Tarifa to Fes Tue 1/10/02   After having driven all day trying to evade the first rainfalls of the season, only semi-successful I might add, as we got soaked driving out of Tanger, but then managed to stay barely dry on our way down to Fes. The roads were an absolute catastrophe as the first rain after the summer draught turned the roads into a slippery nightmare, dissolving dirt, petrol, oil etc. that had been accumulated on the surface throughout the summer months. Driving to Fes we saw several accidents involving cars and busses which had slid into the ditch. Despite driving very carefully I too had an accident on the mountainous roads leading from Tetuan south through the Rif Mountains to Chefauchen. Luckily neither Elin, I nor the bike were badly damaged and we were able to continue our journey shortly after. After finally completing the very tiring and dangerous drive to Fes we treated ourselves to a truly marvelous and beautiful night at the Riad Arabesque. Shortly after checking in we hurried to get some dinner not knowing that Morocco is 2 hours behind Spanish (summer)time (1h in winter), and were caught almost immediately after leaving the hotel by a young "guide" who escorted us to a tannery and a restaurant close by. Lessons Learned   - Don't go there on a motorbike for the first rain after the summer it is dangerous. - Tanger does not seem like a friendly place Fes - Around Town Wed 2/10/02   As there were no rooms left at the Arabesque we headed off into the nouvelle ville to get some money and try our luck in finding a new place to spend the night. There we got caught by a "faux guide" in front of a cafe and agreed to going on a tour of the medina with him, after having found another hotel for the night. We checked into an extremely interesting place which was apparently the former mint of Fez. Anyhow Elin and I had a huge room to ourselves in this slightly run down yet magnificent former palace. We then embarked on a tour of the medina, looking at an old koran school, herbal medicine shop, a tea house (rip off) and different souks within the medina, only to return to our riad to get confronted with a not very original ripoff by our guide who had become quite unfriendly towards the end that the price we had agreed upon was per person not for the tour as a whole. Had a whole chicken for dinner at the Riad which was cooked for us by a very helpful and friendly woman who managed the place. (they only really have 2 rooms) Lessons Learned in Fes   - Despite the fabulous places to stay and the very impressive medina, I will most likely not go back to Fes, as the atmosphere is nowhere as relaxed as in Marrakech or Meknes and whilst venturing through the city one quickly tires of fighting off hustlers and "helpful friends" willing to show or sell you something great. Most of the people that are offering to help you will most likely find someway to rip you off. If they don't manage the "friendliness" may quickly disappear, being replaced by an offended, unfriendly or unpleasant attitude, all in all making the experience quite disagreeable. However, don't forget - Marrakech rules.	Maison d'hôte Riad Arabesque Zenjefour Street.(Palais Jamai) Double Room 140 EUR
Room in Arabesque Entrance Hall Arabesque Riad Arabesque - Roof Terrace Old Koran School Koran School - Elin Riad Second Night Riad Entrance Hall
Fes via Meknes to Asilah Thu 3/10/02   Just wanted to get out of Fes, so started early (luckily my motorbike was still there) quickly stopped to get some more money and got onto the road to Meknes. After the unpleasant Moroccan impressions from Fes, Meknes was a welcome change. We experienced no trouble with harassing and insistent local "guides" and were able to explore the Medina in our own time and in peace. Started with a visit to the museum Dar Jamaï and then walked around the food souk. Had some lunch, after which we explored the medina some more, but didn't manage to see nearly all of it. The visit to the museum was interesting as we got to see some of the stuff not usually open to tourists and found out about the influences reflected within the building style of the palace, namely that the tiles at the bottom of the typical wall mirror the arabic influences and patterns, the gypsum patterns and carvings in the middle are of Andalusian origin and the wood carvings in the cedar wood ceiling are a traditional berber craft. Found an excellent capet shop, unluckily I was not going to invest in a traditional carpet during my round the world trip. Continued driving back up towards Tanger at around 4pm, this time on a slightly different and easier route, aiming for a coastal town named Asilah. Arrived at around 8pm in Asilah which reminded me somewhat of Essaouira, as it had a friendly vibe to it, yet being much smaller than the latter there was no real souks or markets etc, (not as windy either). Got lucky in terms of accommodation as we almost instantly found a great place to stay with Azul from Spain and her partner Moufdi from France. Super place to stay in an excellent family style atmosphere and the two owners are just great people! Asilah to Tanger and on to Granada Fri 4/10/02   The day started off with an interesting experience, just as we had driven out of Asilah whilst overtaking a lorry we were stopped by the police and informed that in fact we were still in town and hence had exceeded the seed limit. In addition I failed to produce the green insurance card for travel outside of Europe, both offenses cost us 20EUR each. (I presume this was also a welcome extra payment for the police officers). Anyhow they let us continue and we made it to Tanger without any major difficulties. Ahem well one tiny incident in Tanger might deserve a mention as Elin was feeling slightly sick she decided to get rid of some extra stomach contents right on one of the central roundabouts near the harbour. After this tiny entertaining interlude we proceeded directly to the ferry terminal and got onto the catamaran to Algericas from where we proceeded directly on to Granada which we reached at around 8 pm. Had a few good bye drinks with Hannes and Daniel at the pub round the corner which played an excellent selection of Stones tunes for us and headed back early to their place to get some hours of sleep before leaving for Germany the following morning.	Moufdi Tligui & Azul Cofino Asilah - Ph: (0212) 66047813 Double Room in shared Flat 50EUR
Museum Dar Jamai - Elin & Richard Museum Dar Jamai - Courtyard Museum Dar Jamai - Courtyard Museum Dar Jamai - 3 Crafts Museum Dar Jamai - Glass Window Meknes - Souk Spices Meknes - Souk Spices Museum Dar Jamai - Richard Asilah - Evening Meal Group Asilah - Food Moufdi with Albino Cat Asilah Town Square Catamaran Jet Power