After another rough night of sleep. R spent most of the night going to the bathroom so nauseous. We were provided breakfast on the terrace upstairs with the other boarders. Breakfast is simple but good. They have these flat crepe/pancakes that are wonderful with butter and jam. Usually hot milk, that the kids add cocoa and sugar to. Eggs scrambled and cooked in a skillet and lots more bread options. They love their bread in Morocco!
R and I battled some more tummy issues and we packed up our stuff, and walked out of the Old Town to our car. Getting a better look at the map and the roads, we decided to take the route that was a bit more mileage but much better roads! We also realized that with upset tummies our 3.5 hour drive might be much longer.
(Can you believe those plastic jugs?!)
We did stop a few times on our own. We were also stopped once by the radar cops. They literally had a radar gun, and a couple of plastic chairs by the side of the road. They nailed us and some other foreign couple for going 7kms over the speed limit. (Rolling eyes) But it wasn’t too expensive and so we paid and went on our way. No idea why, since it was Sunday but those radar cops where all over the roads this day!
We stopped for lunch in some random town. The first place we went to only had fish soup. Which I new wasn’t going to sit easily on our sensitive stomachs. So we walked next door to the large fancy restaurant. This turned out to be one of our worst meals of the trip, and most expensive! I ordered chicken and steak kebabs for the kids and I. The steak was way over seasoned, and super chewy. The chicken seemed to be a bit better at least. Lunch took a long time too. It was about an hour stop.
Back on the road we made it with only one or two more stops. The roads were much improved this way. However, it still took us about 5.5 hours to drive back to the airport in Fez.
Once there, we met the driver for our Air BnB. He took us through the new city, to the Old Town Medina. They have to park outside the wall, and someone gathers all your suitcases and backpacks into a cart. Then someone else showed us the way into the Medina, to our house.
This house is lovely. Narrow, but it goes up about 4 floors to the roof terrace. Best of all, we had it all to ourselves!
They welcomed us with mint tea and some snacks. Then I got R snuggled into her jammies and tucked into bed. She had a bit of a fever, and the aches. Ty and L went out to try and find some food. But with the maze that this place is, all he was able to come back with for dinner was some yogurt drinks, a loaf of bread, some jam, and a bottle of water. It was sparse…
We were all exhausted from the day and settled the kids in to bed. Then Ty and I took the top room. Which the host proclaimed to be the best! We have no idea why, after staying here for a few days. It’s right on the narrow alley. So everyone who walks by sounds like they’re right outside your wall. There’s a leather cobblers shop right next door, and they spend hours banging on the leather with a wooden mallet. They seem to shut down about 11:30pm. Then there’s the call to prayer, five times a day, that’s blasted over their speakers. The excessive cat and dog fights. Are you getting the sense that this place is a cacophony of noise!?
After very little/no sleep the night before I finally put Ty in charge of listening for the kids, while I put in ear plugs, and placed a pillow over my head. I was finally able to fall asleep just past midnight.
