August 17th

Awoke and went up to the top of our riad to get an early morning light from tops of Fez's medina. It was nice with a slight breeze- already getting warm.  Then went down and had breakfast. We had the doughnuts! I asked the lady- they are called Sfenj and the bread is Batbout. I looked them up each doughnut has over 500 calories, OH MY! 

We gathered all our stuff and caught a taxi for the CTM bus station. Today we are going to Chefchaouen, the Blue City. It was a five hour bus ride. (The bus started 10 minutes late and ended up adding time because was supposed to only be four hour ride). The terrain changed some: more mountainous, definitely more green and vegetation- trees and plants in general, and rivers, streams anyway. It is still warm, but around low 90's- thankfully bus is air-conditioned! About halfway our bus stopped for a 30 minute break. Jeff and I split a “taco” and frites. It was good! It is a flour tortilla stuffed, but resemblance ends here. They have a sandwich press that seals it and it had meat with a spicy sauce and also cubed potatoes. Glad we split one! If you don't think of it as a taco it was very good, LOL! This stop had two begging geese, and a very interesting colored cat.

Anyway, we arrived in Chefchaouen- locals call it Chaouen, around four-thirtyish. We caught a taxi to the medina area where Jeff booked our place. There was a major traffic jam with horns blaring. So our driver wanted us to get out!?! Really! Thankfully we were pretty close (having to haul luggage).  We arrived at our Dar and our room is on the main level!!! Yeah, for little blessings! We unloaded and headed out. We just wandered around and took in the Blue City. It is quite stunning and seems all tourists in Morocco are here! It is very much bustling with activity. People meandering the little shop filled ways- stopping browsing/buying (the shopkeepers hope); or trickling up a small, very blue alley that has been decorated for instagram shots and charging a small fee to take the photo. At times when someone stops it causes a “human” traffic jam, and people get creative to get around them! Also one point we had to make ourselves one-with-the wall, so to speak… a vehicle was driving through!!! Crazy!! I did not think it was allowed much less possible!

Anyway, found a restaurant that we wanted to try. We opted for the terrace as was close to sunset time- nice little breeze and early sunset due to mountains. We each had a three course menu. I had: starter of Harira soup, which is a chickpea- lentil soup with tomato base; main of chicken skewers and fries; and dessert  of lemon tart. The soup and main were filler, not as flavorful as I was expecting, but the tart was great! Jeff's: starter of eggplant salad; main of Kefta tagine, which is a seasoned meat made into meatballs in a tomato sauce with an egg topper; dessert of lemon tart also. Jeff said he felt the same, not much flavor, except the lemon tart.

After we ate we went back to our place, cooled off and ended our day under the A.C.