One of the optional activities on our Moroccan tour is a dinner out in Fes, at a price of $25 USD. Our whole group decides to participate and it ends up being a very fun evening. More on that in a moment…

Let’s back up to our arrival in Fes. Of course we stop for our mid-day nos nos coffee.

We also pause at this overlook for photos and jumping.

We see these over-stacked hay trucks quite often on the road. Wide load passing through…

Our hotel in Fes is lovely. It’s not the safest city but we’re tucked away in our accommodation, complete with swimming pool.

Okay, time for dinner at a restaurant called Al Fassia. It’s really more of a dinner show — very much geared towards tourists — and there’s non-stop entertainment from the moment we step into the establishment. The room is ornately decorated in Moroccan style.

A band of musicians provides the soundtrack to our evening.

Our group sits at two tables, side by side. There are other tours here as well.

The meal consists of several courses, including this round of starters:

I taste my first beef tagine with prunes and it’s love at first bite. This is my favorite meal in all of Morocco and I order it many more times before our 15-day tour concludes.

We also share a giant tagine of veggies over cous cous, plus soup and bread.

The entertainment kicks off with a magician and his young son. They pull up Karen (a.k.a. Kasswah, or Mom — our group loves nicknames) and the magician proceeds to remove her undergarments with a wave of his hand and a tricky scarf.

Next up we have the belly dancer.

Then it gets weird when she saddles up to the men in the room encouraging them to stuff tips into her bra, as though the place has turned into a mild strip joint. Gareth — the only male in our group — gets targeted.

Then she motions for Gareth and Natalie to join her for a quick belly dancing lesson. It all boils down to a lot of hip action.

Then this group takes center stage, playing percussion instruments while moving in time to the beat.

This musician has a special hat with a tassel. He challenges us to wear it and swing around the tassel to the beat of the music. I’m snapping away on my camera when I realize he’s headed straight towards me…

Natalie P. rocks the hat and even takes over the string instrument simultaneously.

One of the final acts of the evening is also the most impressive — this woman dances with flaming sticks of fire and then puts one down her throat. Ouch.

For the finale, members of each group are taken to another room to don traditional clothing and then participate in a dance. Leann (a.k.a. Jersey) is selected from our tables.

Local women lift them up in celebration, one by one, while the musicians accompany the revelry. I’m not sure of the significance — is this done at weddings? — but a good time is had by all, plus there’s fun photos ops.

The whole evening was a big silly tourist trap and our group enjoyed every minute. The food was delicious and the entertainment provided lots of laughs. Totally worth the $25.

Thanks to Nomadic Tours for discounting my tour in exchange for photography and blogging. Opinions are my own.