Fes - Tgon's Travels

Fes was nice, I stayed there for a couple of nights and went on a tour of the medina. Fes is an ancient city with loads of history and the medina is really interesting, there is still a tannery which treats the leather in the traditional way. First soaking it in lime and pigeon poo, then washing it with wheat and then soaking it in natural dyes.

After spending a few days in Fes I headed west to Rabat to apply for my Mauritania visa and meet up with Tony (from Tony on the road). We stayed a night in a campsite just outside Rabat, opting for a hotel room because Morocco is too cold at night. Then on Friday we went to the Mauritanian embassy to apply for my visa. As they would not have the passport ready until Monday I decided to join Tony on his trip south to the Cascade d’Ouzoud for the weekend.

Yesterday we walked to, and circled around, the waterfall before heading back to the hotel. Tony had highlighted how overloaded my bike was compared to his and so I decided to sort through my luggage again. I got rid of some clothes and decided to post my English Syllabus to Makunduchi. I am also getting rid of my dirt biking body armour and just keeping my armoured jacket. I am now back in Rabat ready to pick up my visa tomorrow before I head south.

It has been an unplanned, but enjoyable, week. I spent a few days in Gibraltar with some awesome CouchSurfing hosts, Shawn and John, while I was there a lot of other Couch Surfers passed through. I spent two days exploring Gibraltar with three German Couch Surfers, Steph, Ronny and Fabian, we wandered around the city and went to see the monkeys.

I had planned to get the ferry to Morocco on my Birthday, 6th December, but due to our excessive celebrations I was in no fit state to move off the sofa all day. I drank two bottles of red wine and a beer or two, then at 4am, when we were out of alcohol, we went to a 24 hour bar. I’m not sure what time we got back or when we went to sleep, but it was late.

Steph, Ronny and Fabian left and I stayed on the sofa. Later that evening Steph contacted me to say I had left my scarf in their car, I decided to go and collect it the next day and so drove the four hours to Cordova. Steph and Ronny were kind enough to let me stay with them for a few days before I headed back down for the ferry. The ferry costs just under 45 euro and the morning ferry leaves at 10am. The journey took around an hour, with two hours going through customs on the other side.

I drove around Tangier for a while before deciding I wanted to go into the mountains. I slept in a village called Ouezzane, where I’m sure I got ripped off with an expensive hotel (25 Euro). Then today I left and headed to Fes. I’m staying here for a couple of nights in a youth hostel, at the much better price of 5 Euro, taking a tour tomorrow, should be fun.

Tag: Fes

Week 23: Northern Morocco

Week 22: Into Africa