Today was a very interesting day. We had a slow relaxing start, with a departure from the campsite at 11 AM. The interesting activity for the morning was watching our group leader help an Italian couple jack their camper van out of a man hole.
At 11 AM, we headed out with our tour guide to go see a Berber village. We drove out to Bhalil in the hills outside Fes. Once we got there, we walked up through the newer part of town to the older part clinging to a hill side.
We were the invited in to have tea with one of the old Berber families. They lived in one of the typical old homes that were caves carved out of the mountain, with a house facade built in front. If you did not enter, you would not imagine that the house was a series of caves in the back. The cave was a number of rooms on two levels, bed rooms upstairs. The rooms were painted multiple colors from paint made with lime (it helps keeps the mosquitoes away). They served us a mint tea and the oldest man in the house acted as host. This was one of the highlights of the trip to Fes.
We then walked up to the top of the village for a panoramic view over the village and the surroundings. After walking back down to the truck, we headed over to Sefrou, another old town with a medina. We walked into the medina and had street food for lunch - lamb skewers on bread, followed by some lamb meatballs in tomato sauce. After a short walk around the town, we headed back to the campsite, arriving back at 5:30 PM.
After a quick shower and a change into some nice clothes (for a change), we head out for a "traditional dinner" - Moroccan food in an old, traditional home with some shows (which I ma not sure are quite traditional to Morocco). The food was quite good and the huge room was great. It looked like it was an old home, with a large courtyard that had been covered up. The ceiling was very high and everything was covered with mosaics or other ornate decorations. There were some shows, including some acrobats, belly dancing and some of the diners dressed up in local costumes. Some of the guys in our group were mesmerised by the belly dancers. We got back to the campsite just before midnight.