Sarahmade

Firstly I apologise for the crap typing. All the keys are wrong but Tom knows how to change it to an Englishkyboard so I am having to touch type with no key reference starting points and I’m finding it very hard.

So i’m in Morocco.

We got the bus from Malaga to Algesiras and then a ferry from there to Tangiers. The ferry was pretty cool with amazing coffee for sale and Tom saw Dolphins off Gibralter while I was getting my passport stamped! I couldn’t believe it as i spent the whole of our Norway hol looking for them and I didn’t see one.

We had prepared ourselves for the hassle and the hustlers but it is so in your face you can’t really prepare. You just have to look confident and pretend to know where you are going. Luckily our hotel was in walking distance of the port and well sign posted so we got there in about 10mins.

Our room was cool with a lovel balcony overlooking the port. We woke up the next mornign with the call to prayer at 5am and it makes you realise what a different culture you are in compared to the one just over the water.

Breakfast was at 8am on the terrace in the warm sunshine. 4 cakes and a coffee. Then on the way back to our room a trip to the antique shop witht he man who talked about the Severn Bridge and how he had been on holiday to Reading. Then he asked if I knew Jonathon Ross because he was a friend of his. I said I knew the famous Jonathon ross and he said yes he is on BBC radio Bristol. Tom said yes he was 10 years ago.

Then the train to Fes where we found out it is considered rude and selfish to eat on public transport unless you offer some of your food to your fellow passengers. I’m afraid I only made enough sandwiches for me and Tom so we waited till the others went ot the loo and scoffed them. No one else had any food except one man who secretly took out a cake and then went into the corridor to eat it.

Jurgen picked us up from the station and took us back to the Riad Soleil where we had coffee and he had German tea which is beer. Then he told us lots of things we could do and drew us maps. Then I had a jaccuzi and we went own for dinner. We had our own personal dining room looking out onto the garden with the orange and lemon trees and we had the most amazing meal ever! Whole calamari stuffed with green and white beans plus stuffed round courgettes with a spicy sardine mixture. Then for main big chunks of fresh tuna with amazing tasting vegetable tagine. Followed by little cake things and mint tea. We couldn’t move after we were So full.

After goign to bed at 9.10 and sleeping for 11hrs we got up still full and had to eat an equally nice breakfast. Bread, dates, prunes, pancakesm scrambled eggs, honey, cheese, yoghurt and coffee. We were very full again.

Enough time to have another lie down until our tour guide Kamal came to pick us up. He took us on a tour of the Medina which is so confusing he even had to tell the postman what road he was on. We saw big dying pits which have something to do with pigeon poo and brains and smell so bad I thought I was going to be sick in the leather shop when the man was trying to sell us some pouffs. People tried to sell us embroidery, brass things, scarfs and kids kept following us and pulling our arms. We nearly got run over by donkey loads of times and we particularly liked the donkey that collected rubbish. We went into a nursery school and the kids showed us how they could count to 10. We didn’t quite know what to think of that. It was just all pretty overwhelming.

Then we left our tour gudie and took a petit taxi to the market in the new town which was really good. We bought lots of nice things and tasted olives and figs and really hot spice mix whcih was a bit of a mistake.

Then I think I had a bit of a sleep before going to see Abdul in his ancient palace at 4pm. He was crazy. Jurgen had arranged for us to meet Abdul and he showed us round. It was the most amazing palace I have eve seen with only him living there with his camera collection and his paintings. There are loads of pigeons and lotsof pigeon poo and it is basically nearly falling down. The roof terrace had an amazing view although the roof was a bit concave and I was worried it might fall in. His best art was ‘Fes at night’ which was random lines on glass with fairy lights flashing behind – all with a background of the best hand crafter mosaics.

So then we just had another nice meal. Coffee is really good here and little cakes are really good. I thought I wouldn’t feel christmassy but Fes medina looks like bethlehem and people with little donkeys carry heavy loads down dusty roads. I am going back to christmas basics none of this commercial rubbish.