September 12, 2002 – Fes
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Today, the 2 italians convinced me in seeing Sefrou,
a village located in the south of Fes. We take a Grand Taxi from place de la résistance
at the beginning of la Ville Nouvelle when you come from Fes El Jedid. The
journey costs only 8 DH and in 20 minutes you are in a little village
recommended by Lonely Planet for the calm, the market on Thursday and the
falls near the village. That’s good because we are on Thursday… Apart from two other travelers, it seems that we are
the only foreigners there. We have a great time visiting the Medina, the
Mellah and the local market. I take advantage of the situation to ask a
policeman if he knows someone here who can fix my little bag because I
noticed this morning that a f…. guy used a kind of Stanley knife to cut my
bag!!! Hopefully it was only a big pocket where I put pens, paper but I was
very angry this morning. The policeman was really a super guy and we went to
a shop where in 10 seconds the cut was fixed and all that for a big smile and
a Alan Wa Salan (welcome!). It is really nice to meet nice and friendly
people. Shukraan!! It will be the only incident during the 3 weeks in Morocco. We resume our visit towards the local market (both
inside and outside). Farmers are here to sell their productions of tea, mint,
cocks, turkeys, and rabbits… There is also a Moroccan doing some magic tricks
with a rope. He wants us to participate but we decline. Then we walk to the little falls, the attraction of
the village just one kilometer from the bus station (in fact a football
playground). The indications in the Lonely Planet are not very clear so we
ask advice from policemen. They are each time pleased to help us to find our
way. It is really a common thing during all this trip, when I didn’t know
where I was or where was a monument, I just ask to any policeman in the
street and each time he was pleased to answer my question and to put me in
the right direction. Many Moroccans are here at the falls enjoying the
water under such a sun. It is a nice place to relax, far from the agitation
of Fes. Finally we decide to go back to fes by Grand Taxi just before 2pm. Bab Bou Jeloud Back in Fes, we go to my little restaurant near the
hotel just to have something and I suggest them to eat one of the vegetarian
sandwich they can prepare. So we just seat down at the rear of the restaurant
eating our sandwich full of eggplants and potatoes while talking to locals or
just listening to the television. As I left my bag in their room this morning, I
collect it now as I decide to go to the bus station to leave Fes for Rissani
tonight. Emanuele and Manuela are not sure about staying another night here
or simply go straightaway to rissani and Merzouga like I will do. We exchange
some business card just to keep in touch and have a look to each other
pictures and why not I will phone them or leave a SMS if we are in Marrakech
at the same time in a few days. We are sure that we will see each other again
on September 29, the day we are all leaving Morocco but from now then…
Inch’Allah !! I just take a petit taxi (little red taxi) to the
bus station near Bab El Mahrouk. After scrutinizing the departures I decide to
book a seat on a CTM bus leaving at 8:30pm for Rissani. There is a small
difference in the price between CTM and other companies but my seller is sure
that I will have a great bus. We will see!!! I have to pay him 5 DH to leave
my bag in his office but I could have gone to the baggage room and pay only 3
DH (per day). I will take the opportunity of this late departure
to spend the rest of the afternoon wandering in the souks but I will
carefully keep an eye on my bag to avoid another problem. In the medina, I
meet a group of Dutch and I decide to follow their visit of Fes. I start
talking with the Moroccan guy at the rear of the group and for him there is
absolutely no problem that I follow their group, maybe that’s because he can
speak to someone… The visit is nice and and I learn a little more about Fes
at this occasion. At the end of the visit, we enter a carpet store and that
is the place where many in the group will buy souvenir from Morocco. I take
the opportunity to speak a little more with the guide, and this man was
really nice to answer many questions I had during the 2 days I spent there.
That was definitely a good idea to follow a group. I thank the guide very
much for his explanations and I leave them there. I just walk to a square
near Bab Bou Jeloud to see the agitation, there is a kind of open market
where many merchants sell a lot of different articles. When the night falls, I walk to the bus station to
have dinner and to wait until the departure. I meet Jack, an English guy who
is working in Netherlands and we will have long discussions for the next
hours and especially in Zeida where the bus stops for the dinner stop. It
seems that all the buses going south and east stop there in order to satisfy
the passengers. It is only a big street full of buses and shops or
restaurants. You can buy your food from the butcher and 10m from the stall a
guy will grill the meat for you for a few Dirhams. Delicious!!! As soon as we get on the bus, I fall asleep. Main expenses of the day : Grand Taxi for/from Sefrou: 16 DH (roundtrip) CTM bus ticket for Rissani: 130 DH Extra cost for the bag: 14 DH (1 DH/kg) Drinks (water, soft drinks, tea…) + evening
meal : 30 DH |
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Other travels (Syria,
Jordan, Egypt, USA...) (Hotels, Transportation
timetables…) D1 :
Luxembourg – Paris – Casablanca D4 :
Meknes – Volubilis – Meknes D9 :
Tinehrir – Ouarzazate – Marrakesh D13 :
Refuge – 4167m –Tizi Ouanoums D14 :
Tizi Ouanoums – Amsouzert D16 :
Azib Likemt – Tacheddirt D17 :
Tacheddirt – Imlil – Marrakesh D19 :
Essaouira – El Jadida – Tangier D22 :
Chefchaouen – Casablanca D23 :
Casablanca – Paris – Luxembourg |
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Last update : December
2002
Contact : pindavid@hotmail.com