Fes Day 3

We had a quiet day today, which was nice after the frenetic shopping stops with Kamal yesterday! Mainly we spent the day wandering the souk in search of yummy things! Since we’ve been with guides or on the road mainly, we haven’t had much of a change for snacking, so we (well, okay, I) bought up big on snacks – dates, sugared almonds, and Moroccan nougat in preparation for the three days of driving ahead of us. Yes, those are bees buzzing around the nougat logs – they love the honey apparently!

We ate lunch by the Blue Gates, after only one wrong turn, and were harangued by the local kitties who were all desperate for a taste of our kefta and egg tagine!

 

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Fes Day 2

Today was our guided tour of the medina and city of Fes.

We fortified ourselves with a good breakfast of Laughing Cow cheese and dates, pistachio flavoured yoghurt, crepes and jam (or ricecakes for me, thoughtfully provided by our host, Josephine).

Kamal met us at the riad at 9.30, before whisking us away through the maze of alleyways, periodically asking “Do you know the way back to the riad?” to which our answer was almost always “No,” except when we went past the man selling cooked snails – a navigational marker pointed out on the map by Ben last night!

Our first visit after wandering through various streets such as the street of carpenters, which seemed to be stocked mainly by wedding furniture, was the carpentry/wood museum, housed in an old restored caravansereil. Gorgeous building, but we weren’t terribly interested in 16th century lathes or chisels! The roof terrace provided a lovely view over the medina though, and it was practically deserted.

After a quick stop for postcards (finally!), we headed off to a “government carpet cooperative” where apparently hard-done-by women are given jobs weaving carpets. We were given the usual spiel, and had hardened our hearts to say no, until the vintage kilims started coming out. After a lot of sighs and hard bargaining, we talked them down to under half their “special, low season” price, and since they arranged shipping and took credit card, we decided to go for it. We were whisked upstairs so fast we blinked, and were told we needed to pay 5% for the credit card fees AND pay the shipping in cash. We hadn’t foreseen this of course, and had little cash on us, and they found it very hard to believe we had no euros or dollars to give them instead! So we eventually had the rest of the payment whacked on the credit card, and we’ll see what happens when they get home!

Next stop was a leather shop to view the tannery. We’d been warned that it was absolutely foul-smelling, but the combination of a handful of mint held near the nose, and the fact that it is the middle of winter means it’s quite bearable. It’s amazing to think that the leather is tanned here in the way it’s always been done. Not a very fun job!

I was pretty happy to not buy leather, but R was looking at getting a suede shirt and a nice black belt, so I tried on a red and black leather jacket which was lovely. Then the haggling commenced! We reached a price we were all happy with, and had some little babouche keyrings thrown in for fun.

Although we were starving, the next stop was at a weaver’s. We watched them use hand- and foot- operated looms to weave in wool, cotton and agave “silk” to make various cloths, and were dressed in turbans.

Finally, we were off to Kamal’s family’s house for lunch. Although the shape of the house was traditionally Moroccan, there are some things which are the same across all cultures, like the TV showing bad American TV shows! When Kamal’s mum brought out two plates and a huge tagine full of couscous, chicken and vegetables we were a bit worried that we’d be expected to get through the lot, but the others (Kamal’s mum, brother, and Abdel) all dug in with spoons. We were just the foreigners who needed a plate!

Kamal’s mother was very pleased we’d brought her a gift (an Australian flag teatowel), although I’m not sure she knew what it was… Kamal joked that they should start a line of flags outside their house to show how many different nationalities had come there, like a consulate!

It was lovely to have some home cooking, and the atmosphere was very jovial, with some teasing going on, as usual!

After lunch we stopped off at a mosaic and pottery place to see how these were made, which was amazing. Such painstaking and fiddly work! We managed to not buy something at this stop (who would have thought!) even though there were some utterly divine tagines and bowls decorated with silver binding. Wow!

Last stop was the Golden Gates of the King’s Palace. PRetty amazing, especially with the setting sun shining pretty golden-y on them!

On our way back to the medina, we were somewhat surprised to hear a squawk from the back of the car. Apparently Kamal had bought a chicken somewhere on our travels, and it was stuck somewhere in the back of the van! Only in Morocco, huh?

Josephine at Dar el Hana had made us a booking at Dar Hatim, a house where a local family had started a restaurant. One of the specialties of the house was the p’stilla, the chicken and almond pie wrapped in filo pastry and sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar. Of course I had to order that, even though it wasn’t GF. Some sacrifices have to be made!

The set menu started out with fifteen small dishes with “Moroccan salads”, similar to other meals we’ve had, but so many more! There were cooked lentils, white beans, green beans, fresh tomato and onion salad, fresh fennel, cooked eggplant, fried zucchini, cooked tomato and capsicum, a really tasty mashed cauliflower, potatoes, and the list goes on! We could have been satisfied with just that, but then the mains came out! R had the steamed lamb, which was cooked to perfection and almost falling off the bone. It was served with couscous topped with a crunchy almond and cinnamon topping. My p’stilla was worth the wait. Light, flaky filo pastry encased a soft, spicy filling of chicken and ground almonds. The mixture of sweet and savoury was amazing! When Fouad’s wife came out to see how we were going, all we could communicate were “Mmm”s of pleasure! She was very charming – shyly saying that the p’stilla was her specialty and seemed genuinely happy that we enjoyed her food so much.

After our dessert of fresh fruit (the mandarins here are amazing, really sweet) we were shown upstairs to the tiny kitchen where all this amazing food was prepared – about half the size of our kitchen at home! – and the roof terrace with views over the medina.

It was lovely to be invited into real people’s homes like we were today. I know these people are all paid for the privilege, but it gave us much more insight into the “real” Morocco, and it is a privilege for us to do so.

 

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Goodbye Chefchaouen, Hello Fez!

We set out early this morning for another long driving day, which included a stop at the Roman ruins at Volubilis. Here’s both of us in front of (an) Arc de Triomph!

The mosaics here are fabulous, although the ones still in situ aren’t protected by anything more than a dilapidated rope hanging across the entryway for each room. They’re open to the elements (and to people who disregard silly things like ropes) and so are continuing to deteriorate. Still, pretty amazing!

After we’d hit Volubilis it was time for lunch (at 2pm, it was more than time for lunch!) Abdel took us to an “international” restaurant in Meknes, which basically meant that it was an overpriced place for tourists, where they could eat “Moroccan” food and drink alcohol! I started feeling car-sick on the way, so couldn’t eat much lunch, especially when my lamb tagine was set down in front of me, swimming in a bowl of oil (I kid you not). We didn’t stay for dessert as I was feeling pretty bad, and were gouged 330dirham for the pleasure (not including tip please, we were told!!)

The drive to Fes was an exercise in patience for me, having downed some ginger pills and waiting for them to kick in. By the time we reached Fes an hour and a half later I was feeling a little better, but still pretty flummoxed by the Fes medina. Luckily we were met by Ben, a general factotum from our hotel, Dar el Hana, and he guided us through the Big Way to the riad.

We seem to be the only people in each of the hotels we’ve stayed at so far. I know it’s low season, but I was under the impression things heated up before Christmas! Maybe we’ll meet some more travellers at the next couple of stops.

We’re in a gorgeous room, the Jacaranda Suite, with beautiful shutters and windows, and aircon, so we can take the chill off the air.

Our itinerary included dinner here at the hotel, so we are having a quiet night, after Ben cooked us a lovely dinner of various vegetable entrees (R even ate vegies!!!) and chicken tagine. Night all!

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Chefchaouen Day 2


After breakfast on the terrace  (R very much enjoyed the various fried bread products… I enjoyed my egg with the GF bread I’d brought from home. Mental note: bring more than one pack next time!) we headed off to see the sights of Chefchaouen by day.

The reason I wanted to come here was the gorgeous blue-washed buildings, and by gum and by crikey there are bajillions of them! The whole medina is pretty much different shades of blue and white, with terracotta here and there for contrast.

We wandered around getting lost for a while, although the medina really isn’t big enough to get too lost. Each time we thought we’d have to turn around, we got to the edge and were faced with cars and buildings that weren’t blue, and that along with the morning sun meant we could get our bearings pretty quickly. We haven’t had much hassle by shopkeepers yet, and a quick “La, shukran” is enough. R was offered drugs by a number of shady individuals though! Apparently this is a big marijuana growing area – who knew!?!

So after a couple of hours getting warm wandering, and seeing the sights like the waterfall near one of the gates, we decided to drink in the atmosphere by setting up camp at one of the cafes around the main square, look at the kasbah and watch life go by.

Unfortunately we forgot that generally the days start and finish later than we’re used to, so there wasn’t a lot of life going past quite yet, but after an hour of sitting nursing a mint tea (that the bees wanted to share), there was a satisfactory buzz, and not just from the other tourists who had had the same idea.

Plus, as usual, there were kitties soaking up the sun and begging for food, and they’re always good to watch.

We decided to stay there for lunch, and were faced with a fabulous older gentleman who whiles away his days singing and playing the fiddle for the amusement of tourists at these cafes!

For dinner we went to Casa Hassan again, as dinner was included in our stay here. This time I had the goat cheese salad (a Rif mountain specialty, apparently) and my first real Moroccan tagine – chicken with prunes, sultanas, caramelised onion and almonds. Yum! R’s chicken tagine had preserved lemon and olives, another favourite.

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Casablanca and Chefchaouen

Well the business class upgrade of the Dubai – Casablanca leg meant that we were both able to get a bit of sleep, but due to my fabulous head cold, I wasn’t really able to indulge too much in the Bollinger champagne on arrival, and placated my outraged sensibilities (and outraging other sensibilities) by having a half glass cut with orange juice. Freshly squeezed, thanks.

Casablanca from the air wasn’t as sprawling as I’d expected. In fact, the fight path was over farmland right up to the last minute, causing me a few concerns about the existence of said airport! But there it was, a freshly cultivated field ending in a white runway, decorated with black tread marks from thousands of landings.

The airport was exciting mainly because we waited more than half an hour for our designated driver, Abdel, to find us. After a panicked messagebank message to the tour company (well I hope it was them – their answering message was in Arabic, so I just crossed my fingers and waited for the beep) he eventually found us. He’d been waiting at Terminal 1, not Terminal 2. Phew. In any case, we were found, and off on our 6 hour journey to Chefchaouen.

We stopped for a drink and so Abdel could pray, and we had our first involvement with Moroccan Dirhams (and my first Moroccan kitty cat. An hour in the country and there they are – yay! Love Morocco already!) 45 MAD for a Coke Light (confusion reigned when I initially asked for a Diet Coke – whoops!), bottle of water and two coffees ~$6 or so.

Then the fun driving began. 5 1/2 hours of winding roads, overtaking on shoulders with cars/trucks coming the opposite direction, and the rapid onset of darkness. (and chilly temperatures!) Needless to say, we eventually made our way to Chefchaouen, a small town in the north of Morocco, famed for gorgeous blue-washed streets. Our initial impressions were a small town with lots of people, making it difficult for Abdel to navigate the way to the hotel. Nevertheless, we were met by a hotel employee so we could trudge our way up a seeming million or so beautiful blue-painted steps up to Dar Meziana, a lovely little riad off the main drag.

After waiting in the lobby area to regain our breath, we were taken to our room, a gorgeous character room on the top floor (more thousands of steps!!) We have a fabulous view to make up for all this puffing and panting though!

 

We ate dinner at Casa Hassan, a sister hotel five minutes walk through the medina. The food was great – salad, meat on a stick, creme caramel for dessert. We elected to walk back to Dar Meziana unaccompanied, much to the concern of the Casa Hassan manager, who had been instructed by our driver to send someone back with us to make sure we didn’t get lost! This meant we were able to wander a little more, eyeing off small shops with postcards and lots of blue souvenirs, and more cats getting into the rubbish!

Then bedtime! The mattress is rock-solid, feeling similar to a thick futon mattress, but quite comfortable. Earplugs meant I was easily able to ignore various roosters and the call to prayer heralding dawn, and woke up much more rested!

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Transit – Dubai

And we’re off!

This trip is an epic journey around Morocco and then the UK. We’ve been planning for about a year, and hopefully we’ve got everything sorted. House/dog/cat-sitter, luggage, credit card… oh, and passport!

We started off awaiting the red eye to Dubai in the Emirates lounge, courtesy of my credit card (Citibank Emirates card if anyone’s interested – you get Skywards FF, a pair of passes to the Emirates lounge and chauffeur to and from the airport once a year – woo!) Since I’m starting off with a cold, I didn’t think I’d have anything to drink in the lounge, but then R spied an opened bottle of Veuce Clicquot in the ice bucket, so I couldn’t very well leave that lying there unattended…

That combined with the cold and flu tablets I took once I was on the plane meant that I actually managed to get some sleep! I know I dozed off for at least two stretches of an hour each, which for me is pretty amazing, especially in economy!

Now we’re sitting in the business class lounge in Dubai waiting for our Business Class upgrade (thank you credit card frequent flyer points again!) It’s a huge lounge, but there are huge amounts of people, too! Hardly any pairs of seats left, so we jumped on the first one we found.

See you in Casablanca!

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Bali Day 5 – Going Home

It was with mixed feelings we packed up and set off for the airport (after one last massage, of course!) We’ve had a great time in Ubud, but it was time to go home and go back to work. We’ve done some amazing things, like the elephant and horse riding trip, haggled for bargains and not so great bargains, eaten yummy new food, and I even saw a firefly on the last night! We would both really recommend the hotel, Green Fields Ubud, as they made the holiday fabulous. Nothing was too much, whether it was transport, bringing us Ginger Fizz drinks when it was really hot, organising massages, etc, etc. Even though it’s a bit out of the way of the main drag on Ubud, it’s worth it for the exceptional service and gorgeous setting.

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Bali Day 4

Today was a very sloooooow daaaaaaaay. I woke up with a slightly less-than-optimal feeling in the tum, and we had no fixed plans for the day, so we took things as they came, and generally didn’t move far from the hotel.

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Bali Day 3

It’s lovely to see the Balinese people placing offerings out to the gods every day, even though a lot of them are trodden on by tourists (not me I promise!) picked at by the chooks and dogs, and swept up at the end of the day and put in the rubbish. Maybe they’ve got the right idea – almost every Balinese person I’ve met has been smiling and happy. I’m not so naïve to think that this hasn’t got anything to do with the tourist dollar, but even so, the people seem genuinely happy to show us their beautiful island.

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Bali – Day 2

Today we spent the day riding various quadrupeds, organised, ironically, by A True Balinese Experience. Ironically, because neither of the animals were actually indigenous to Bali!

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