FEZ

I just returned to Al-Akhawayn from an overnight trip to Fez. I don't know what to say about it, other than the fact that it was crazy. Just crazy. I could go on and on about what happened, what I saw, and what I experienced but if I were to do that this entry would be too large for anyone to sit and read. So I'll give you the Mc-version of what happened (which will also be long...sorry).

Brian, Alex and I took a cab (Le Grande Taxi) from Ifrane to Fez yesterday afternoon. The cab, which would comfortably seat 5, seated 7. It was hot, we were hot, sweaty, and crabby.

It was a little less than an hour to Fez. the cab dropped us off at what seemed to be a central station for Le Grande Taxi's, only without any sort of building, organization or really any structured way of doing things at all. We peeled our selves out of the cab and began to walk, with no idea what-so-ever of where we were going or what we were doing. (Note:Fez is a city of 1million people and is very very hot).

We started walking and ended up asking directions from a boy named Abdullah. Abdullah was great. He didn't speak any english, but insisted on hanging out with us. He didn't try to lead us anywhere, just wanted to hang out. So we hung out with Abdullah for about an hour.

(Brian, Abdullah, Alex)

On our walk with Abdullah we passed a Hotel, which we decided to find again so we could have a place to stay for the night. The general plan was that we would get a room, get settled in, drop off our bags and take a cab (Le Petit Taxi) to the old part of Fez.

Fez is over 1400 years old and currently is the third largest city in Morocco. the city is seperated into two parts: New Fez-Al Medina Jedid, and Old Fez-Al Medina Bali. Old Fez is completely enclosed by a wall. I don't want to give you too much of the history of the town, but it's absolutely fascinating. I'll just show some picture and to a little comentary from here on out.


(Entrance to Al-Jedid)

Once we got into the old city, we were approached by a boy who wanted to guide us to the even older-inner part of the city. We were hesitant, but accepted, all in agreance that if any of us felt uncomfortable we would turn back. I can't remember our guides name, but he pointed out some things like an old Mosque:


(Brian, Alex, the kid in front of the Mosque)

The streets of old Fez were cramped and packed. A constant flow of people were constantly moving both directions with the occassional man leading a donkey or a scooter/moped. There was so much going on that I hardly got a chance to look at any of the shops. We had been walking for about 15 minutes when we decided that we had seen enough and wanted to get back. It was getting dark and were a little nervous of being in such a crowded area after dark.



(Streets of Al-Jedid)

So, we took a cab back to the hotel, watched tv, had dinner, and went to sleep.

The hotel we got was also emaculate.


(Waiting room in Hotel Mounia)



(Travel Gnome and Fez skyline from our room)

Well, that's all I'm going to post for now. This is already long enough and I need to start my homework. I'll be posting more photos and stories.