Dar Sienna: 10 Reasons why it's BEST OF FEZ lodging!

Wanting an unforgettable Morocco trip, full of authentic details like lodging at Dar Sienna...cooking in a local's kitchen...rug auctions in the Atlas mountains?   Grab a free appointment to talk by CLICKING HERE! 

#1:   Best of Fez lodging for  GENERAL LOCATION

Dar Sienna is INSIDE the Fez medina!  This is what you want!

Don't be misled by online descriptions of other lodges who often say, "10 minutes from Medina".  What this really means is other lodges will stick you in "new" town, surrounded by office buildings and paved streets crammed with Petite taxis, removed entirely from the antiquity and energy of pedestrian Medina life.

Dar Sienna, on the other hand, is the best of Fez!  It is right in the medina, so you walk out your door, into studios of artisans and arches of mosques.  You surrounded by locals,  shopping and selling and running home from school.


#2:   Best of Fez lodging for SPECIFIC LOCATION
Within the Medina, Dar Sienna has a coveted location.  The Fez medina is arranged alongside 2 main lanes -- one arabic for "steep" (maroon route in below map)  and the other "gentle" (blue route).

These 2 lanes create an oval route through the Medina, starting at the famous Blue Gate at the top (the green quadrangle on left, and in photo), and ending in the heart of the Medina at the Moulay Idriss Mosque.   Right next door, you'll find Dar Sienna.



#3:  Best of Fez lodging for UNBEATABLE SERVICE
It's impossible to overstate the welcome and the service I enjoyed at Dar Sienna.
Ahmed was waiting for me at the train station to escort me from town and through the mind-boggling medina, right to the door of Dar Sienna.
He arranged dinner reservations for me, and even set up a waiter from the restaurant to walk me there, and back home.   I eventually got comfortable navigating the Medina's warren, but this gesture went a long way to breaking the ice for me.
Ahmed also came over to Dar Sienna, after 10:00 at night, to solve a problem  for me.  I sadly had to work on vacation, but what a relief to have Ahmed as my innkeeper!  Not only did he text me instructions, he actually walked all the way to the Dar from his home, to make sure I was "up and running".
THAT is good service!

4:  Best of Fez lodging for HISTORY
Staying in Dar Sienna is complete immersion.  You'll be in the heart of the 9th century medina,  next door to the great mosque, and surrounded by a virtual living history museum of northern Moroccan life.

Here are just 2 of the artisans outside your front door -- a metalworker and the local bakery, or the 400-year-old farane.

#5:  Best of Fez lodging for APPEARANCE
Dar Sienna has been lovingly restored by Fassi craftsmen, with care taken to protect its tile-covered staircases and wrought iron windows - check out its door!











Although many features from centuries past have been retained, I found it perfectly comfortable, with carefully chosen modern amenities .  I even had a huge stone tub in my private bath!

My bed was comfy, my room was airy, and the whole place was immaculately clean.


#6:  Best of Fez lodging for CULTURAL IMMERSION
Unlike cushy riads which prize themselves on their seclusion, Dar Sienna is immersed right in a neighborhood!
Although I was careful to respect the privacy of my local neighbors, it was delightful to hear them visit, parent their children, cook and dine up on their rooftops, right next door to my own.

My neighbor and I warmly exchanged waves as she hung laundry on her own rooftop, as I enjoyed a juice and the view on my own rooftop garden

#7:  Best of Fez lodging for VALUE
Dar Sienna cost me about $75 per night.
That's a big savings over the luxury riads, and it left a lot of my budget free for cooking classes and treks to rug auctions into the Atlas Mountains... AND for shopping.   Warning:  Fez' artisan community will tempt you with ceramics, instruments, spices, and, their specialty, leather!  I, myself, came home with this handcrafted platter which makes a great table and travel keepsake in my sunroom)

#8:  Best of Fez lodging for PERKS
Did you know that you can be taught to bake Moroccan bread, right in the Dar Sienna kitchen!   Or learn the art of cooking in a tagine (those conical ceramic dishes commonplace in north african stewing).

You have a built-in guide with Ahmed,
and Sabah will help you with your laundry and show you around the kitchen.

Dar Sienna is Best of Fez lodging for BREAKFAST, too!

I was served yogurt and fruit,  an assortment of breads and fresh cheese, fresh juice and arabic coffee, and even eggs, prepared in a tagine.

And THIS is the breakfast room!   It's a simply delightful way to start your morning in the medina!

#9:  Best of Fez lodging for TECHNOLOGY
I was shocked, I admit.  Dar Sienna had the fastest, most reliable, and easiest wireless internet of any of the lodges I sampled during my trip. This includes luxury accommodations i enjoyed in Casablanca and even up in Granada Spain.

#10:  Best of Fez lodging for ROOFTOP GARDEN
Even though Dar Sienna is a small, private residence, it has a stunning rooftop garden.

There are different levels, and covered as well as open areas, creating an interesting retreat, and many spots to privately enjoy the view, even if the Dar is full of guests.

Rooftop life is hoppin' in Fez, so it's the perfect place to get your bearing within the medina and observe (discreetly) some of the more personal aspects of local life.

I admit --
my favorite memory, from all of Morocco, is sitting on this rooftop terrace, watching the buildings turn from cream to peach, in the setting sun.

Bet you're wondering how to put all this together! 

I can help!  To explore what YOUR Fez adventure could look like, send me all your questions: 

melanie@toughlovetravel.com

Munching across Maui: 5 Favorite Maui restaurants (and more)

If goat cheese and salmon tartare make you salivate, send me an email here!  I can tell you about my Waterfall Guru, cool guesthouses, and even treehouses! 

I went to Maui on a mission - to experience the island's GAStronomy.  There's a gal who does Foodie tours to -- you guessed it -- the island's gas stations, sampling BBQ, sushi, and other pumpside provisions.
If you love Foodie travel, but dream of more than GAStronomy,  here are my top 5 stops for Maui restaurants!










MAUI RESTAURANT STOP 1:   Surfing Goat Dairy
This is not an official Maui restaurant, but it should be your first Foodie stop, only 20 minutes from the Kahului airport.  You get free samples of exotically flavored goat cheese, sip a mango smoothie as you wander the farm and watch the milking, then buy crackers and some Mandalay spread (that's the chevre with apples and curry!) for a beach picnic over on Kaanapali.  

There's also the Ole (with jalapenos and artichokes)...
the Ping Pong balls (rolled chevre marinating in olive oil)...
and even some Goat Cheese truffles!


MAUI RESTAURANT STOP 2:
Head west to Lahaina for a Maui restaurant that you might miss if not for this blog. 
I missed it!  In fact, I had driven by it for 4 days, thinking it was just a ramshackle old-time island home.

But once on the back porch, it's got one of the top Maui restaurant views on the island!

It's the Ma La Ocean Tavern, where we tickled our palates with Ahi Tartare and a frosty glass of pinot grigio, followed by a whole wok-fried fresh ocean fish.






MAUI RESTAURANT STOP 3:

One of the top Maui restaurants is not next to the beach -- it's ON the beach, at the Lahaina luau! 

 Admittedly, it gets a bit crowded, but you get all the local favorites -- lomi lomi salmon, ahi poke,  and of course, poi poi (that pinkish mush of the island staple, taro)

And again... just check out the simply unbeatable scene -- from MY dinner seat!

 MAUI RESTAURANT STOP 4:

Noodles for breakfast?   YES! 

Before a day of waterfall trekking, make a quick stop at a granddaddy of Maui restaurants: Sam Satos. 

It's all about noodles.  Order them dry, and drizzle broth over the top!  

The noodle bowls are ample, but don't leave without a skewer of teryaki beef, and a coco pan (I tried to eat just one, but it was impossible!) 

Best part of this bustling Maui restaurant?  I was one of the only non-Asians, and THE only non-local! 

MAUI RESTAURANT STOP 5:

As you head down towards Hana, duck into a casual but de-lish Maui restaurant, the  Paia Fish Market, for some Mahi Mahi fish-n-chips "to go".  Paia is a cool surfer town that hosts one of my favorite guesthouses on the island, Blue Tile!

Then find a sliver of shoulder on the Hana road, somewhere between the gorge jump

and the famous Red Sand beach, 

and pull off for a fruit stand stop with freshly baked banana bread!  

And further south, you can visit the Organic pick-you-own farm, and continue on to the bamboo groves of Seven Sacred Pools.   Down on this southern tip, you can even find a  smoothie station where you gotta jump on a bike to power the blender! 

YOU  want an Hawaiian adventure like this?  

I can help!   Let's talk now!  (609) 923-0304

The Chilkoot Trail: 1500 Golden Stairs in the Yukon

NOTE:  this Chilkoot Trail adventure requires a backpack

We were a 5-days walk from civilization,
Surrounded only by about 30 other permitted hikers and the vast 200,000 acre Yukon,

 
On the Chilkoot Trail, Alaska's famous Goldrush trail from 1898.


We had rationed our provisions as we hiked the Chilkoot Trail so that, after our final dinner of "kitchen sink mashed potatoes"  (cheese, sausage, dried vegetables, and whatever can be scrounged from the provision bag), we broke out the real treat! 
....pads of REAL  butter, sizzling in our collapsible fry pan, over our dragonfly cookstove- just waiting to crisp up a small tortilla, which we topped with a drizzle of honey and a dash of cinnamon. A bonafide backcountry Sopapilla on the Chilkoot Trail!

Anyone who's spent time in the wilderness knows the power of food, where aromas of butter and cinnamon border on the intoxicating when you're 5 days "out".

So it shouldn't have been a surprise when, about the time the dragonfly turned out its 3rd tortilla, we heard a rustle in the bushes around our Chilkoot Trail site.  Like scavenging rodents whose eyes shine into your campfire circle betraying their hiding places, our fellow campers crept, one by one, towards our site,  peeking timidly through the pine trees, wondering what in the WORLD could smell so good this deep into the Chilkoot Trail!

Shy at first, they soon realized we'd share our treat, so they whistled in their comrades and soon, we had almost the entire camping area around our fire ring! Foreign accents and diverse generations and drippy tortillas all mingled together at our impromptu backcointry soiree! 

This was indeed the highlight of our Chilkoot Trail adventure, but there had been many other special moments...

In Bear country on the Chilkoot Trail, you must hang food!

The bear orientation at the Chilkoot Trail ranger station back in Skagway, where we looked around our group, worrying if any one of us were wilderness worthy enough to venture outside of cell distance from the bold and wise rangers...


The actual Chilkoot Trail into the woods, which became increasingly littered with the outcasts of goldrushers-- first a limp pair of boots, then some horsetack and metal cans,  even tools and, unbelievably, an iron woodstove--  all items the 1890s gold seekers had thought they might need but ultimately could not shoulder.  
(NOTE:  the Chilkoot Trail is a living history museum, with all these artifacts left untouched, just as they were discarded over 100 years ago)




 And the famous "Golden staircase"-- 1500 stairs, rising 1000' up into the air through rock and ice, where the miners queued up on the Chilkoot Trail to summit, single file, the Pass.


For us, it was 400 yards or so of  pure scrambing over boulders. In the cool alpine air, I was sweating and anaerobic, and I shook my head af the thought of the Rushers doing this same climb undernourished, overladen, at -20*! 









There were also idyllic sections of shaded Chilkoot trail that ran alongside babbling brooks for miles!

And at the end, on the shores of Lake Bennett,  the narrow-gauge WPRR waited to chug us back through the stunning jagged peaks, to the Chilkoot Trail head, in Skagway. 

In the end, we did see predators on the Chilkoot trail, though they weren't bears-- only hungry trekkers!

Are you enticed to tackle the Chilkoot Trail?   

I've done it and can show you "the ropes"!   

CALL OR EMAIL TO TALK ABOUT WHAT 
YOUR TRIP 
on the CHILKOOT TRAIL COULD LOOK LIKE! 

melanie@toughlovetravel.com         (609) 923-0304

Life in the Fez Medina

I admit – I fell in love with the Fez medina.  

Between the peachy sandstone walls, the soaking sun,  the charming locals,  and the history oozing from every cobblestone and ledge – 

I could’ve stayed a month in the  Fez medina and learned something new every day!   

Here’s my Fez Medina….

The Cultural House in the Fez medina

A popular lodge in Morocco is the Riad, ottoman-style boxy homes, protected by massive wooden doors,  with secluded inner courtyards -- peaceful refuges from the craziness of the Fez medina just outside.    Riads are lovely, for about $300/night. 

Instead, I found a Cultural House.  

Squeezed in a neighborhood by the old mosque, its  4 floors are connected by an extraordinarily steep staircase of  properly-chipped and mosaic-ed antique tiles, and topped with a roof terrace – perfect for enjoying  breakfast or watching sunset over Fez medina.

I got 1 of the 3 rooms and from my cushy King bed, I gazed directly out this ornate wrought iron window.  The sun rose white on the Fez medina walls to greet me each morning, and the voices and clatter of the souk floated in to put me asleep at night. 

Sabah ,(a lovely young gal whom I’d love to adopt as my lil sis!)  smiled, cooked, even hung my laundry to dry in the desert air.

Ahmed, the house host, escorted me from the train  and through the labyrinth of the Fez medina to the House (a clutch perk – otherwise, you WILL get lost!) , then gave me a full orientation to the Fez medina.  By the end, I understood the 2 main paths – the Tala'a Kbira ("steep path") and the other Tala'a Sghira (“flat” one) -- and did not even need a guide! 

He even called his favorite restaurant, the Panoramique, to send a waiter to pick me up and walk me to dinner! 

40E/night, and it  had the fastest, most reliable wireless internet of any place on my entire trip!

Sacred Zone of the Fez medina

The famous Moulay Idriss mosque, next door, warranted a Sacred Zone.  

An area of about 300 meters is marked by 2 medieval-hewn logs nailed across the  Fez medina walkway, delineating a Sacred space of no bare arms or legs, no alcohol, no music.

Nestled in this Sacred Zone, my House felt neither silent nor isolated, but it did feel harmonious.  My neighbors waved as they cooked and parented and ate and visited on their own rooftops (few traditional homes in Fez medina have electricity, or even running water, so locals tend to retreat to their rooftops to live  in the open air.)

Eating in the Fez medina

Breakfast is fresh yogurt, tagine-eggs, honey, and 3 types of bread -- khobz (the flat one),  baghrir (the holy one), and harsha (the cornbeard type)

For dinner, go out in the Fez medina to a sidewalk café, 

or up to the Panoramique!  For 60 dirhams (divide by 10 to get Euros, then convert to US$), or about $8,  I  was served a slew of appetizers – warm aubergine (eggplant,  a local staple),  cold potatoes,  string beans, lentils… 

Followed by a tagine of lamb and vegetables.  

The El Ras Hanout spiced gravy… the twinkling lights of the surrounding “bowl” of the Fez medina…. I can still conjure the scene that night! 

Cooking in the Fez medina

I took a class to learn to stew in the popular tagines.   Starting in the local market to buy white artichokes and fresh dates, we stopped at the butcher to select a  (yes, still squawking) chicken.    Butchering was a quick slice of the neck and a shove into the boiling pot to de-feather.  Trust me... if you can boil a lobster, you can do butcher a chicken in the Fez medina! 

We also made Harira, a traditional tomato-based soup, and a dessert of macaroons, which necessitated a trip through the Fez medina to the community ovens.

NOTE:  did you know you even cook IN a Fez medina home with a local woman?

Tanneries in the Fez medina

Fez is the artisan capital of Morocco, and tanning is a major industry.   Here’s the largest tannery in the Fez medina – 

The hides first go in lime (white pools on left) to clean them, 

Then into pools where men in shorts literally stomp them for softness. 

There is more soaking, then dying in green, brown, black, blue.   The yellow ones, dyed with saffron,  lie drying on all the nearby rooftops of Fez medina like small slices of mustard-slathered bread.

I salivated over the ceramic products

The textile industry of the Fez medina uses automated spinning contraptions to replace the traditional 10-year olds who spun sheep’s wool into thread.

This man (right) tanned a goatskin, and I bought his drum! 

Meeting locals in the Fez medina

A local can teach you Arabic calligraphy. 

You can get measured by a local seamstress, pick out your cloth, and have a caftan custom-sewn for you!

You can cook with a local woman in her home, 

go to Café Clock to hear local drummers. 

Or – if you want to venture from the Fez medina -  daytrip to the Atlas mountains to an authentic rug auction! 

Desert Excursions out of  Fez medina

Here’re the Erg Chebbi dunes!

Camel trek for 2-4 days, overnighting under the stars in Bedouin tents! 

Unforgettable sunrises and fire-charred feasts make this a really unique Moroccan memory to augment your adventures in Fez medina! 







The Fez Medina, and northern Morocco, are one of my favorite destinations.  I would love to talk to you about Fez, and to create a Fez adventure that you'll be unable to forget!  

Call me today (609) 923-0304, 

or grab a FREE 20-minute appointment here:  www.MeetingWithMelanie.com