beautiful structure of craved wood and fountains and multicoloured marble and intricate tile work.
We have seen a lot of cats around in Morocco. The tour leader explained to us that the cat is seen as a clean animal and has religious significance.
Now the Mausoleum is adjacent to a half complete mosque structure that was constructed in the 12th century. This has a partially crumbling wall around it that has holes in it I assume for old school ventilation. These holes are perfectly sized for pigeon nests.
As we were wandering about the area in front of the Mausoleum, we saw a cat had some how scaled a wall fragment about 3m up and was trying to stalk some pigeons. I have no idea how it got up or how it will get down. I assume the part of the cat doing through thinking is it's belly and when it's hungry for something on the ground it's belly will tell the cat's feet how to defy gravity and it will slither down like a lizard.
We then left Rabat and got on the road to eventually land up in Fez tonight. (we'll be stopping off along the way)We took the motorway for a bit and have now taken an alternate route through some rural part of Morocco to see more of the locals in passing.
It is weird because the structures and the scenery looks a lot like rural South Africa except the woman in the houses and hanging up strings of washing and the men walking down the road are all Arab... It's a little odd for me because I never see Arab looking people in rural areas in South Africa... And I then had a special moment feeling realising I am in a foreign country. This is far away from my home. Way Cool!!!
