Author Archives: JJD
Over land and sea — back to Spain!
Right now I’m sitting in a hotel room in Valencia, Spain — which is a long way from Fez, Morocco, where I last posted. In the past two days we covered an enormous amount of terrain — going from Fez to Granada yesterday, and then from Granada to Valencia today. The trip covered (parts of) two continents, required […]
Fez, Day 3: What we ate
Breakfast in the riad was the same as before, though with slightly better bread. I explored the honey and the lemon marmalade. I’m going to miss breakfasting in courtards like this I wonder if I could keep a turtle on my balcony… For lunch we returned to the Cafe Clock. It’s conveniently located at one […]
Fez, Day 3: Shipping and shopping
What to say about our last full day in Fez? I’m not really sure. It was productive and exhausting, more like work than play. One of those days that come a little after the midpoint of these two-week vacations, when you just need a break to take care of business and recharge your batteries. The primary business of […]
Fez, Day 2: What we ate
Breakfast at the Riad. All the little pots of jam and olives were a welcome expansion on the standard fare we’ve had for the past week. Lunch at Cafe Clock. We picked this British-owned place because it was recommended in all of our guides, and because we wanted a break from traditional Moroccan fare. Finding […]
Fez, Day 2: City streets
In the spirit of giving Fez a second chance, we set out on a walking tour of the Fez medina after returning from Volubilis. We still were struck by how different it looked and felt from the souqs in Marrakesh, but the longer we walked the more it grew on me. The whiteness of the […]
Fez, Day 2: Volubilis
By the second century BC, the Roman empire extended through a network of fishing cities in northern Africa. During the last century BC, they established themselves in Volubilis, not far from current-day Fez. The city remained under Roman control until the Berbers drove them out in the 300s AD. The Arabs took over in the 8th […]
Fez, Day 1: Dinner amidst the din
You know that saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”? That’s how I feel right now. We’ve been in Fez for only a few hours and I really miss Marrakesh and the desert. Fez feels much bigger than Marrakesh — the buildings are taller and made of a […]
Trek, Day 3: Merzouga to Fez
It’s a long way from Merzouga to Fez — we left around 9am and didn’t arrive until shortly after 5pm, and we didn’t stop much along the way. The natural differences in countryside were much more pronounced on this leg of the trip than they had been between Marrakesh and the desert. At first we […]
Trek, Day 3: Sunrise in the desert
The Berbers called out from their tent shortly after 5am: dawn was breaking over the desert. We crawled out of our stuffy tent, bleary-eyed and relieved, to see the early rays kissing the dunes around us. The sight was lovely to behold. Dust and clouds on the horizon weakened the glare of the sun enough […]
Trek, Day 2: Sleeping under the stars (or not)
We had the choice of sleeping in the tents (which were stiflingly hot and smelled like sheep) or under the stars. Since the windstorm by this time had died down, leaving an open sky and a light cooling breeze, we opted for the latter. As you can imagine, the spread of stars that you can […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 