our third imperial city Fez

I bought 2 gallons of bottled water. This should last me for a few days. I used too much for brushing teeth alone. A very funny local guy took us first to Fes El Bali, the medina, to avoid the later morning crowd. We visited the Attarin Medersa, small but with good decoration and stainglass windows which colors were reflected on the opposite wall, and then walked through the ever winding labyrinth narrow streets of the medina. Thick mud walls, beautifully ornate doors that led to courtyards and halls and rooms, shops lined both sides of the streets. Took a peek at the university inside the medina (tourists not allowed in), stopped at a tannery (very smelly and nobody bought anything except Aziz who purchased a pair of yellow Moroccan men slippers or shoes, strange that the guide made a purchase and not one of the tourists), had lunch at a very Moroccan style restaurant with turkish sofas and cushions (had lamb tagine and it was good), and a brief stop atop a hill to get the grand view of the imperial city of Fez and its walled medina. Fez did not impress me much. In fact, I found all the imperial cities, so far, lacking. At the Fez famous ceramic shop, the Hip went crazy and bought a set of cup and saucer, water pitcher, tagine pot and a dinner plate in Berber design and a small tagine pot in Moroccan design, and had the whole purchase mailed home. I hope it'll arrive. The guided tour ended at the Royal palace (how many are there?) just around the corner from our hotel. In the evening we drank our booz in the hotel relaxing courtyard. I've asked Aziz if he could book me a room at the Riad Mimouna , the only ocean front riad in Essaouira. We have 2 nights in Essaouira, and I knew the tour hotel did not have good reviews and I had wanted to experience a riad. Aziz called the Riad and they quoted 2000 dirhams ($250) for a suite with ocean view. Expedia and the Riad's website had ocean view rooms for $164. Aziz said he would call his agency in Marrakech to book me a room, as it would be cheaper. It would be wonderful to experience an ocean front Riad here in Morocco.



See Fez pictures: