Morocco Day 6

Today was a long bus ride but an interesting one. We left Marrakesh at 9 AM and headed southwest along the highway, which are quite good in Morocco by the way. The terrain began to get hilly and then we started to climb. The driver drove pretty darned fast and there were lots of curves, and even hairpin turns.

I don’t normally get carsick, but I had to move to the front of the bus for a while. The zigzag motion while looking through my camera lens made me feel quite woozy. I wasn’t the only one who felt the motion of our bus.

The landscape was quite beautiful and the towns we passed were interesting. Some parts of Morocco haven’t changed in many years, except for the satellite dishes on a lot of homes, plus the use of cell phones everywhere. In Moroccan culture women, especially older ones, are respected and have a lot of say in the family. They also have a lot of work. Men everywhere seem to be drinking tea or sitting and visiting.

We went through the High Atlas mountains and stopped several times for the toilet or to take photos. At one of our stops we bought freshly squeezed orange juice. The oranges were squeezed through a metal press and I was amazed at how many oranges it took to fill a glass full.

 The highest point of the pass was Col du Tichka with an altitude of 2260 meters. I thought it might be cold but it was quite warm and there was always a nice breeze blowing. Some of the Americans thought it was cool, but not us – with 2 C and snow back home!

The place we were supposed to eat lunch at wasn’t ready for us so we continued on to Ait Ben Haddou. The restaurant we went to catered to tourists I think. It was fancy and the washrooms were passable (i.e. sit-down toilets with toilet paper.)

Our hotel was just down the road from the restaurant and the rooms are quite interesting. It is called la Kasbah and the rooms are quite old with intricately carved wooden doors. The curtains are Berber carpets and there are 3 twin beds for the 2 of us. The ceiling is also ornate. I wonder what this hotel was used for.

After dropping off our bags we headed over to the Ait Benhaddou Kasbah. It is an ancient Berber village with a ‘granary’ building at the very top that can be seen for miles. A few people still live in the Kasbah, but most live in more modern facilities across the small stream.

The place has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site and it is quite amazing. I took a lot of photos, from above and below. There is quite a climb to the top and my legs felt the strain later on.

Along the way, there are Berbers selling crafts such as rugs, jewellry and paintings.

I stopped to admire an artist at work and asked about his materials. He was painting on watercolor paper using tea and saffron. After the picture was painted, he held it over a propane flame, picture side up, and the ink darkened nicely. Of course I had to buy a small painting to show my artist friends back home.

As we got out of the Kasbah village, the sun came out and was setting. Beautiful! Supper is at the hotel restaurant down the street a little bit. We had traditional soup, and beef tagine. I ate too much – again! 

Morocco Day 5

The day in Marrakech started with a local guide in addition to Abdullah. We toured the Koutoubia Minaret with Mohammed, who is also a Berber.

Then we explored the historical sites of the Palais Bahia, as well as the Palais Badi. The grounds were large in area and some restoration has been taken place.

We got on the bus again and got a ride to the medina in the old quarter where we toured the alleys of the bustling souks. There were many interesting wares displayed and the women were anxious to shop. Just like Fes, we saw the various sections such as metal smith work, lanterns, shoes, leather goods, fabrics, etc.

One of the big differences between the two cities was that Marrakech is more touristy and modern. Instead of people yelling “Balag” to announce oncoming donkeys, a horn beep signalled the approach of small motorcycles. Sometimes we even saw women driving them – unheard of in Fes.

In the souks, we made a stop to visit the Medresa Ben Youssef. It wasn’t as peaceful as the one in Fes either, but filled with small and large groups of tourists. This made people-free photos quite difficult but I did what I could.

We would have dearly loved a break for water/coffee/Coca Cola and the chance to give our feet a rest but we continued on through the maze. Besides, we wouldn’t have been able to find our way out very easily anyway at that point!

Our next stop was at the spice/herbalist store. We were shown many different types of spices, herbs and concoctions to cure a multitude of ailments and we got the chance to smell everything.  There were cures for snoring, cold sores, bronchial congestion, psoriasis, headaches, constipation, weight loss, and sleeplessness to name a few. I bought a blend of 35 spices and herbs for cooking. The herbalist said it was for ‘people who don’t know how to cook – with this blend, it’s all done for you.” I also bought some mint tea of course. I was hoping it was like the Egyptian tea I got there, but it’s different. Anyway, mint is good!

Finally it was lunch time and I was ready to kill for a Coke Zero! Abdullah took us to a place he knew and it was good. I had a chicken shwarma platter and the meat was very delicious. After we were done, he let us loose for the rest of the day!

Mike and I headed over to the souks to start shopping for the things on our ‘list’. Our first attempt at negotiations didn’t go all that well, or so we thought. We picked up some silk table runners at what we first thought was an exorbitant price. But later we realized that we got pretty good quality for that price. Mike found a knife he liked. I found some Moroccan lanterns. Mike made a pretty good deal on a Berber mask and I bought some belly dancing coin belts. The way to get the best price is to walk away when they don’t like your offer. If you really want it, you throw out a low price, then they counter, and you counter, etc. etc. until you are both happy.

We were completely exhausted and headed to find refreshment of some type. We got a street table with a view of the goings on and ordered a juice and an ice cream sundae type of dish. Mine was chocolate and Mike’s was a most delicious pink kind of IC.

After that we were refreshed and Mike wanted to head out again to see the sun set and the craziness that is the square. Before I knew it, he had a snake wrapped around his neck and the owner was telling me to take a photo of him. The snake charmer also wanted to place one on me, several times in fact, and didn’t seem to comprehend that “No!” meant “NO WAY!!!!!”!

 We headed back towards the shopping area but didn’t want to enter the souks at night. Finding your way around in the daytime is bad enough.

Although we weren’t too hungry, I figured we should eat some kind of supper besides ice cream so we sat down at one of the long tables like we ate at last night. We ordered salad and pastilla. The salad and bread were good. The pastilla was nothing like what we had in Fes. I was short of cash (or so I thought) so we decided to walk back to the hotel even though my feet were screaming. Besides which, it was just as crowded as last night and getting a cab would have been impossible anyway.

I will have NO trouble sleeping tonight!!!

Morocco Day 4

We said goodbye to Fes at 8 AM and began to travel through farming country. There are lots of olive trees and it is quite green due to the many rivers in the area. I noticed a few red poppies growing wild in the countryside and there are many trees in bloom with white flowers.

Some of these are almonds and some are apples. Apparently this area is also good for cherries, plums and other fruit as well.

We are going through the Middle Atlas Mountains, and we are climbing a lot. Our driver is very experienced. He speeds when he can and crawls when there is lots of slow moving traffic especially going up hills. He sometimes waits until we reach the top of the hill, but occasionally he just passes. We have many near misses with other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, trucks and tractors. Abdellah advised us when we first started out, “Just don’t look!”

We stopped in Ifrane to stretch our legs. Irfrane is the Switzerland of Morocco. The town’s claim to fame is a lion statue. It is a summer resort with many villas owned by well-off Moroccans. The roofs are very long and steep as they get a lot of snow in the winter.

As we drive (and today is about a 9 – 10 hour day on the bus) it is rare to go very far without seeing people. It’s not just in towns that we see people, but the countryside as well. People are walking, working, sitting, standing, riding and waiting. Men are sitting in cafes drinking tea, coffee or water and women are walking carrying bags, often with small children in tow.

We stopped in a small town and had lunch at a local restaurant. We were the only tourists. The meat was hanging from on high and it was either grilled or cooked in a tagine.

I ordered a lamb tagine. There wasn’t much meat in the dish but the vegetables were very tender and nicely flavoured. I found lots of photo ops while I was waiting.

The drive to Marrakesh was a long one and we made a few pit stops. One place had some lovely rose gardens behind the buildings. I did something I haven’t done before at one of the rest stops – there was no other choice. There were only squat toilets in each stall – porcelain ‘bowls’ on the floor with slightly elevated spots to place your feet.I was a little afraid of slipping but I survived!

There was a whole lot of napping happening on the bus especially in the afternoon. 

We arrived in Marrakech around 6 PM and got checked in. Then we headed to the Jemaa el Fna Square. The traffic was unreal and when we finally arrived, I understood why. The crowds were also unreal!

It took a lot of concentration to keep up with the group, not trip, watch our belongings, and not lose sight of the person ahead of you. We headed to the stall where we were to have supper but they weren’t ready for us yet so we took a walk around. It was hard to see anything really, because of all the people and I think our guide worried for our safety. It reminded me of a very, very busy fair grounds back home.

We sat at long benches with sheets of paper for placemats. When our meal came, it was very good – cooked vegetables, meat skewers and of course bread and water.

Rather than make the bus negotiate all that busy traffic after we were done, we walked back to the hotel, about 20-25 minutes away. Crossing the street was an adventure and it took quite awhile before the sidewalk traffic thinned out enough that our group didn't have to walk single file.

We have a late start to our day tomorrow so we get to sleep in, yeah!

Morocco Day 3

We are in Fes, a city of 1,000,000.

Our driver took us to one of the king’s palaces. He has many throughout Morocco so he has a place to stay wherever he goes. No hotels for him I guess. The doors were quite ornate and had lots of symbolism which, Abdellah, our guide, explained.

As we left the area, I took a photo of a side door and got reprimanded “No photo!” It was the first of many times I would hear that today, haha!

We were close to the Jewish quarter so we walked through that. Many, if not most of the Jews moved to Palestine in 1948 so there aren’t a lot left in Fes. There were several jewelry stores near the end of the street which sold high quality gold and silver items. Abdellah told us that the word Jew comes from jewelry. This wasn’t a shopping tour so we hurried along to keep up with our guide stopping every so often to let a donkey loaded with items by, for our guide to explain something, or for him to simply count us and make sure no one got lost.

 We were taken by bus to a beautiful viewpoint of the city and got to see the old Fez along with the new.

The old Fez, the medina, has 9,400 streets!! No wonder it is so easy to get lost. Next we went to a tile place where we were shown how they hand made the tile, cut each piece individually, then place it in a design – upside down!  Cement is put on the back side and a table or fountain is made. They also had a section where pottery is painted.

The place is actually a school and students were working alongside master craftsmen. I will never look at a tiled table the same way again!

In the obligatory gift shop I picked up a small souvenir, a tiny tea bag bowl as a keepsake of the visit.

Our bus then drove us to the old quarter and I was quite impressed at the driver’s navigation down crowded busy narrow streets. We headed out on foot down the maze that is the Fez medina. I am sure we all had our mouths hanging open for the next few hours and our heads turning left and right, up and down!

The command “baggat” means “get the heck out of the way NOW”. Carts, donkeys and humanity were constantly passing walking in both directions down the uneven cobblestone roads. And narrow? Did I mention narrow? Sometimes we literally had to jump in a doorway to avoid getting run over.

Abdellah counted us when we came to intersections and made sure there were 15 before moving on. The medina is in sections – leather, textiles, pottery, jewelry, candy, metalwork, etc. Without a guide it would have been impossible to cover all of the various areas we saw.

The streets wind and curve and turn until you can’t remember where you were 5 minutes ago.  After a bit, Abdellah made a turn and suddenly we were in the midst of a quiet little paradise – an area which used to be used as a school I think.

Typical me – too busy taking photos to listen to the long version.  Anyway, it was a nice little respite.

Lunch was at a neat little place up a LOT of very narrow steps. We all ordered the same thing – bastila.

It was so incredibly delicious! The first course was traditional bread served with several dishes of vegetables including olives, carrots, and ? The pastilla is basically ‘chicken pie’. I jokingly asked our waiter if the recipe was a secret and he told it to me. The pastry is the flaky phyllo type, stuffed with small pieces of chicken that has been cooked with onions, peppers and spices like saffron. Almonds are also in the dish and there is a hint of cinnamon together with something sweet, which was a surprise for a main course. It was so very tasty! Then we were served dessert – strawberries, bananas and sweet, juicy, fresh Moroccan oranges!

Our hotels have had them for breakfast and Mike and I can’t get enough of them. In fact I was shocked to look down at the table and see a huge plate of fruit in front of Mikey who was eating it up with great gusto! After asking him just what was going on, everyone laughed at my surprise. No one wanted any more, so Mikey said he’d eat it! Little did I know this would be the first of many times this would happen with Mike.

We continued on to more sections of the medina and headed to the leather tanneries. What an amazing view from on high. There are many vats of colored fluid and several workers washing the skins in the dyes. They were in the hot sun up to at least their knees in liquid, bending and straightening over and over.

Someone in our group said the next time you think you hate your job, think of what these guys were doing. Afterwards, several people tried on leather jackets and slippers. I thought I might want a pair of those pointy Moroccan slippers but they weren’t all that comfortable. I found a multicolored pair with a better toe design which I bought. While waiting out in the street for others to make their purchases (as well as many other times and places), we were approached to buy various items and I succumbed to the sales pitch for leather folding coin purses. I discovered later that they will need a bit of airing out!

Another stop was at a textile place where we tried on clothing. Abdellah had offered to buy us a scarf as a welcome gift from him. I found a nice red and brown one that looks good with my Egyptian galabaya I wore today.

We are going to wear them like the Berbers when we go to the dessert and we learned how to wrap our heads. Mike also bought a jellaba and a headscarf for himself, black of course. While leaving the medina, I purchased a tiny fez shoe keychain for only 10 Dirham (about $1.34). It works great as a zipper pull on my purse. I was pleased with my restraint in shopping today.

 Although it was a warm day, 25C, we were in the shade much of the time and there was a slight breeze blowing. My legs are good and sore tonight from my walking on uneven surfaces and from all the steep, narrow stair climbing we did. It sounds like I am complaining but I’m not. What a great, interesting day we had!

We had about an 80 minute rest when we got back, then we boarded the bus again and went to an authentic Moroccan restaurant Abdellah knew. He ordered for us and we shared. It costed about $8 each for the bread, beef, chicken, pork, liver, hearts (chicken?), sausages and meatballs we ate.

Like I said, Moroccans love their bread and meat. Mike went for a swim in the pool when we got back and he was the only one. I’m not sure if it was closed or whether no one else felt like swimming when it was so late or so cool.

It’s past time for bed again!