Day 5 - impressions of Fes.

Fes has been the highlight of the trip so far - largely because Fes, and especially the Medina is sort of what you have in your head when you think of Morocco. The medina is a fascinating place - from the ground, it's a twisting and turning mass of alleyways surrounded by high sand colored buildings. And stairs -lots of stairs and ramps and uneven ground that's somewhere in between. It can look run down and some walls are certainly crumbling, and the whole thing is like something out of the past.

There are no cars (none would fit) so people still use donkeys to carry loads around - people are forever calling out to get everyone to squeeze to the sides of the path so their donkey can pass. But everyonce in awhile, you make a turn and come accross a market place, or a beautiful mosque. And it's an entirely different world once you go in to a building - like our riad, most have central rooms that are something like three stories tall, which help keep buildings cool in the summer. The buildings are stunning, covered in mosaics and with carved and painted woodwork. Both our riad, and also the carpet merchant we visited have awesome rooftop views of the city, though you do have to go up and down a lot of narrow staircases. The medina isn't a very accessible place and would be problematic for someone who was claustrophobic. Fitness wise, if I made it most everyone can.

Though I do have a separate store of energy for shopping which might have helped me along. Like I think I mentioned in my second post, we spent the morning touring cultural sights and learning about life in the Medina, but the afternoon shopping. We visited a tannery, where they dye leather naturally in those natural earthenware vats - it smells like lye and possibly pidgeon poo, both of which are apparently used in the processing of leather. B got a custom leather jacket, and I got a nice bag (though it's still a little smelly so it's in the trunk) and some funky slippers.

We also passed by different stands and shops, including the one where I bought my cape,and also cool blankets made if agave silk, but my favourite might have been the carpet merchant. Besides getting us access to an awesome rooftop view, you also lounge in a cool room while shopping, drinking mint tea whole they unroll carpet after carpet for you to see. Then you yeah or neah them, and they bring more of the ones you like. A lot if them are too ornate for my tastes, though they were all stunning. I personally prefer the Berber style ones over the more traditional Fes style - the one I got is little, but has a soft purple in some of the patterning that I really liked.

Anyways, for dinner we went to the new city and had pizza. We've been enjoying the traditional food, but besides being a bit pricy (partly because it always comes in three courses - plates of appetizers, a tajine pastille or couscous, followed by fruit and pastries) it also gets a little repetitive. We also got to see some of the sites there, like the fountains on re main promenade and the kings palace, though it was admittedly dark. We also for a chance to get more cash as we were running a bit low.

Right now, were driving through the mountains. It's genuinely chilly here, partly because of the elevation, and partly because it's so early. It's about 8:30 now, but we left the riad at 7, to give use enough time to see all our sights for the day, but still make it to the sahara for sunset. We got to see sunrise from a mountain top just beyond the medina which was gorgeous. The terrain has shifted from farmland and apple trees to more rocky ground, and apparently soon well enter Berber country, and start seeing palm trees again. Oooo, and apparently a monkey forest. Right now we're in Swiss Maroc, in the city of Ifrane. There's frost on the ground here, which is kind of trippy. Also apparently skiing near by.