Welcomed Like a King in Fes

Typical Moroccan mint tea with sugar at Kasbah Restaurant near Bab Bou Jeloud
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The bus ride was long - more than 7.5 hours. It was incredibly scenic as we crossed the Riff Valley and mountains that divide northern Morocco from the central sections of the country. As you leave Tangier the terrain gets steadily steeper, and (suprising to us) it also remains very green and lush. Our bus, operated by CTM, was ok - although the aircon really battled in places and the interior temperatures did reach uncomfortable levels at times.

Our route took us through the mountain town of Chefchoeun - the one you often see on postcards in which the houses and buildings are all painted shades of blue. On balance we think we should have stayed a day or two - it is a really magical place...high in the mountains, quiet and peaceful (at least that was our brief impression and what we were told by other travellers) but our bus stopped for only a very brief break to take on new passengers. One piece of advice we did heed was never to drink the tap water in Morocco - so the stop gave us a quick chance to buy a few bottles of cold mineral water (always check the seals to make sure you're not just getting tap water in bottles!).

Scams and Schemes or Unfounded Suspicion?

With Edda and Claude at one of the many carpet co-ops in Fes
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One of the best parts of our bus ride was meeting a fellow travelling couple - Claude and Edda from Adelaide, Australia. We spent much of the 7.5 hours chatting and found that they were planning to take the same route as us - so we decided to join forces which turned out to be the start of a number of great shared adventures. We cannot recommend enough the value of being more than just two - you present a much less attractive target for vendors and chancers - and you boost each other's flagging patience and energy levels by sharing the experiences. We can honestly say that our enjoyment of Morocco was boosted tenfold by travelling with them.

Bus trip from Tangier to Fes
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We were also fortunate enough to befriend a local couple from Fes (welcome to the Blog Rajae) who introduced us, at one of the stops, to the local mint tea (VERY sweet, with a ton of fresh mint stuffed into the black tea to steep in the pot) and the local kefta (minced meat) kebabs.

Our first views of Fes were at sunset, and it stretched out across the horizon in all directions - clearly a very large city. We were struck by and curious about the masses of red Moroccan national flags that were flying on every street corner - but soon found out that they were there to mark the visit to the city by the King of Saudi Arabia who was dining that night with the King of Morocco in the palace at the center of the city. The result of this concentration of royals was a number of street closures which made our lives MUCH more complicated. Our bus was unable to get anywhere near the terminus, so it just stopped on the side of a random side-street and we were all told to get off! Our new friends from Fes kindly pointed us in the right direction to try to get a taxi to our hotel in the Old City, but we couldn't find one. After trying to get help from a number of the very numerous police, we finally found two who were very sympathetic and who informed us that the walk to the hotel would be more than 5km!! They had little luck though in getting a taxi - since all were being used - but we did have the good luck to run into Mohammed - a really friendly local who happened to be heading in that direction in the car of his visiting Canadian friend, Maxi. They were really kind and offered us all a ride and their help in finding a hotel.

Surprisingly green Morocco!
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I must admit here, even knowing that this may also be read by some of our Moroccan friends, that I was immediately alert for a scam. My experience in other developing countries and at home has been that something too good or someone too nice to be true, usually isn't and there is usually some kind of scheme or scam at play. I think Edda had similar thoughts, although Denise and Claude were more willing to give our rescuers the benefit of the doubt. I think the reality turned out to be something of a middle path - as the rest of our Fes experiences will show.

Ville Nouvelle (the new town) with many red and green flags in honour of King Mohammed VI's visit to Fes
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Maxi and Mohammed took us to the hotel in which Maxi was staying - and explained at length why the one we planned on using in the Old City was a bad idea. We checked out the options at Maxi's hotel - but their was very little available. Quickly consulting the guidebook we asked them about one in the New City which they called, and which also seemed fully booked. Again I will admit to suspicion that the call was less than genuine, but speaking no Arabic or French we had no way of knowing. Mohammed assured us that they would find us a decent hotel at a decent price. We drove to the one in the New City in the Guide Book but it was full and, according to Mohammed, very overpriced. We finally arrived at the Hotel Errabie (see seperate review) which turned out to be a very good choice at a very decent price (although Claude and Edda spent the first night in an 'overflow' room which was of lesser quality). As we arrived, who should be waiting at the reception but Brahma - the tour-guide friend of Mohammed and Maxi who they instructed to show us a decent spot for dinner and then to meet us the next morning for breakfast and to 'show us around'.

Fes' Medina (Old Town) with over 9000 streets!
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Again we felt the pangs of deep mistrust - pretty certain that we were being strung along for profit, but very reluctant to just refuse since they had found us a good hotel on a day when none seemed available. Brahma took us to the Arabic equivalent of the YMCA around the corner for some tagines (Moroccan specialities of stewed meat and vegetables) which were excellent - and at the end of the meal he wasn't even hinting at us paying for his own meal (we later felt very guilty for not having offered - but the little red devil of suspicion was hard to shake). We did manage to explain that a tour was out of the question - which I have to say was accepted to real grace. Bidding goodbye and thanks to Brahma, we headed to the hotel to sleep.

The souks (markets) in the old Medina
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Saturday saw us waking early and walking to the Tourist Office to try to get a map to see where our hotel was in relation to the rest of the sights we wanted to see. It was closed on Saturdays but we did find a news-stand that sold maps and got one. Back at the hotel we met up with Maxi again who informed us that Mohammed wanted us to have breakfast with him at the Co-Op where her works - the co-op that sells Moroccan carpets. Again we were pretty sure that we were being sucked into something, but accepted the ride to the Medina since we wanted to go there anyway. The co-op turned out to be beautiful - an old restored building festooned with hundreds of spectatcular hand-woven carpets and mosaics. Mohammed met us, offered us a very tasty B'sara (creamed butter bean and garlic soup with bread - a Fassi specialty which was better than it sounds for breakfast), and told us all about the co-op. Quicker than we could blink his assistants were unrolling carpet after carpet with explanations of how much profit we could resell them for in our home countries and exhortions to walk on them to try them out (which we did). We managed to explain (I hope without giving offence) that we really didn't plan to buy - and again I must give Mohammed all the credit - he never once got upset or pushy - but seemed to be quite ok with that. Just as we were saying thanks and getting ready to leave another associate walked in who was introduced as a guy who would be happy to show us the leather works. At this point we felt we had to draw a line in the sand and we firmly declined saying that we needed to leave to meet our friends from the bus for lunch.

Shisha Pipes
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All in all I think that Mohammed, Maxi and Brahma were good guys - and that their desire to help us was really genuine. We also have no doubt, however, that the help wasn't all without some hope to also benefit themseleves and their networks, but we would assume that this is a very normal thing in Moroccan culture and not the sinister scamming that we thought might be at play. Nonetheless the encounters were exhausting and frustrating in the sense that you often feel helpless to break away without giving offence. It was a good learning curve - in that we realised our preconceived notions may be unfair, but not entirely inaccuarate.

Tajine pots
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After leaving the co-op we walked for about an hour through the Souks (market streets that are VERY narrow and contain hundreds of tiny shops and stalls in which the locals do much of their own shopping as well). Dodging donkeys (which are the most-used form of delivery 'vehicles'), vendors and some very interesting stores we found a dye-works. A local boy who said he worked there with his uncle insisted on showing us 'around the corner'. After some debate in the group it was agreed to follow him for a short time. He did show some dying works, which were interesting, but when we offered him 10Dh (about 1 Euro) for his 10 minutes of work he cursed us and insisted on at least 80Dh - this time I got more than a little mad and suffice it to say he got nothing. Another lesson hard learned.

Lots of food & spice stalls
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We found the famous Bab Bou Jeloud square, had a quick drink and then grabbed a table at the Restaraunt Kasbah - recommened by the guidebook and with super Tagines. Our table on the 4th floor terrace overlooked the Old City and we had a great lunch. After lunch we visited the Medersa Bou Inania - a 14th Century religious college with very impressive zellij and muqarna (plasterwork) and wood carvings. Apart from its beauty it was also a very nice refuge of peace and quiet in the middle of the frenetic Medina. After a taxi ride to the train station (buying tickets to Marrakesh) and a walk back to the hotel, we had an early night - our last in Fes.