Geez... sorry for the long “hiatus”, I meant to upload this post right after the Chefchaouen one but didn't quite get to it.

After spending a night in Chef, we had a quick bite at some random kebab shop and drove down to the city of Fes. I was behind the wheel this time so I didn't manage to get too many shots while we were on the road and before we knew it, we found ourselves inside the medina. It was easy finding someone to get our vehicle and luggage sorted, normally so with a tip (hey, it's how most of the locals make a living so I respect that.) We put up at a pleasant riad (or so we thought) called Dar Ahl Tadla which had a family room for around €60 per night. Sadly the owners were not honest people and our money was stolen while we were out sightseeing over the two days.

When dinner came, we dined at one of the least expected places in Morocco - a Szechuan Chinese restaurant, Jin Guan Cheng (part of the Riad Haj) opened by this adorable old couple from Chengdu. Apparently their daughter visited Morocco some time back and persuaded them to set up their business as there is untapped potential, especially in a city like Fes. The food tasted extremely home-cooked which made us very satisfied, I think partly because we were sick of the tajines and couscous so Asian food offered a welcome “distraction”.

The next day started with a visit to the famous Madrasa Bou Inania (around €1 per person to enter) and lucky for us we were there early before the crowd started flowing in. This was our first madrasa so we were pretty stoked about it but I think the novelty wore off after our third/fourth one. If you crave for some form of modern civilisation, you'd be happy to know that there is an actual shopping mall in Fes city called Borj Fez (it has a Carrefour, Burger King and even Miniso!)

I think the highlight of Fes was the Chouara Tannery located within the medina. The walk from our riad to the tannery was full of “helpful” locals who kept trying to show us the way to the tannery, which we politely rejected of course. When we arrived at the entrance of the place, we had to make an obligatory albeit unofficial fee of €2 before they led us in. The moment we stepped in, the many men who allegedly worked at the tannery stood up and started going about their usual business - carrying animal hide, stepping into the vats of dye, it almost felt staged (or maybe it was!) Also, for those of you who read about how awful a tannery smells, let me confirm the statement by saying IT STANK BAD. Like death bad. The visit was worth every whiff we took though.

Our next stop was Merzouga, on the edge of the Western Sahara where we abandon all forms of modern civilisation and embarked on a nomadic journey.

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