All in, we had a great time. Lots of bad luck getting there and back. But a great time in Morocco.

Because of a supposed 1mm of snow in London last Friday, we missed our connecting flight Gatwick – Fes by about 30 minutes with the next flight not scheduled for another 3 days! We were rescheduled to take another via Portugal but managed to miss that as well. Instead, we were forced to check into the Gatwick Hilton courtesy of British Airways. Despite getting vouchers for food and drink to placate us, we high-tailed it to Hampstead to spend the evening with Gabriel & Milene. Had a great supper in a local Italian Restaurant in Kentish Town before taking the Gatwick Express back to our holding spot….

Another day. Bright and early we breakfasted and went back to the terminal. This time we checked in early, held our breath and our flight, despite taking off 35 minutes late got us to Lisbon, Portugal in time for our connecting flight to Casablanca. Unluckily for us, this flight was delayed 2 hours which meant we would miss our connecting Casablanca – Fes flight, again by about 30 minutes…

We went through customs in Portugal, did a tour of the airport, then jumped on a little plane (10 seater) to cross the Strait of Gibraltar. Terrifying. Another missed flight in Casablanca and we finally arrived in Fes 30 odd hours later than expected!

We were picked up at the airport by a driver and Attika, the directrice from our booked accommodation, the Palais d’hotes and delivered in style to the most beautiful riad we have ever seen. Everyone took great care of us, we were upgraded to a lovely room, fed sweet mint tea and pastries upon arrival (2am) and then left to sleep off the trauma of our journey.

Sunday morning we were served the most amazing breakfast in the riad. A fine introduction to Moroccan cuisine, starting with Harira a soup made with lamb & chickpeas, moving through to pancakes – sweet and savoury, dried meat with eggs, yoghurt, apple milkshakes, the sweetest orange juice I’ve ever tried, bread, almond pastries and coffee.

With a full belly and some words of advice we headed out into the medina in Fes. It was amazing. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. The medina in Fes is so full of life. There are people and animals and smells everywhere. Some of the alleys are very tight, barely letting a donkey pass let alone a couple of tourists with bags full of shopping! We got lost on and off all day, stopping for cups of sweet mint tea every so often to recharge. We were led by various locals, all for a fee, to various places of interest, the mosque, a terrace overlooking the souk, a terrace overlooking the tanneries, the spice souk, the leather market, a dozen or so carpet shops etc. So much fun. For me the highlight was the tanneries. Unbelievable. So much leather, so much hard work. The stink was unsupportable and yet there were men thigh deep in pigeon droppings removing hair from the skins or jumping into huge vats of natural dye. After you visit this, you have to stop yourself thinking too much if you want to actually stop and purchase any of the bright coloured leather articles on sale in the souks. The bags, the belts, the babouches – all brightly coloured, all produced in the thousands all available for next to nothing. Only the lingering pungent smell of the tanneries left in your nostrils to remind you where they come from.

After about 5 hours of noise, dust and sheer distraction we returned to the calm and beauty of the riad where we relaxed on the roof terrace, sipping more mint tea and eating a variety of sweet & sticky pastries. A quick swim in the pool and we prepared for an evening in.

Lucky for us, the season hadn’t really started in Fes yet. The riad was empty except for us which meant we had the undivided attention of the most amazing staff ever. There were others that came for dinner in the riad, not staying. But the sheer size of the place meant that we didn’t see nor hear them all evening. We took drinks in the central terrace with Attika and then moved to the yellow room for a fantastic dinner of several courses. We could barely move after such a feast but agreed to join our hosts for a ‘digestif’ and a shisha water pipe. Ahmed introduced us to the joys of smoking Eyptian apple tobacco through the shisha. We smoked and chatted through the early hours of the morning….

If you ever plan on going to Fes, and even if you haven’t thought of it yet, you really must stay at the Palais d’hotes. So beautiful, so luxurious and the most amazing staff who will take care of your every need…

to be continued…

See all pictures here .