fes, morocco
we're in fes at the moment and i've loved it even though some things we're as cool as what i was expecting. the medina is massive and takes a little over an hour to get from one end to another, although i'm sure if you knew how to navigate the rat race you could do it quicker. we went to see the dye pits but they weren't anything like the photos i've seen. i think that they used to be all open but now half of it is under cover so you can't see all the colours. also there weren't any really vibrant colours but the guide said that the colours they use change everyday depending on what they're working on. the guide took us to a traditional pharmacy which was so cool! the 'pharmacist' went through all these herbal remedies, natural make-up and perfumes and spices. we all got a 'demonstration' massage to test out these massage oils, which i later bought, and then at the end when we were buying things the guy told us that it was 30 dirhams, about 3 euros, for each one! pfftt none of us paid. well kades did, cos she is weak. hayley got this oil that you put in a couple of drops in a drink at the start of a day to help your asthma, it smells like eucalyptus. she started using it today and so far hasnt been wheezy.
we went to chefchaouen first which really does have the most beautiful medina, all the walls are painted different shades of blue signifying whether it's a dead end or not. although i never did really catch on to how the whole system worked. it was such a fitting place for scottie as it's the weed capital of morocco! we didnt' realise this till we got there but it all seemed to make sense once we were told with all the offers of hash and the chilled out vibe. me, hayley, kates and bel moved onto meknes but scottie ended up staying another night with these guys we hooked up with, james and louis, and went up to see a weed farm in the mountains. they had to trek for two hours to get there and the farmer made them a tradish lunch and the whole sha-bang! it sounded so cool!
on the way to meknes we stopped at a site of roman ruins, apparently the best preserved in all of morocco! i'm not really into roman ruins, i saw a heap in rome and they're usually just random bits columns and a few foundations, but we got a guide and that helped to piece it all together. we got a great shot of katie using the vomitorium and me and bel sitting on the loo having a chat, just like the romans did back in the day. meknes itself was a real let down, a real scummie feel and nothing special to see. we did a tour of the medina but it was a bit crappy, the guide asked us where we wanted to go but we didn't really know and he didn't suggest anywhere. the one good thing was that in meknes is the only mosque you can go into because the prayer room and mausoleum are around the other way. usually you have to go through the prayer room (which non-muslims cannot enter) to get to the mausoleum.
tonight we head to rissan on an over-night bus to start our three day camel trek through the sahara. i'm so excited about it! when we get there we go to a hostel in merzouga where we will spend the day snowboarding down sanddunes!! that night we spend at an oasis, then we get to spend the next night with some arabic nomadic people who will cook us some cous cous the traditional way with smoke and then on the last night we stay with an african tribe (we'll be really close to the algerian border) who will play 'trance' music. i'm a bit dubious of the trance but live music will so great, i haven't seen any for so long!
we went to chefchaouen first which really does have the most beautiful medina, all the walls are painted different shades of blue signifying whether it's a dead end or not. although i never did really catch on to how the whole system worked. it was such a fitting place for scottie as it's the weed capital of morocco! we didnt' realise this till we got there but it all seemed to make sense once we were told with all the offers of hash and the chilled out vibe. me, hayley, kates and bel moved onto meknes but scottie ended up staying another night with these guys we hooked up with, james and louis, and went up to see a weed farm in the mountains. they had to trek for two hours to get there and the farmer made them a tradish lunch and the whole sha-bang! it sounded so cool!
on the way to meknes we stopped at a site of roman ruins, apparently the best preserved in all of morocco! i'm not really into roman ruins, i saw a heap in rome and they're usually just random bits columns and a few foundations, but we got a guide and that helped to piece it all together. we got a great shot of katie using the vomitorium and me and bel sitting on the loo having a chat, just like the romans did back in the day. meknes itself was a real let down, a real scummie feel and nothing special to see. we did a tour of the medina but it was a bit crappy, the guide asked us where we wanted to go but we didn't really know and he didn't suggest anywhere. the one good thing was that in meknes is the only mosque you can go into because the prayer room and mausoleum are around the other way. usually you have to go through the prayer room (which non-muslims cannot enter) to get to the mausoleum.
tonight we head to rissan on an over-night bus to start our three day camel trek through the sahara. i'm so excited about it! when we get there we go to a hostel in merzouga where we will spend the day snowboarding down sanddunes!! that night we spend at an oasis, then we get to spend the next night with some arabic nomadic people who will cook us some cous cous the traditional way with smoke and then on the last night we stay with an african tribe (we'll be really close to the algerian border) who will play 'trance' music. i'm a bit dubious of the trance but live music will so great, i haven't seen any for so long!