we would spend today in and around Fez. We started off at a community pottery where young men and women are taught the craft of pottery, hand painting the pots and making mosaics.
We were then taken to the Medina. With its 9000 streets it is the largest in Morocco.
Looking down over the Medina.
Our guide for the day (can't remember his name) has a You Tube channel on Moroccan food and cooking. He was recognised on numerous occasions as he was guiding us round the Medina. People asking for selfies etc. Got a bit annoying in the end!
He took us to the oldest parts of the Medina including the leather workshops with the large curing and dieing vats.
As we entered this area we were given sprigs of mint to smell to counteract the overwhelming odours from the curing of the leather.
The oldest existing and continually operating educational institution in the world is the University of Karueein, founded in 859 AD in Fez, Morocco. The University of Bologna, Italy, was founded in 1088 and is the oldest one in Europe.
'Guinness Book of Records'
We stopped for lunch in a pleasant restaurant away from the crowds but still in the medina. I didn't want to eat as the heat was getting to me. Despite drinking frequently, staying in the shade, wearing a damp scarf I got worse as the afternoon wore on. By the time we got back to the minibus I realised I had sunstroke. The group left the minibus to visit somewhere else but I had now starting vomiting. Fortunately for me, one of the other members of the group told the driver to just get me back to the hotel and collect everyone else later. I was helped up to my room with the air conditioning on full and more damp clothes to bring my body temperature down. I continued being sick but with the help of a nurse who was travelling with us and some anti nausea tablets I began to slowly recover, eventually being able to tolerate liquids (flat coca cola really does help). Our tour guide Youssef wanted to get a doctor and phoned me every hour through the night. I had a very bad night but had it under control by the time we left for the Sahara at 4.30 the next morning. I was worried that I might have to return home. We were travelling in the early hours of the morning as it was a long drive and we wanted to avoid the hottest part of the day.
The day sounded quite good, with much of interest to see. I guess where you lunched did not have air con, and nor did other places you visited. At home, we expect to have aircon anywhere we go, but we learnt a lesson when we toured England in the stinking heat about checking if hotels had aircon. We were assured in advance that they did, but it was not true. Not part of the tour, but oh how we suffered in our London Old Street accommodation, and years before in our hotel near Manchester Airport.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you recovered and are headed for cooler climes in the Sahara...ah, maybe not, but I'm sure your coach had adequate aircon.
It sounded like that was a busy day out in the heat and I'm sorry to hear you ended up so unwell.
ReplyDeleteMarie, how horrible for you. I guess I have to wonder about the rest of the story - the next leg of your trip. Did you make any purchases from any of those shops?
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