Nice little day in the market in Rissani, the closest nearby town with the main market for the area. Lots of shade and fairly pushy salesmen, so pluses and minuses evened out.

Time off in the afternoon, and I had a little walk to Erfoud, just one kilometer down the road. The local kids were very excited to see me, but unfortunately the only English words they seemed to know are hello and Fuck You. So…..several fuck you’s later, I found the snack market lol.

Also, a sandstorm happened. So that was cool.

Today, a bus ride to an oasis, several casbah, and Ouarzazate, the film capitol of Morocco.

Happy birthday Mom!

Well, I’m in the Sahara desert. That is incredibly cool.

The landscape is just rocky as hell. Really, really beautiful though. 

Not much else to report. Had a great lunch today of beef and vegetable ravine.

The hotel tonight could be called charming, a fixer upper, or even somewhat crappy. I don’t mind of course bc the water’s hot and the bed comfortable. My tour companions, however, are a little upset. I hesitate to tell them you get what you pay for lol. 

I’m off to dinner. Wish me luck!!

Early day walking through two medina of Fez, another palace to peep at, rest in the afternoon, and last day of Ramadan dinner in a nice restaurant.

There’s actually three towns in Fez; the new town (100 years old, French), the middle town (14th century, the Jewish quarter), and the old town (9th century, Moroccan). The new town is where the Jews and foreigners live now. The medina here are much cleaner and more charming than Casablanca, and a LOT livelier than in Rabat. Great for pictures if you can avoid taking somebody’s photo. 

They.Don’t.Like.It.

So, not too many pics of the market yesterday lol.

Still it was good, though quiet in the morning. Everyone here is so happy for Ramadan to be over.

Dinner was neat. All traditional foods and several entertainments. Dancing, music, and an illusionist. The magician spoke so little English that it was adorable. He was good! And funny.

Moroccan food is yummy but not spicy at all. This surprises me.

Today is a travel day,  we’ll be heading into the desert via the Atlas mountains.

Had a long, hot day moving to Fez. We were busy! I’m pleasantly surprised by the number if stops we made and things we saw.

Rabat, imo, was the best. It’s the capitol and gets a lot of government money to stay looking nice. We saw a presidential palace, the mausoleum of the first king of independent Morocco, a little art gallery, the medina, a garden, and views of the city from several vantage points. Not too bad!

In Meknes, also lovely, we saw *their medina, some portion of the 20 miles of city walls, and a bunch of old stuff at the former military installation. The local guide here was great. He talked like a professor, which I loved of course. There’s nothing which can’t be made better by making it educational lol.

The coach driver and tour director make lots of stops for water and leg-stretching. Excellent.

Our hotels so far have been great. I’m pleased but then again I’ve been sleeping in bunk beds so far, so everything seems very luxurious.😊

Here in Fez it’s the last day of Ramadan. Only one more day, then back to cafes and cappuccinos. Hallelujah! My head will fly off from the caffeine

Have a good one!