Fez, day 1

i am absolutely in love with this place.

after we got coffee and danishes and strolled through another park in madrid, aaron and mike and i took the Metro to the airport, where we met up with Jess and Goska and boarded Ryan Air to Fez. We got in around 7:30 at night (after a pretty rough landing), and the first thing we saw was the mountains and the airport, which was about the size of my house. We met Driss, the man who was sent to pick us up and didn't speak a word of English or Arabic, but knew some French and a lot of Berber.

It was a pretty short ride from the airport to where our group is staying for 3 nights, Hotel Mounnia, which is located in Fez's 'Ville Nouvelle', which is the more european/modern section of the city. The hotel is a lot nicer than i'd expected, with a lobby covered wall to wall in mosaic tiles and a fun bar/lounge.

We met up with everyone in the group and our chaperone, Sharon Nagy, and went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. I guess Nagy wanted to show us where we could go if wanted to find Americanized food. After that we came back to our hotel and got drinks in the bar. Everyone else went to bed, but Aaron and Goska and I stayed up and waited for the last member of our group, Kait, to arrive from Casablanca. She was supposed to get in at midnight, but her connecting flight was delayed so she missed her flight to Fez, and ended up getting to the hotel around 2:30am, so it was just us chilling in the dark lobby with the security guard. Oh, and their form of security is putting this big sword through the door handles.

This morning we woke up early and left around 9 to head to the Medina, which is the traditional muslim section of Fez. There's absolutely no plan to how the city was built, so the streets are winding and narrow, and only donkeys and bicycles are allowed. There are unending store shops of food, clothes, and every type of good you could think of. We got a lot of attention while walking around, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, although 3 girls got their bums grabbed and Sarah had her hair tugged by an ornery old lady. and i got proposed to, just like you said i would, mom. he was about 60 years old and not really my type, so i said no thanks.

fez has the second largest mosque in morocco, but non-muslims aren't allowed in mosques, so we could only take a few pictures from the entrance. we were allowed to enter one of the original mosques, which may be the prettiest place i've ever been in. it was small, but covered in insanely intricate mosaic tiles that all have symbolic meaning for Islam and Fez. It's a great example of how Fez looks kind of bustling and run down from the outside, but once you enter a building it's beautiful, open, and peaceful. I can't wait to see where in the Medina i'll be living and to meet my family, especially because the kids here are probably the cutest things i've ever seen.

We went into a few places where they make scarves out of wool, cotton, and silk made from vegetables (which i didn't know was possible). our tour guide, Ali, pulled me up front and used me as a model for how to wrap a hijab, and then he wrapped everyone up in different styles. we all bought scarves to be nice since the men let us interrupt their work, and i got a nice teal one that was about $4.

We got a tour of the Medina and the tanneries, which Fez is famous for, and smelled pretty nasty. the tannery we went to is one of the only original ones left, and they gave us mint leaves to hold in front of our faces while we toured. after a few minutes i didn't notice the smell anymore, but most of the people in the group were anxious to leave.

after our tour we got lunch, which consists of tomato and cucumber salad, some sort of eggplant mixture, cinnamon carrots, lamb with prunes, fresh fruit, and mint tea. then a few of us headed to Marjane, which is basically the Costco of Morocco, so that we could get shampoo and that stuff. It was about 15 minutes from our hotel, and a taxi ride for 3 people cost us 11 Dh, which is equivalent to between $1 to $2.

now we're all chilling in the hotel lobby, soaking up the free wifi. we have dinner at our chaperone's apartment in about an hour and a half, and then we'll probably end up in the hotel bar again tonight. Tomorrow we take a daytrip to Anubulis, which is a city of ruins outside of Fez.

i have amazing pictures from today, but the internet is too slow right now and won't load them. i'll try to add them to this post later tonight or something.