The Day I Fell in Love With Morocco (part 2)

In the first part of our trip we explored the North and the Rif Mountains. In Part two we took a step back in time in the cultural, intellectual and spiritual cradle of Morocco... Fes. 

Fes

Arriving in Fes at the car park just outside this old walled city, we were almost scammed by a false guide. Correction, I was...  lucky for me my boyfriend didn't trust it and lucky for us the police arrested him (the false guide) in front of us. So actually this was the second encounter with the police...

Anyhow, the medina of Fes is fascinating, a labyrinthine of 9000 little narrow streets. An official guide with a wheel cart brought us to the door of our Riad, because we would get lost in the maze.
Usually I love to get lost in a city strolling through the streets, but in Fes I would recommend to book a guided tour, a non-shopping guided tour, so you won't get hassled.

Our recommendations: 
Dar Roumana: http://www.darroumana.com/
We stayed two nights at one of the most beautiful houses we've seen in Morocco with the most friendly staff ever and an excellent kitchen.

Restaurant Dar Hatim:
When making reservation at this restaurant, ask for a pick-up. A member of this family restaurant will pick you up at your accomodation. The restaurant is the living room of a very hospital family. The food they serve is just delicious.

Tour Guide: 
Elhakim Mohammed melhakim77@gmail.com
Best tour guide in town... that was wat people said to us on the streets walking with this friendly guide. He showed us the centre of textile, the tanneries, the oldest university and didn't work on shopping commissions at all. Kudos to Elhakim Mohammed!

8 hours drive to the South through the mid-Atlas mountains

Early in the morning we left Fes for an 8 hours drive to the dessert. With a scenery like this I didn't mind spending a whole day in the car....

Merzouga

As soon as we stepped out of our car, we knew this was the dessert... 5PM and still 45°C degrees. At 5.30PM our ride to the camel ride left that brought us to a tent camp in the middle dessert... a night to remember for ever!