Continued from Tangier Day 2.

Today is travel day, we both got up at the same time to eat breakfast. Then it’s pack, and head to the train station.

Trying to swirl my coffee around in the glass to cool it fast.

Ahhh, coffee.

Tortoise in tortoise prison so it doesn’t try to eat the guests’ pants or toes.

The maze of stairs and landings in our guesthouse. Our door into our room is through a midway landing of a staircase that itself has several different levels. Crazy. Time to head to the train station.

As we were leaving, we discovered that the guesthouse has a dining room.

Goodbye kasbah, it’s been real.

Taxi driver take us to the rail station please. None of the taxis we’ve been in has meters so we’ve negotiated with them all. It’s not expensive, maybe $3 for a 10 min drive.

The newer parts of Tangier.

Reached the train station with about an hour to spare. It’s late morning, so we’ll need to get some lunch at the station before we board the train.

Happy 10 years in front of the train station pic.

First, more coffee.

Nothing regional about this starbucks.

Except for a fresh OJ squeezer. They are really big on freshly squeezed oj and other juices here in Morocco. Like, they serve it everywhere.

The records that RL brought yesterday, even comes with its own carrying bag.

Some food, I want to see what McDonald’s has for their Moroccan speciality.

Chinese sauce…which ended up being just sweet and sour sauce. RL liked the curry sauce a lot.

Time to board.

They’ve got steak fries, chicken tenders (same kind of blended meat as a mcnuggets) and McWrap. Cool.

RL got herself some sunglass here at the train station.

Beautiful blue ocean here in the coast by Tangier.

Storks?

She caught me trying to take a pic of her sleeping.

Surprising to see this here, lots and lots of agave in the country side of Morocco.

About halfway now.

Haven’t had one of these in years. We shared a cabin with a mother and her child as well as an older Indian couple on vacation who had traveled all over the world. And also a Moroccan man who lives in France but is here visiting family. it was a fun mix and we all talked for a good while.

Lots and lots of olive groves here.

The toilet dumps straight onto the tracks. Don’t take a shit when the train is stopped at the station.

We’ve reached Fes…at least the outskirts. It’s apparently the second most populous city in Morocco.

A taxi driver approached us and negotiated a rate with us. Sure. Then proceeded to walk to the jankiest cab in the whole city.

The zebra print headliner reminds me of some cabs that I rode in in India.

A quick short ride later, and now we are at Bab Ziat, the closest gate to the old city of Fes. It’s mostly a pedestrian only zone past here.

Well, except for these cars parked here, where there is apparently a small parking garage/parallel parking right past the gate.

It’s a maze inside here. The only way to find where to go is for us to use the gps and google maps on our phone. I don’t know how tourists would ever find their way around here pre gps devices.

Just lots of small alleyways with little to see. Everything amazing in Fes is hidden behind these walls. We’d walk through small clouds of flies while walking around in these alleyways, but the flies would always part ways and we’d walk right through them. We would see a lot of flies just around town, but they didn’t really bother us too much to our surprise. No mosquitos either, but I take that mostly because it’s mostly dry here.

Finally, after a couple of wrong turns, I think we are getting closer.

Found! After kids trying to tell us the way down this road was close (you have to watch out for that kinda stuff), we finally got to out Riad. Knocked on the door, the staff opened the door, and we were lead up a flight of stairs.

Then in this amazing enclosed courtyard. I believe this building is over 400 years old with restored tile work and hand carved stone. Wow.

It’s even more beautiful in person than the photos online. I’ve seen actual palaces that are less impressive than this.

I can’t get over how impressive this looks.

I mean, just look at this amazing lamp.

Welcome mint tea.

As you can see, I can’t get over how amazing this place looks. Apparently there are only 5 suites here, and we are only sharing it with one other guest this time.

Our room is located on the 4th floor.

Oh shit…this is fucking amazing. I’ve never stayed anywhere even close to as elaborate as this. All this for about $110 a night inside Fes old city. How is this possible? What a hidden gem.

There’s more. I booked this place because it has a private terrace.

Oh yeah!

Has an amazing view of the Fes old city.

Now…what’s up with this. All the windows in our room has blockout shutters, except for the two windows in the bathroom. They both have these semi sheer curtains that do not cover all the way. There’s a hallway right across the window across the courtyard that can look right into our bathroom while we shower…

But honestly, the rest of this place is just too fucking amazing to make a deal about the exhibitionist restroom. Seriously, this is the best room I’ve ever stayed in. Unexpectedly amazing.

Look at this, cherry on top of the cake. Beer in the mini fridge!

Fes is already looking pretty awesome.

Artwork in our bathroom.

Checking out the riad’s rooftop terrace.

That’s our private terrace below.

Stunning.

Next door is a riad that’s unrestored. I wonder how many majestic riads lie in ruin waiting to be restored around the old city?

Been traveling most of the day, time to head out for dinner.

This is us the whole time here in the old city, on our google maps trying to figure out where to go.

Just a lot of high walled narrow alleyways with honestly not much to look at and not much for way finding.

Finally found our dinner spot. Again, after getting lost a few times.

This restaurant is called The Ruined Garden. We didn’t have reservations, and they were originally going to turn us away, but they managed to find a table for us as long as we finish eating within 2 hours…Yeah, we can definitely do that.

Beautiful settings. I’ve never been to a city where all the beauty is hidden away behind high walls. This is something special.

Again, freshly squeezed OJ. So delicious.

Cumin and salt to go along with olive oil and some sort of chopped spicy pepper. And of course, bread.

Beet salad for RL and I had a lentil stew with fried eggs on top. The lentil stew with fried eggs were amazing. But then again, fried eggs on anything is amazing.

They brought out olives, typical, but then unexpectedly also brought out popcorn.

Chicken Bastilla.

It was quite sweet, it’s like a sweet meat pastry. I was excited to try it, but it was much too sweet to eat it all. Good thing I was already getting full. Very fun to try though!

Yum in smaller quantities.

RL had a vegetable tajine. She really liked it.

One last photo before we leave this beautiful hidden garden dinner spot.

Stock up on some water and snacks. We haven’t seen many stores at all in the old city. Where do all these people shop? Do they need to leave the old city in order to buy anything other than the most basic goods? Where do they go if they need to buy a light bulb? It’s gotta be so inconvenient living here in the old city for the residents.

If you mostly eat starch, they’ve got you semi covered. But for anything else, where do you go?

Time to get lost a few more times before we find our riad.

Made it back. I’m just so amazed at our room. It’s just so incredible it doesn’t seem real.

Time to take it easy, do some blogging and sip on some beers and enjoy the view.

To be continued at Fes Day 2 Part 1, Volubilis.