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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Morocco 2025 Day 5: Around Fez
Morocco 2024 Day 5: 19th April (Saturday)
Riad El Yacout>walk>Fez Medina>Riad El Yacout>Fes El Bali>Cherratine Madrasa>University of al-Qarawiyyin>Atelier de Broderie et de Tissage>Mausoleum of Sidi Ahmed al-Tijani>Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts & Crafts>Henna Souk & Pottery>van>The Royal Palace of Fez>Borj Nord Museum Viewpoint>Art D'Argile Pottery>Riad El Yacout.
This is page 5 of a 13-page blog. Click Here To Go To Title Page.
< D4: Fez | Go to Other Days | D6: Merzouga >
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Route recommendations, here are some tips on travelling to and around Morocco:
1. Traffic Directions!
Driving in Morocco is left-hand drive, and driving is on the right-hand side of the road. Do look to the correct side when crossing roads.
Speed limits are between 60 km/h within urban areas, 100 km/h outside urban areas, including expressways, and 120 km/h on highways. Do adhere to these limits, as often police are monitoring with radars; our driver-guide was careful about this.
Speed limits are between 60 km/h within urban areas, 100 km/h outside urban areas, including expressways, and 120 km/h on highways. Do adhere to these limits, as often police are monitoring with radars; our driver-guide was careful about this.
2. Immigration & Customs Requirements
For Morocco, citizens of Malaysia do not need a visa to enter for travel purposes and can stay in the country for 90 days without a visa. Click here for visa requirements for other countries.
3. Getting to and around Morocco.
Morocco is easily accessible by air as most major airlines serve Morocco and have flights to major cities such as Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech. We flew return via Emirates to Casablanca with transit in Dubai at a fare of MYR4,430 per pax. Do note that Emirates now charges for seat selection.
For ground arrangements, we booked a 13-day guided tour through Tenere Tours at €1,350 per pax. This included stays at comfortable hotels and riads, and a night at a caravanserai luxury camp in the desert. Breakfast was included, and also dinners at the Dades Valley Hotel, Merzoga Riad and Desert Caravanserai Luxury Camp.
The guided tour included a 9-seater van with a driver-guide to take the six of us to/from the airports, and from city to city. And also the camel ride to the desert camp. We paid extra for walking tours at the Fez Medina and Marrakech Medina at €85/group/city.
For ground arrangements, we booked a 13-day guided tour through Tenere Tours at €1,350 per pax. This included stays at comfortable hotels and riads, and a night at a caravanserai luxury camp in the desert. Breakfast was included, and also dinners at the Dades Valley Hotel, Merzoga Riad and Desert Caravanserai Luxury Camp.
The guided tour included a 9-seater van with a driver-guide to take the six of us to/from the airports, and from city to city. And also the camel ride to the desert camp. We paid extra for walking tours at the Fez Medina and Marrakech Medina at €85/group/city.
For out-of-pocket spending, we exchanged Euros to Moroccan dirhams (MAD) at local money-changers in Rabat and Rissani. As a contingency, we brought along our Wise debit cards, do note that this may not be acceptable at many places.
4. Places & Things of Interest
En route were several places of interest, some of which we visited and others we did not for lack of time (Note: click on GPS coordinates for a directional map to respective places):
a. Fes El Bali (GPS: 34.06308, -4.97687), the medina of Fez.
a. Fes El Bali (GPS: 34.06308, -4.97687), the medina of Fez.
b. Cherratine Madrasa (GPS: 34.06397, -4.97387).
c. University of al-Qarawiyyin (GPS: 34.06492, -4.97336).
d. Atelier de Broderie et de Tissage Fez (GPS: 34.06643, -4.97375) to purchase Moroccan Head Scarf.
g. Henna Souk and Pottery (GPS: 34.06522, -4.97524).
i. Borj Nord Viewpoint (GPS: 34.06727, -4.98493).
j. Shpigel Lookout Viewpoint (GPS: b34.06819, -4.98341).
5. Food
a. Breakfast
Inclusive hotel Western & Moroccan breakfast at Riad El Yacout (GPS: 34.05995, -4.98057) in Fez.
b. Lunch
b. Lunch
Le Patio Bleu (GPS: 34.06331, -4.97488) in Fes El Bali during our walking tour:
1. Eight types of Moroccan Tapas:
2. Chicken Skewers.
4. Khobz Bread.
The food was average tasting and expensive.
c. Dinner
Pizzeria 212 (GPS: 34.05937, -4.98032): Camel Burger, Mixed Burger, Grilled Veggies Wrap. Avocado Salad, Fruit Juices, & Maghrebi Mint Tea.
6. Accommodations
Nearby, within walking distance, is a Fast Machine Self-service Laundry at (GPS: 34.05931, -4.98002)
7. Dressing
I brought two long pants along and four shorts. In the end, I didn't wear the shorts as the weather can get quite cold in the morning and evenings, especially with stronger winds at the seaside.
When entering mosques, men can wear shorts, but ladies have to cover up their legs and heads. Scarves and long pants are recommended; if wearing shorts, bring a sarong or something to cover one's legs.
8. Communicating with Each Other
When travelling in a group, it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one gets lost from the rest.
Upon arrival at Casablanca Airport, booths selling pre-paid sim cards can be found just before exiting the luggage reclaim area. There were booths selling Maroc, Orange, and Inwi pre-paid tourist phone sim cards. We opted for the Maroc sim card as it provides better coverage even in remote areas, which I found to be true, and it only had poor or no signal at remote stretches far in the hills or desert. We got the 15 Gb card, which is valid for one month for 100 MAD. Should this be inadequate, memory can be topped up at any phone shop.
9. Communicating with Locals
At favourite tourist destinations, markets and medinas, many locals speak fairly good English, some French and Spanish. At the smaller towns, locals speak some rudimentary English, and our local guide was most helpful in translating for us.
10. Weather
Useful weather forecast sites for Fez are AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.
11. Navigation
I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was via FaceBook or Google Maps.
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PRELUDE
The day before was an easy day of saying goodbye to Chefchaouen and then heading for Fez, about 200km away. En route, we had a nice stop for shopping and lunch at the APIA Cooperative Shop in Ouazzane. It was also a day where we had two of the best meals of our holiday here, i.e. lunch at APIA Café & Restaurant in Ouazzane, and a fusion Mediterranean Food at Fondouk Bazaar in Fez.
Today is a full day at Fez and we join a guided walking tour of the medina, i.e. Fes El Bali. In the afternoon, we will drive to a good lookout point and then visit a pottery.
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DAY 5: AROUND FEZ
Small Group (Non-cycling) Tour of Morocco.
Day 5 - Around Fez:
Riad El Yacout>walk>Fez Medina>Riad El Yacout>Fes El Bali>Cherratine Madrasa>University of al-Qarawiyyin>Atelier de Broderie et de Tissage>Mausoleum of Sidi Ahmed al-Tijani>Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts & Crafts>Henna Souk & Pottery>van>The Royal Palace of Fez>Borj Nord Museum Viewpoint>Art D'Argile Pottery>Riad El Yacout.
Most of the posts below are linked to my Facebook postings during the trip and are embedded here with some comments. (NOTE: Click on respective posts to link to the FB post to read more details. If you can't see the posts, please log out of your Facebook first.)
Kicking off the day with a mixed Western and Moroccan breakfast at our riad.
On the walking tour around the streets of the Fes El Bali with our guide Hassan.
We headed out, walking narrow lanes.
Passed by a blue gateway between different sections of the Fez Medina.
Many of the lanes are narrow, often the width of one or two persons, and sometimes run below buildings. Often we had to jump out of the way into niches to make way for delivering carts.
Us in one of the wider lanes!
Vendors adapt to these narrow lanes using push carts, like these orange vendors.
Along the way, there were small niche shops like these tailors and cobblers.
And also leather shops and accessories shops.
And seeing the colourful faces of Fes El Bali, the medina of Fez.
Further along were old copper smiths and copper shops.
The wider lanes near the main market.
Moving away from the market, we visited the Cherratine Madrasa. Madrasas are religious schools or colleges for the study of the religion of Islam, though this may not be the only subject studied.
And the University of al-Qarawiyyin.
We spent more time at the Atelier de Broderie et de Tissage Fez., seeing how the colourful Moroccan fabrics were still being made by hand-operated looms.
The ladies were happy to model wearing head scarves. A shop assistant helped them wear these and slowly wrapped the head scarf using two to three metres of cloth.
Mausoleum of Sidi Ahmed al-Tijani.
At the Carpenter Souk near the Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts & Crafts.
A carpenter meticulously carving out patterns onto wooden side tables.
At the Henna Souk and Pottery.
Nearby, a shady area to rest and observe the busy activities of the market.
2:30pm - Lunch of Moroccan Tapas & Tajine lunch at Le Patio Bleu.
We met up with Oualid, our driver-guide, and hopped onto our van for a tour The Royal Palace of Fez.
And then drove uphill for a panoramic view of Fez from the Borj Nord Viewpoint.
A Google Street View from Borj Nord Viewpoint.
Then, a detour to visit the Art D'Argile Pottery factory to see how beautiful Moroccan Pottery is made.
Beautiful basin with mosaic inlays. Each piece of the inlay was meticulously manually carved out from pottery shards.
Striking beautiful vases.
On the way back to our riad, passing by Kasbah Brahim Fes.
Dinner at 212 Pizzeria: Camel Burger, Mixed Burger, Grilled Veggies Wrap. Avocado Salad, Fruit Juices, & Maghrebi Mint Tea..
'Laqad kan yawman rayiean
(That's "It was a wonderful day" in Arabic)
(For more photos of Day 5, Click Here)
This is page 5 of a 13-page blog. Click Here To Go To Title Page.
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