Favorite Couple in Morocco

We loved our second trip to Morocco, and I've been thinking a lot about why we went back. Peter and Jessa are moving to Philadelphia in less than two weeks, and instead of going back it would have been easy to say we'd been to Morocco once already and call it a day. And that would have been a pity because we had such a terrific trip this second time around. Thankfully these two are quite a draw. If it wasn't for them we would never have gone in the first place, let alone twice. This second visit wasn't better than our first visit, but because we'd already been once it was richer and satisfying in different ways than our first visit. So both of us have been pinching ourselves because we had such a good time and we're so glad we went.

We took a short Moroccan holiday trip since Peter and Jessa had a five-day long weekend due to the end of Ramadan. Our trip took us to two cities: Moulay Idriss and Fes. (If you're wondering: is it spelled Fez or Fes, please know I wondered the same. All the signs in Morocco say Fes. Of course, with either spelling it's translated from Arabic, which has a different alphabet, and Fes is the French spelling. But the consensus on Google seems to be that Fez is for the hat and Fes is for the city. So Fes it is.) Moulay Idriss is a small city (large town?) nestled in the hills in northern Morocco. It's considered a holy city because its founder, also named Moulay Idriss—he lived in the 700s and is a direct descendent of the Prophet Mohammed—is considered to be the "founder" of Morocco. Peter and Jessa had been to Moulay Idriss more than once and liked it, plus it's central to other places of interest. So the day after we arrived in the country, at the end of the school day, we drove in their Honda Accord about four hours to Moulay Idriss and this was our home base for three nights. While we were there, one of the places we visited is called Meknes. (That's where the above photo was taken.) There have been four imperial capitals of Morocco, and Meknes is one of them. We visited it on the day of the Eid (last day of Ramadan), and due to the holiday it was quiet. We meandered through the normally bustling medina and had it all to ourselves. (In Morocco, a medina is an old part of town, where people still live and shop, which consists of narrow streets, high walls, and it feels like you're in a maze.)

We stayed at a riad in Moulay Idriss. A riad is kind of like a cross between a bed and breakfast and an inn. There are only a handful of riads in Moulay Idriss, partly because it's small and partly because it's only been within the past ten or so years that non-Muslims have been allowed in this holy city. This is Peter and Jessa at our riad, which was called Dar Zerhoune. They're sitting at "our table," and I say this because we sat at this table for seven meals (we only ate one meal outside of the riad) and we ate there all the time because the food was just spectacular. The inn is staffed by these nice Moroccan women who made us feel at home and who cooked fantastic food. We never got tired of it, nor of them. The only thing we did get tired of was this cat, who kept jumping on our laps.

This picture is from Fes. The medina here is gigantic and ancient—about 9500 streets, about 950,000 inhabitants in the medina, and 1200 years old. (Fes is the second largest city in Morocco, with a total population of about 1.3 million.) I don't know how Peter and Jessa know their way around but after visiting multiple times, they're pros. Throughout the medina you find not only shops but also mosques, residences, restaurants, riads, etc. It is truly a working city. And it's all kind of dark like this as the walls are high and the streets are narrow. And the best part is that cars aren't allowed in the Fes media. 

Midway through a day exploring Fes, we had cold drinks and some snacks on the very sunny rooftop garden of a lovely hotel. 

I bet you wouldn't guess this, but Jessa has an uncle in Fes. This man is an expert historian, wonderful ambassador for his country, all around charming person, and a big hugger who speaks perfect English and is a smooth rug salesman. He told us many times we didn't need to feel pressure to buy a rug, and I believed him. So toward the end of his presentation I told him point blank and with complete sincerity that we weren't buying a rug. Then just a few beats later we told him "we'll take it." Well, not quite that fast but you get the idea. In the middle of the process, he told Jessa she could call him Uncle Abdul. So there you have it, Jessa now has a relative in Morocco. But seriously, our experience in this rug cooperative was fantastic. We learned a lot from Uncle Abdul and left with a piece of art that we'll treasure and a great story to tell. I think I can speak for Brad when I say that we would go and visit Jessa's Uncle Abdul again in a heartbeat. (Which should tell you all you need to know about how effective of a salesman the man is.)