Reminiscences of Mr. Wan Hsueh Kan: Morocco Day 6: Fes, Day3

Explored more of Fes today, on our own. It rained on us a bit, but not too bad. It felt like a tropical island type of rain, where it rains for a bit, passes on, and repeats. It was never too heavy and when wandering the souks, there was often overhead cover to keep us dry. We walked all the way back to Bab Boujloud. Again, we were foiled many times by places being closed. We can't figure out if places close for prayer, or what? But we seem to be exploring during the worst times. Also, we can't help but wonder if some places that charge an admission fee are official: could there just be enterprising people hanging out in front saying you need to pay them (Jim Kerker, my high school physics teacher, says he used to do this when he was growing up: they'd set up some folding chairs at the entrance to the school parking lot and charge drivers a parking fee to attend football games). Anyway, the reason I wonder this is because the official sites all give you a stamped receipt, but these other places don't. Maybe the difference is between government-run vs. private?

Did I mention yet how there are oranges everywhere in Morocco? The train stations, palaces, public parks, etc. all have orange trees growing. And you get freshly squeezed OJ everywhere. Here is an orange vendor.

And tajines too...

Late lunch after walking to Bab Boujloud. Ordered another sandwich, but it costs more in Fes. I guess big cities always cost more than small ones. One thing we observed here is that the locals were eating in this sandwich place, but the fish guy across the way was sending stuff over too. So, you can eat in one place and order stuff from another. Quite convenient.

Boubouches (sp?)

After we got back to Place Seffarine, we decided to take a juice and cookie break at the Cremerie. Here is an avocade, apple, orange juice, though it didn't have enough avocado in it. The guys that run this place are fun and nice. They also own the restaurant across the plaza. These cookies were the best. They also have the crescent shaped ones, but they weren't as good.

View of metal workers from Cremerie la Place

view from Cremerie la Place

We asked Mohammed at Dar Seffarine to make a hammam reservation for us. The local hammam was under renovation (though I'm sure there were plenty of others nearby), so he recommended a place in the new city. Sort of a mix of European spa and traditional hammam. We figured that would be a good intro. The place was fairly expensive (average Western pricing, I think it was like USD$70 per person for hamman and 1-hour massage). I always find it hard to figure out what to do in these places when I can't speak the language (I had the same problem at the Korean spa in Garden Grove, CA the first time I went). I basically just went wherever the workers told me to go, except I may have made one mistake in the beginning, where instead of going downstairs, I went to some window to get my robe and towel. Somewhere along the way, I failed to get the full-body clay mask (the receptionist swears she told them to give it to me, but I didn't). Also, the weird thing about this place is that my locker key broke, and they charged ME for it. The receptionist says that if I didn't pay, then the towel/locker boy would have been responsible for it, so that's why the kid was insistent that I give him money. Oh, if any of you have ever had a body scrub at the Korean spa, the Hammam is similar. They scrub you down with a super-abrasive glove, though they weren't as thorough as the Koreans, who literally cleaned *every* part of my body.

After the massage, we were going to try a restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet, but the receptionist said it had closed down (again, why are we always finding places that are closed?). So, we went with another LP rec, even though it didn't get very good reviews on Trip Advisor. The place is called Zagora, and I think I have to go with the Trip Advisor ratings. Not bad, but not great either. Pretty average.