Fez Part 2: 300 Camels for her!

...and so it continues!

We woke up early Saturday morning, no sleeping in for us on the weekend :( Enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the hotel and then were split up into two groups for our tours. My group headed to the old Medina for the first part of the day. The Fez medina is the largest medina in Morocco and in fact the largest contiguous car free urban area in the world! Fez is the second largest city in Morocco and has been called the "Mecca of the West" and the "Athens of Africa". So we embarked on a tour of this ancient city.

Our tour guide also mentioned that Fez is a model of an Arabic style designed city. The Medina was narrow, busy, mysterious, loud, intriguing, and full of hidden wonders. We saw the the University of Al-Karaouine founded in 859 AD by a woman Fatima al-Fihri and is in fact the oldest continually functioning University in the world! We also visited and were able to go inside the Bou Inania Madrasa founded in AD 1351. It is quite beautiful and ornate with intricate arabic carvings, stained glass, and original woodwork. We stumbled upon an area of all the original pottery and looked around for a bit. The main thing that the Fez Medina is known for are the tanneries. We got to climb the narrow steep stairs of a tannery and look down at the process.

Men standing half submerged in steaming vats of dye, piles of fur, and stretched hides drying in the sun. It was a very interesting view. We all wanted desperately to go shopping but out tour guide had other things in mind, namely running through the narrow Medina alleyways. We almost lost a few girls, I being one of them. We made our way out in time and headed back to the hotel for lunch and a break.

Some other girls and I found a restaurant and sat outside in the sun. The weather was fabulous all weekend. After lunch we lounged by the outdoor pool in the courtyard of our hotel. Not sure if the pool actually is for swimming or maybe just looks? The sun was shining I laid down to soak it up. After the break we switched with the other group of students and bussed around the city to different historical points of interest and amazing viewpoints of the city. Apparently lots of wars and fighting have gone on historically in the valley. Also Fez is huge when you can see all of it from above. You think you're looking at the whole city then you realize that there is a whole other part of the city hiding behind the mountains. Sneaky little city. We went to the doors of the royal palace where we were instructed to take pictures only straight ahead of the main doors. To the left was the personal entrance of the King and if we took a picture guards with machine guns would get mad, no good.

We returned to the hotel after the tour was over. I went out to dinner with some friends to an sushi/thai food restaurant in Morocco! It was quite a strange experience. The place was super modern with bamboo shoots sticking up everywhere and tassels hanging from the ceiling. Everything was extra delicious up to the Phad thai which was not up to par. What was great was that one of the waiters had a crush on my friend Bri and brought us free food because of her. He even brought her some vanilla ice cream saying, and I quote, "Vanilla ice cream because you already have the chocolate." She's African American so this could be either cute here or super offensive in the states. haha. After dinner I took a walk down the main strip with my hotel roommate Anna. It was nice though the twinkle lights that lined the walk were turned off and of course all the shababs were out ready to harass us. We went back to our room and proceeded to watch a soap opera for what seemed like an hour adding our own English commentary. After which I passed out.

Sunday out trip guides decided to let us have the morning for shopping in the Medina which we didn't get to do the day before. We headed into the Medina with shopping lists in hand. Eventually we broke off into smaller groups depending on what people were looking for and how serious they were about this shopping biz. Leah and I were serious. We looked and bargained and came out with a leather bag each, I got leather boots, three pairs of earrings, and three scarves. All for less than $100, great success! At the scarf shop our salesman found Leah quite pretty and offered 300 camels for her hand in marriage. Half kidding half not I think. I told him it wasn't enough, we're going to keep looking. We left soon after with the whole group and drove through breathtaking countryside. There were farmers, lakes, men plowing with donkeys, kids on horses, and women working in the fields, amazing. Then we arrived at our last destination before home, Volubilis. The best preserved Roman ruins in Northern Africa. This was my favorite stop and actually one of my favorite places so far. It was windy out and the blue sky was spotted with clouds. The valley around Volubilis was vibrant green and the yellow of the ruins looked incredible. We had about an hour to walk around looking at the mosaics, arches, pillars and olds baths of the city. I also got some great pictures! After we settled onto the bus for a few hours drive back to Rabat which is beggining to feel more and more like home each time I return. That's all for now.

B'salama