They say that you cannot know the real Morocco until you have visited the ancient Medina of Fes. This old part of Fes is walled off from the rest of the city and can be entered through only 7 archways. It is a virtual labyrinth of narrow streets accessible only on foot and dating back 1200 years.

As we wandered through the streets, we realised how fortunate we were to have the Director of Tourism, Abdelmalek Tazi, as our guide. This man knew every square inch of this maze and so it appeared every shop owner. One can find anything and everything as we discovered. Each part of the city specialised in something different.

We visited one of the last leather dying areas of its kind in the world. Men spend hours swirling skins in the baths filled with dye. Maybe the mint tea they offered us was intended to counter the excessively pungent odour of amonia that filled the air.

As we entered deeper into the town we came to one of the most sacred libraries in Morocco. They possess an Arabic version of the bible. You will also find the oldest university in the Arabic world.

The team was fascinated by the bread bakers that operate in each quarter of the town. Local women bring their balls of dough to the baker to be cooked in a tradition wood fired oven. We couldn’t give up this opportunity to have fresh bread for lunch so we bought a dozen rolls.

We could have spent a whole day getting lost in the Medina. Next year we hope to visit many of the schools that are hidden away through low doorways. As we bid farewell to our kind hosts we headed out on the road. It was 11:00am and we still had over 100km to cover.

Just a quick mention that we had the chance to have breakfast with Goharini and Oindrajalik's cousin, Amin. It was great to meet the family of one of our friends.

Quite a lot of the country is a desert. We couldn’t believe our eyes as we headed into the mountains. In the distance we could see snow-capped peaks. Who would believe that you could ski in Morocco.

Pierre, our French runner, takes a break for tackling the many hills we faced today.

We experienced yet another amazing spontaneous reception due to the kindness of the Pasha(Mayor), Khidouri Mohammed, and many city officials in Oued Ambil.

Children waited for the team to arrive at the edge of town, ready to guide us to the Town Hall. As we drew closer to the centre, our team grew substantially. It felt like every child in the area had come. Inside the building they had prepared a large selecion of drinks and snacks. The team was very moved to see the senior officials inviting the children to join them. We all got so much joy seeing them devour everything on the table. Its one of the great things about the run, bringing togther people from different cultures and ages.

Nightfall as we entered Taza

As the weather became increasingly cold we approached Taza with a large group of enthusiastic local runners. We knew from the moment we entered the town that we would be received with open hearts. Everyone we met treated us like honourary members of Taza and we enjoyed meeting the officials that were present including: The Pacha (Mayor), Representatives from the Regional Government of Taza and from the Ministry of Youth and Sport. In the evening we were told that dinner would be provided but we didn’t expect to be eating in the original residence/office of the Pacha.

This impressive building was built for the Mayor’s family in the early 1900’s. Since we first arrived in Morocco we have been dreaming about eating cous cous and now our wish has been fulfilled.

Secretary General of Taza, Mr. Daghouri - Vice President of the Taza Council and the Delegate of the Ministry of Culture including many other officials joined us.

To eat cous cous in Morocco, in this setting with our new friends from Taza was an experience we shall treasure forever. We are grateful for the photos provided by Aziz-Kharbach.

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Team Members:
Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Nelson (Homagni) Baptista (Australia), Namitabha Aleksander Arsic (Serbia), Marc Schrader (Germany) Honza Minarcik (Czech Republic), Zoltán Theobald (Hungary), Pierre Lantuas Monfouga (France), Enrico Eugenio (Italy)

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