Perhaps the finest place in the world to get a feel for medieval life, Fez is a rather special place to experience; however our particular visit was marred by behaviour that was more in line with in the Middle Ages.

The medina is still a dirty, smelly twisting maze of alleys too narrow for motorised traffic, I don't mean this as a criticism, it is the kind of "authentic" atmosphere that people seek out and this experience is perhaps Fez's best quality. Whilst Fez does have some impressive buildings, it is the seemingly endless confusion of lanes filled with various shops, workshops, mosques and houses that leaves the biggest impression.

As with all the medinas I have visited it was exceptionally fun bartering for goods in the souqs or ducking down a gloomy side street to find a courtyard specialising in some hitherto unknown treat. Fondouk Kaat Smen was my favourite, past the stalls specialising in rancid butter was a wonderful little place where we tried a huge array of honeys, each with a distinct flavour imparted by the nectar on which the bees had feasted. Like most visitors, the vast tanneries left a strong impression with the sight of goods being made next to where they are sold being one of the greatest joys. Also, the stench was nowhere near as bad as I feared, but perhaps that was the bonus of being there early in the morning.

There are coloured signs set up around the medina which show four main routes through the medina, so whilst the layout does initially seem exceedingly complex, once you get your bearings on the coloured routes navigation actually becomes simpler (though of course we did still get lost quite a few times). There are a fair few sites worth hunting out: the shady Henna Souq was a nice place to shop away from escape the main thoroughfares, whilst the medrassas (Bou Inania and El Attarin) were gloriously decorated.

We decided to stay in a riad in the Medina and the exceptionally well restored surroundings in the heart of the medina were a delight. But, staying in the Medina contributed to the downside of our stay. We stayed in Fez during Ramadan and were looking forward to venturing out in the evening to enjoy some food with the locals as they celebrated breaking their fast, alas it wasn't to be. On our first foray out at dusk we only made it about 300 meters from the riad, during which time my wife was made to feel rather unwelcome by the constant stares of the local men. Things got worse when a local youth ran past and punched her. Feeling entirely unwelcome we headed back to our riad; fortunately a kid outside was there to fully round out the dreadful experience by grabbing at her. All in all we were left with an exceptionally unpleasant experience of the vile attitudes shown by some locals to foreign women. It also meant that we became isolated from interaction with locals after sunset. There were other incidents during our stay but nothing as bad as this and, needless to say, when I ventured out for supplies on another night I experienced no problems.

So our experience of Fez was rather mixed to say the least. It was very enjoyable to experience a living city functioning along the same lines as it has done for a thousand years, however the contemptible conduct of some inhabitants put up a barrier to interaction and left me with the worst experience I have had in the last decade of travelling, and I wasn't even the one receiving the brunt of their behaviour. I'm sure others will not experience this kind of "welcome" and elsewhere in Morocco and North Africa I have never encountered it. However, the immediate unease that we felt led us to believe that it wasn't just a freak occurrence in this thoroughly medieval city.

[Site 7: Experience 2 (it felt like a 0 on our first night though)]