We took a taxi through the new part of town to the Medina in Fes and were greeted by the ever smiling Mazigh, aka Abraham from our Riad. He led us through the gate into the Medina and past the square and through a maze of narrow alleyways to Riad Taha.

The Riad has been renovated in keeping with its 14th Century creation in black and white with splashes of red. Intricate marquetry and colourful tiles, along with luxurious fabrics and carved cedar abound.

We made friends with Mazigh and learnt a lot about Morocco and the culture and had many a conversation with him over the next few days.

Fes is an assault on the senses. It reminded us of a cross between India and the Middle East. Colours of every variance are displayed in the shops and along the streets in the labyrinth of the souks. Fruit, spices, leather goods, carpets, scarves, ceramics, intricate copper lights, food stalls and every other imaginable and unimaginable item for sale are displayed enticingly. Many a time we wished we had a tonne of money and empty bags. Shop keepers ply their goods at times quite aggressively along with "helpful" people pointing you in a direction, which after a while we realised was be the wrong way. "Students" would help you by taking you to a place and then demand payment. Beggars lined the streets along with donkeys and carts and people hurriedly rushing past in the narrow streets. Thank goodness for Google Maps which proved reliable (sometimes), as we got a lost a lot! But you can't help getting entranced with the colours and patterns that is Morocco. By the end of each day we were exhausted.

Mazigh showed us a good cheap place to eat and the next day we ventured into the organised chaos.

We visited the Chaouwara Tanneries which have been there for a century or so and were given a sprig of mint to hold under our noses to help with the smell, while we went up to the terrace overlooking the tanneries. The hides are soaked in lime and then pigeon poo to cure them and make them supple. After that they are dried in the sun.

We looked down on the huge pits of lime, pigeon poo and the various dyes and watched the workers. The dyes are from natural plants, such as mint with yellow being the most expensive from saffron. Of course, we couldn't resist and ended up buying jackets after much haggling which is not a pleasant experience (for me anyway).

Over the next few days we also visited several historic buildings such as Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts & Crafts, Medersa el-Attarine, Medersa Bou Inania and the Kairaouine University and Mosque which were very elaborate and interesting.

After some debate we decided we really did not want to go on an overnight bus to the desert, so we met with the helpful owner of the Riad who also owned a tour company and decided to do a four day tour which in retrospect was the best thing to.

Ahmed our driver / tour guide extraordinaire picked us up and off we went to Merzouga. Our first stop was at Ifrane which was bizarre. It is referred to as the Switzerland of Morocco. It is located in the Middle Atlas Mountains. The French built Ifrane in the 1930s, deliberately trying to recreate an alpine-style resort. It has neat red-roofed houses, blooming flower beds and lake-studded parks, all kept impeccably tidy. Very weird.

We stopped at a few stops on the way and had lunch in a street cafe where Ahmed bought us a range of dishes to try.

In the evening just on sunset, we arrived at Merzouga. When a wealthy family refused hospitality to a poor woman and her son, God was offended, and buried them under the mounds of sand called Erg Chebbi which is part of the Sahara Desert. It was a magnificent sight to see the Sahara at last. Our accommodation at Nomad Palace was like somewhere out of a movie, very exotic.

We had a relaxed start and went to watch the Groupe Des Bambaras play some Berber music which was quite cool before heading to Rissani and saw the Mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif who is considered to have been the founder of the Alaouite Dynasty of Morocco.

It was interesting to then watch Ahmed buy a couple of carpets for his home and watch the process followed by mint tea afterwards of course. We had an amazing lunch of Berber pizza which is a bit like a calzone with meat, Morrocan herbs and spices.

It was then time to go on our camel ride. We met up with the rest of our group of about eleven and met our camels. Mine was a very chilled out camel, aptly named Bob Marley and Josh's camel was an agro teenager which I found quite hilarious. We left to walk over the dunes while the set started to set. It was really quite magical. The sun hit the sand dunes and changed them to an orangey glow. Our trusty camels along with our hilarious Berber Guides led us over the dunes and we stopped to watch the sunset and go sand boarding. It was then a walk over a dune (not easy I can tell you) to our Berber camp. It consisted of a few tents in between sand dunes. We went into our tent and were surprised to find a comfortable double bed with three heavy blankets and a plumbed in toilet and shower. In the desert! Luxury.

After having some mint tea and getting to know our fellow travellers we had a traditional Moroccan dinner of tagine followed by singing and dancing Berber style round the camp fire and looking at the clear night sky. The temperature shot down and we rugged ourselves up for the night.

It was an early start to see the dawn before heading back on our camels for about an hour over the dunes to civilisation. What a great experience. I will miss Bob.

We met up with Ahmed and after a quick breakfast we were off again on the road. We stopped off at a fossil shop and were shown around. The fossils had been dug up in rocks and were thousands of years old. Most were creatures that are extinct, and some were massive. I had no idea that Morocco had such a vast number of fossils. This shop had fashioned them into all sorts of items which you could buy for very small money.

We then drove through the Dades Valley which had beautiful Moroccan towns in the middle of nowhere with Date Palm groves which looked very exotic against the brownish orange earth.

The Todra Gorge is the biggest gorge in Morocco and was spectacular with towering cliffs on either side. We then arrived at Ouarzazate to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site, Ait Ben Haddou early the next day before it was descended on by tourists.

Ait Ben Haddou is an ighrem (fortified village in English) (ksar in Arabic), along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech in present-day Morocco. Most citizens attracted by the tourist trade live in more modern dwellings in a village on the other side of the river, although there are four families still living in the ancient village. Inside the walls of the ksar are half a dozen (Kasbahs) or merchants houses and other individual dwellings, and is a great example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture. The site has been used for several movies and there are even a couple of movie studios in the city nearby.

We continued on to Marrakesh via the High Atlas Mountains through very windy roads over what they call "Snake Road".

It was sad to say goodbye to Ahmed who we had all learnt a lot from each other.