Drove down to Fes and walked the last few alleys to our riad on the edge of the Medina. It is known for it’s complex labyrinth of alleys and the (smelly) tannery pits. We had a local tour guide lead us through the maze and Aziz brought up the rear to keep us from lost.
Below is a door with kids hanging out watching the tourists go by. Note there are two round door knobs, friends knock on the lower one and tradesmen the upper left one. They produce different sounds alerting the residents as to who is at the door.
The tanneries were a bit of a letdown for me. It was late in the day and not much activity in the pits themselves. The surrounding buildings include shops with view points into the center. The guide selects a shop, you are given a short presentation and then shown an array of leather goods to shop. The dilemma always is; do I really like what I see and want to pay the premium or wait and chance it that I find a similar article elsewhere? I passed and bought a classic pouf for a quarter of the price, just to remind me of Morocco whenever I rest my feet on it.
Left Fes and headed south towards the Atlas mountains and the Sahara desert beyond that. Spent the night at a modern’ish hotel outside of a town known for cooler temperatures and a common escape from the summer heat below. One of those places that is recently built but lacks any sort of character, purely functional. We did get to walk to a nearby cedar forest and stretched our arms around the fattest tree we could find.
Merzouga, a dusty town on the edge of the Sahara and tourist gateway to the towering dunes of Erg Chebbi. The ritual is we mount our camels, ride for an hour or two to a standing camp. Spend the night and and then return to Merzouga for breakfast and a shower. Yes, the sand is everywhere and and gets everywhere.
On the out skirts of town we stop outside a store and Aziz asks: “who would like a head scarf for the desert”? Of course we jump out and select our favorite color and are now fully complete for our camel ride.
Just before sunset we make a stop and climb a small dune to view the sun sink below the horizon.
Our accommodations are spartan but good enough for an overnight in the Sahara. They serve us a nice dinner and then it’s a sing song around the campfire.
Next morning we again climb a nearby dune and wait for the sun to rise.
Now we wind our way westerly, over the mountains and down into Marrakesh.
Between the town of Ouarzazate and Marrakesh lies Ait Benhaddou, a fortified village (ksar) with the remains of a large fortified granary atop the hill behind it. The village is sparsely inhabited with shops lining the tourist route to the top of the hill.
We walked from the “modern” side across the Ounila River and through a windy collection of alleyways lined with vendors and photo ops.
Then on to Marrakesh, the tourist capital of Morocco. It’s like any other busy city with plenty of traffic as we approached the city center and our hotel. The main attraction is the old medina and it’s central square which also serves as an orientation for when one gets lost.
We had a tour of the surrounding, the Bahia Palace and a circuitous path through the medina.
We stayed on for an extra day to wander the alleys, buy a pouf, belt & T-shirts to remind us of our time in Morocco.
