Fez

Fez is a much larger city than Chefchaouen, with a population of almost 1 million people. It is considered the imperial capital of Morocco and the center for true Moroccan culture. The city's medina is the largest car-free urban zone in the world and is a winding mess of narrow streets. When we arrived to Fez, we went to a hostel where we saw some other travelers hanging out on a balcony. As it turned out, one of the travelers on the balcony was on of Tom's classmates from his University in Prague. She was an erasmus student in Aix en Provence, France and was with two other erasmus friends from Poland. We all ate dinner at a delicious restaurant across the street and got to know one another. The next day, we set out on a tour of the city. We went looking for the old Jewish quarter and found a guide that agreed to take us around. He showed us the old Jewish cemetary, a communal bakery, and other interesting sites. He then took us to a guesthouse he knew of to get a panoramic view from the roof. The guesthouse was operated by a man named Adel who also owned a carpet store that was underneath his house. He had traveled all around the Mediterranean and spoke fluent Spanish and French and a good bit of English. He sat us down and poured us some mint tea and began telling us about the different types of rugs he had and how they were made. After some minor pressure to buy, Joel was the only one who purchased, buying a nice yellow camel blanket. Adel invited us to come back to his house that evening for dinner, as long as we brought the food to cook. So, we went through the market streets of the medina seeing was the farmers had brought to town that day. We bought some chicken and lots of vegetables and brought them over to Adel's around 8pm. His sister prepared the food, and while we waited we talked with Adel about his travels, listened to music, and smoked shissha (tobacco smoked out of a hookah). When the dinner was ready, Adel's sister served the food and left. We had a large pot of Tagine with chicken and vegetables that were delicious. After we let the meal settle, we talked some more until Adel began to lead us out of his house. He proceeded to take us into the room where we had spent about an hour earlier that afternoon looking at rugs and again pressured us to buy some from him. When we told him that we still weren't interested he quickly said goodbye and led us out. It was kind of a shame overall because it made us wonder whether he really wanted to be hospitable to a random group of travelers, or if he was just looking for another customer. Regardless, being welcomed into his home and eating a meal was a great experience and a good first-hand look at Moroccan life. The next day, we hopped on a train and headed for the capital of Morocco, Rabat.