"Fez - A World Of Little Change Within... " a Fes Travel Page by Mikebb

We left Marrakesh at 9am to commence our 485km (303 miles) road trip to Fes travelling through rich farmland to the Atlas Mountains and then through the Mid Atlas, passing through many villages where life remains very similar to that of hundreds of years ago.

Yes, there are motor vehicles in these villages and television antennas, however you will also see life unchanged with the mule remaining the favoured means of transport, transporting everything from villagers to farm produce, materials and whatever else needs moving. We passed many Medinas and souks which looked as though the whole district attended. As we moved through a village you would see donkeys bringing in produce as far as 5km from the souck. We were told peasants commence setting up the souk pre dawn.

Amazingly as we moved through the Atlas mountains we saw shepherds with small flocks of sheep, goats and occasionaly cows, never more than 20 in number, herding their animals on the free range pastures and watching over them throughout the day. As evening closed in you would see the animals following the shepherd back to the shelter of his home. It looked as though nothing had changed in 2,000 years.

Much of the farmland had a good supply of water obtained from winter snow on the Atlas mountains and we travelled through the endless agriculture district. We stopped in several villages and some of our group purchased fresh fruit, including some beautiful dates. We passed through some poor agricultural areas where the soil looked as though it could hardly support grass.

Arriving in Fes just after 7pm we were quickly into our hotel and freshened up for dinner and early night. We found that hotel staff used French as the everyday language with most also speaking English.

One evening we attended a Moroccan Dinner and Folklore Evening that was most enjoyable. There were a number of Belly Dancers who gave spectacular performances.

Several travelogues below record events of this special evening.

When visiting Fes the highlight is visiting this medina which has a surprise every corner you take. Expect to see the unexpected, for most visitors it will be a culture shock. Make certain you have plenty of time to amble around the streets and stop and browse, there are plenty of opportunities to buy local goods, but examine carefully as many are not quality, especially some of the brass and silver items.

A guided tour is recommended as it would be very easy to get lost.