In The Moment: Cock Blocked By A Moroccan Tire Fire.
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If I had my way I’d never arrive in a new place after dark. Fès was no exception. What may be a tulip lined, bright and airy street by day, can turn sinister at night, if only in my mind.
Disarmed by Fès’ modern train station, and the fact that we specifically booked a room at the Ibis Moussafir Fès hotel right next to it, so that our arrival and departure (we had an 8 a.m. bus out of Fès to Chefchaouen the next day) was easy, I was feeling good about the prospects of finding a local eatery down the main street that runs from the station. According to our guidebook and the hotel’s website, there were some food choices just a couple of blocks away.
After buying our tickets from the SupraTours bus office, which is directly across from the rail station and our hotel, we checked-in and then went out to find a meal since the hotel was costly. People were out, cafes were open and we were feeling pretty good about Fès and finding a good dinner. But then we turned the corner on to the main drag, and spotted a tire fire raging on the sidewalk in front of us.
Confused now, we crossed the street, but it was too late. Seeing the six foot flames dancing under the burnt hue of foreign streets lights set the tone, and, after our 7 hour train journey, we were in no mood to see what laid beyond the burning rubber. So we retreated back to the train station, where we had noticed a sleek European-style diner.
Sitting down in a comfortable booth, with the equivalent of a Denny’s menu, we both knew we made the right choice. I’m sure the price of our meal was more than the main drag, but not having to deal with the unknown, challenges of the Avenue was priceless.
Have you ever experienced something while traveling that sucked the adventure out of you?
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(8) awesome folk have had something to say...
Fred -
November 21, 2011 at 11:05 am
No picture of the fire, no idea of the story behind it. Seemed interesting but it leaves a bit too much to the imagination for my taste… but then my highlight of Fes was buying beer after hours on the black market. That was a bit scary.
Randy -
November 23, 2011 at 11:16 am
@Fred, I bet it was a bit scary, but at least you got a good story.
Yeah, I wish we would have gotten a picture,but the whole thing just took as by surprise so we just kept on walking.
Raymond @ Man On The Lam -
November 21, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Maybe it was a Muslim Guy Fawkes night? 🙂
Randy -
November 23, 2011 at 11:16 am
@Raymond @ Man On The Lam, Ah, Nice! You never know. 🙂
Sarah Wu -
November 22, 2011 at 1:11 am
No fire picture lol but a meal that is similar to denny isn’t too bad if you’re tired and hungry.
Randy -
November 23, 2011 at 11:20 am
@Sarah Wu, I know, I wish I would have stopped to take a picture. It was a little surreal, so it threw us of our game, plus we were pretty hungry. The dinner was perfect, in addition to the sandwich I also had a slice of cheesecake and Beth had a banana and chocolate crepe.
Sarah -
November 22, 2011 at 5:10 am
Ahhh, the ol’-tire-fire-to-barrier-a-good-meal-trick eh?
Just yesterday morning a group of hungry proboscus monkeys stole a week’s worth of food from me here in Borneo! Although the adventure wasn’t really sucked out of me, I’m definitely hungrier now…
Randy -
November 23, 2011 at 11:23 am
@Sarah, It works every time! That’s wild about the monkeys. It’s not everyday you hear about someone getting robbed by a mob of monkeys.:)