Wow... in all my travels, I've never had an introduction to a city like this. Although thinking back, I can't say I've travelled quite so independently as on this trip.
We actually made it into Fes and disembarked without any problem. Then we were accosted by a series of touts that seemed to loiter about the bus station like flies. They wanted to recommend hotels or take you somewhere. One guy acted aggrieved and complained as to why I was coming to Morocco and not being friendly. (This same guy looked excited when I told them there were other tourists. And to top it off we couldn't find a taxi that knew of our riad.
Finally, to avoid the touts, we took out on foot hoping to find a taxi outside. No luck, but appeared that the place was nearby. So we proceeded into the Medina, a veritable maze of narrow streets. We struggled to get directions from shopkeepers while avoiding the teenage kids offering to take us to a "cheap hotel". Eventually, almost to the point of despair, we found it. I'm amazed that we did -- the door is practically unmarked and down an alleyway. We were led by a man with a walkie talkie claiming to be a tourist policeman. But he didn't have a badge so I didn't quite believe him. Turns out he was one and had just forgot it. I guess paranoia rules the day. Anyway, more stories and impressions tomorrow… (and some pictures hopefully!)
No comments:
Post a Comment