Fès

JG: Back to Marrakech and took an overnight bus to Fés, another imperial city. Slightly larger city, but this time with more than 9,000 streets. More hustling, but we were armed with more experience so we managed a bit better. And we came across a couple of local tour guides - the first gave us a formal tour of the city on our first day, and the second gave us a three-hour informal tour and stroll of town on our last day. We met the second guide Abdul Missouri (actual name) while we were just having a late lunch the day before we left. We invited him to our table, had some good conversation, and he showed us his version of the city. He made me a believer. 

In the end, we saw sights that were centuries old, including palaces, tanneries and Roman ruins; slept in the desert; ate some of the best food we'd had up to that point; and even brushed up on our survival skills. A truly unique experience.

SS: Fés - Over 9,000 streets in 3.9 square kilometers (1.5 sq miles), containing 200,000 people and dating back to the 8th century - this place is surreal. Squeezed into this area is almost 200 Mosques, the largest being Kairaouine Mosque known as the heart and spiritual capital it holds 20,000 people at prayer time.

Learning our lesson from Marrakech, we stayed in a riad close to the outskirts of the medina - easy escape and easy to find. The true highlight was meeting the 80-year-old man Abdul Missouri. He shared stories of his life and stories of Fés, all in great humor and wisdom. As Abdul would squeal every so often, "Unbelieeeeeevable......."

We toured out to ancient Roman ruins called Volubilis and strolled the town of Moulay Idriss built over and around a hill in the 8th century. We strolled through one of four of Morocco's imperial cities - Meknés (the other three being Marrakech, Fés and Rabat) is a charming city that to our surprise is not as aggressive. We were able to buy some fruit without being charged an outrageous price or being haggled to buy more. It's entertaining though... before approaching the vender, we had a side huddle and tried to figure out how much strawberries sell for at home, estimate how much they would cost here and then come to an amount that we would initially suggest, rebut with, and then actually settle on. Ended up being pennies to what we thought and the fair price that locals pay. Faith reinstated. 

The Sahara

JG: We rented a car for two days and drove out to the Sahara desert. No a/c in the car and temps north of 40°C. You haven't lived until you've driven in downtown Marrakech - at one point, I changed lanes to pass a mule, and later in the drive we had to stop for camels crossing the road. It was a grind, but we arrived in the early evening, rode camels out to the desert, slept in tents, and watched the sunset and sunrise. The desert looks downright supernatural. There and back we stopped at Aït Benhaddou (ruins of a 17th century fortress city, and where they filmed a portion of Gladiator) and the Dadès Gorge. Spectacular all around. 

SS:

Rock the kasbah...Rock the kasbah...

(Just google it: kasbah) They are beautiful ancient fortresses built throughout Morocco. The kasbahs are simply fascinating cities made of dried mud, clay, stones and straw. The famous Aït Benhaddou was the site where the movie Gladiator was filmed; building in the arena right in front - see photo. The locals told us all the stories - for a price of course. 

Along our journey we can across the natural Dades Gorge. Amazing scenery along the winding roads as we transitioned from the Atlas Mountains, foot hills and gorges towards the flat land before reaching the desert. 

The delightful Sahara Desert.... this is one of those things that you see a postcard of and think to yourself how majestic it would be to do that. At least that's what I thought, but I never considered the difficulty in actually getting to that moment. Hours driving in unbearable heat with no A/C to a remote location. Two hours, each way, riding a camel through the desert (which is not that comfortable!) and heavy winds blowing sand in every crevice just to sleep in put-together blankets they call tents. But once you have those moments of the sunset and sunrise, you realize how special it really is and worth every inconvenience that you soon forget about it.