After the traditional ferry crossing to Morocco and a two hour time change, we landed in Tangier. We stayed here just for a day before jumping on the train to Fez. We walked our feet off around the old medina and kasbah. We walked towards the new town and dipped our toes in the Mediterranean and took in views of Spanish coast from the other side. The time change, skipping breakfast, and the trouble locating the rental car return had thrown our eating schedule off, so at four o’clock or so we found ourselves a little cafe and had some traditional Moroccan food, not French. We had to try the mint tea, they add a lot of sugar. Tajine and shawarma were also on the menu. Our hotel had a great terrace where we spent a couple of hours just enjoying the view. The intricate mosaics and cravings also provided great photo opportunities. Mike and Heather ventured out after dark and found a completely different bustling part of town. Without the camera to prove it, we took Lori back there briefly the next morning.

After a French breakfast at the hotel, we flagged down a cab to take us to the train station. The station was new and modern and the train was very nice. The three of us plus one local woman were in the same compartment for the three hour journey. Once in Fez we cabbed it to just outside the medina and wandered our way to our riad with a little help from the local kids and a friendly American who is working in the city. The riad was traditionally decorated and had a center courtyard where we had our welcome (mint) tea and where breakfast was served every morning. We had read that Fez has the largest pedestrian-only zone in the world and that getting lost is almost a given. We managed to stick to a main thoroughfare and follow some of the tourist routes that are posted throughout the narrow streets. We spent the rest of the day “just looking” at various shops of leather work, pottery, fabrics and jewelery.

We had arranged a taxi tour of the rampart walls for the afternoon, so we spent the morning actually shopping. Things aren’t quite as cheap as we thought they were going to be, but with extra room in Lori’s bag to send things home we ended up picking out more souvenirs than usual. Our taxi driver spoke perfect Arabic and French, pretty good Spanish and only a little English, but we think we understood most of what he was telling us. He took us to some great views of the city from the surrounding hills and the Royal Palace Gate and of course the tour won’t be complete without a stop at some sort of shop. This time it was ceramics, tiles, pots, tajine dishes, etc. It was actually pretty interesting to see the people at work and see the different steps in the process.

We spent our last morning with Lori just hanging out and trying to find a quieter part of fez, not too much luck. After a quick grab-and-go lunch, we were all in a cab. Heather and Mike were dropped off back at the train station to catch a train to Marrakech and Lori was off to the airport for her return flight to Madrid. It is hard to believe another week with a family visitor has gone by so quickly. Sharing the new food, sounds and adventures was a real treat.