First thing today, after a loud call to prayer at 6am, was to go find the best cappuccino in town ... check!. Then, a great breakfast at our hotel as we waited for the rain, which fell all night, to stop ... and it did, at around 9am.
Today, we rode through inner Morocco's mountains ... on an old, narrow road, with good, bad, and non-existent pavement at times ... but with astonishing views, lakes, hills, rivers, creeks. Everything wet again ... glowing and radiant.
Beautiful valleys, with endless twisties sprinkled with some goats, chickens. and donkeys on the road. Nice typical villages with lots of people wearing djellabas (the long Moroccan robe with a pointy hood) going about their daily chores. Villages and people and families and children just like anywhere else in the world.
It is interesting to think that this land which seems so beautiful, fertile, and bountiful is not an economic powerhouse ... interesting how the combination of government, rules, history, religion, culture all conspire to create the end result, whatever that is.
My rear tire is now losing about 1-2 lbs. of pressure every hour or so ... enough to make it through a day but something that will have to get fixed in Marrakesh before crossing the desert.
Fes is an incredible medieval city founded in 749 AD and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Fes Medina is the largest car-free urban zone in the world with 9,000 or so narrow streets ... everything moves by foot, cart or donkey inside it. Very easy to get lost in there. There are shops everywhere ... metals, leather, ceramic, food, textiles, wood carvings, sweets, shoes, djellabas, hijabs, hats.
After a nice walk to the Chouara tannery (still in operation, founded in 1,100 AD), we had a nice Moroccan dinner at the Culture Box ... seemed like a gathering place for travelers.
Tomorrow, we have the longest ride of the trip so far ... 500+ km, 8+ hours ... to the famous city of Marrakesh.
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