Wednesday 8 March 2017

Azrou to Fez - 59 miles

Another red hot day and after our normal routine were away by 10.30 for the hour and a half run up to Fez. The first town we came across was Ifrane and we mention it because it was so different to other Moroccan towns, very European and quite modern. Our book tells us that Ifrane means the caves the early Berbers lived in so that there has been a settlement here for a very long time. However it was taken over by the French early 20^th century and is modelled very much in the French style. The King also has a palace here, which probably has an influence too.

Our original intention was to find a campsite then visit Fez tomorrow on our way to our next stop, but it was still quite early (for us) so we amended the plan to visit Fez first, spend a couple of hours then go find the campsite, which was only 10 mins out of the city. So set TomTom to the guardian parking coordinates and he led us straight through the centre of the city, which actually was quite interesting, and to a square by the medina walls where a quick word with the guardian found us in a shady (for the dog) parking spot up against the wall at Place Boujloud.

Entering Fez

Bab (gate) Boujloud

A quick lunch then, leaving Jamie in a shady cool van, we ventured forth, buying a map first and finding out precisely where we were. The old medina is the reason for coming to Fez and you could spend hours and hours wandering the narrow passageways filled with stalls selling all kinds of things, although after a while we ran out of anything new to see. Fortunately, and as advised by the guide book, we had chosen a time when all the guided tours were at lunch so it was quite quiet and we were not hassled at all. Rather than try to follow the map we stayed in more or less a straight line as the “road” meandered downhill – we cannot say how far in we went but according to the map later it was well into the centre.

Artist/Kaftan seller

Bren had wanted to buy another kaftan and we saw a stall selling nice examples – of course stopping to admire brought out the owner who did a fine job of selling something she already wanted anyway. It was fun and although more than she had intended to pay a little bit of bargaining got her a beautiful aubergine kaftan, trimmed in gold lace and made from cactus fibres.

One of the wider "streets"

Eventually we decided we had gone in far enough, especially as it had been all downhill and so we turned round to retrace our steps – uphill of course and despite being in the shade it was still very warm. We encountered the kaftan shop owner again but this time he wanted to show us his art gallery as he was also a painter, insisting that it was to look only, no buying required. To be fair he stuck to his word and he was actually quite good, although his style was not something we'd put up on our walls. An enjoyable encounter.

We thus returned to Bertie for a much needed cold drink and let Jamie out for a few minutes. We had parked right outside the College Moulay Idriss and the teenagers were starting to gather ready for the afternoon shift, doing what teenagers do. Including one guy who decided to have a real fight with a girl, and we mean quite violent – fortunately for the girl he started it right in front of three armed soldiers and a policeman who quickly grabbed them both and hustled them away.

After a bit of a disagreement who we should be paying for the parking, we worked our way out of the square and followed TomTom through the city again to Camping Diamant Vert just to the south. Since featuring in the campsite book it has been very nicely upgraded and has a nice setting in a valley on the edge of the city. Checked in, we found a small group of British vans parked up so decided to join them.

Once settled we discovered they were a small organised tour group, all first timers accompanied by experienced tour leaders and thereafter spent a very pleasant couple of hours chatting, swapping stories and passing on the benefit of our own experiences. We think they enjoyed it too as it was the first time they had actually sat down together for “beer'o'clock”, having only been together a couple of days. In turn the leaders passed on some useful information about our next intended stop, Meknes.

The main reason for visiting Fez is, of course, the fascinating medina. It does also have other sights, and the Brit group had organised a proper tour and guide for tomorrow, but big cities are not really our thing and as nothing else took our fancy, also having experienced souks and medinas elsewhere, we felt that our brief visit was enough. Perhaps we haven't done it justice, and it really needs several days here, but we enjoyed our visit and would recommend it.