Woke up, checked out of the cute AirBnb, and went to find breakfast.
Cafe Belsot was just a block away from the Metro stop in the direction I hadn’t been yet. I got a ham and cheese turnover and three vegetable empanadillas (the other 2 I didn’t have them heat up and tucked them in my bag for later. And that fancy beverage is just a chai latte. The two women working there were delightful.
And then I spent way more time in the Madrid airport (maybe just one extra hour, but also maybe an eternity) than planned. It turned out that our boarding was delayed because their mobility support took forever to show up to help a passenger from the previous flight deplane.
I always forget to take the Flying While Fat selfie. RyanAir did need a seatbelt extender but the armrest went down and there was minimal touch with the (luckily skinny) person in the middle seat. It was only an hour flight, so I can’t really judge the other amenities. I slept throught pretty much the entire flight
And then my Airbnb in Fes sent a driver to pick me up at the airport. I was worried I’d be delayed in passport control because I’d lost the Morocco ID number that was in the passport that was stolen a few years ago, but they just looked it up and found it in their computer. Honestly getting that thought out of my brain was one of the main reasons I decided to go to Morocco on my first trip since then.
And then my host came out to meet me and walk me to Dar Hayati where I’m staying. I checked in, drank some tea, and then went back out to look for food and an ATM. Not in that order. There are only like three ATMs in this part of the city, so I went to the Blue Gate one, and then let myself be chatted into a restaurant near there. I went for a place with street level outdoor dining and refused their kind offer to climb up 8 million stairs for the panoramic view.
One of the hazards of picking a place by whether it has a chatty guy is that you then end up having to chat with him. And he decided that he would very much like to marry me or at least take me dancing or to a mixed hamam. But he at least he took my refusals with good grace and it was all fairly fun flirting.
I am (so far) finding it easier to navigate Fes this time. Partly because I’ve spent ten years thinking about the layout; partly because phone map technology has improved since then; partly because traveling alone means I can’t rely on someone else navigating; and also because I can walk slower and not have to mind my fellow travelers’ fears of being accosted.