Fes, Volubilis, and Meknes

As we left Rabat, the Foret Maamora (forest) was shrouded in mist with the sun shining above.

Forest as we were leaving Rabat

Fog hanging in the low spots as we drove toward Fes.

I noticed that all the trees (cork oak) had a darker color bark from the first branches to the ground. It was also interesting to see people wanting a ride somewhere would stand by the roadside and sort of flag down passing cars by putting out their hand and pointing a finger. Hitchhiking, which seemed to even be done in groups. We arrived in Fes,

Fes

and after depositing our things in the riad,

Courtyard in our new riad in Fes.

The courtyard and dining room of our riad with the water feature.

Door to our room. I wish I’d taken a picture of the loft I slept in.

This courtyard was covered, but the cover could be opened.

we met a guide arranged through the riad and headed out to see the handicrafts of Fes. First stop was the ceramic co-op, where we saw red and gray clay being soaked in water (they harvest it from local areas, dry it and then soak it for a week after which it is kneaded by foot and hand), sculpted on a foot-turned wheel,

Potter in the co-op just outside the old city of Fes working on a foot turned wheel.

The kiln. First firing is 900℃ and the second firing is 1125℃

painted with painstaking detail by hand or hand chiseled into designs,

Artisans sat on the floor and hand chiseled designs into the glazed and fired pottery tiles. They were they pieced together to form intricate patterns.

The green and black fountain pieces are made from the pieced together tiles.

and finally the shop with hard pressure to buy.

All sizes and shapes of pottery available in the retail shop.

Bowls decorated in more modern style

From there we went into the medina and visited the jalaba (hooded ankle length pull-over) shop, where I bought one. I wear it almost everyday now. We went into a weavers shop and watched them work the floor loom with a pulley thrown shuttle.

Weaver with a hand pulled flying shuttle and foot operated treadle.

They use agave fiber as the silk, in addition to wool from the sheep. I was quite interested in this after my experience with weaving when I lived in London long ago. We saw where they auction the leather hides

Leather auction where skins are auctioned off in batches of four whole skins, presumably of the same type of animal: sheep, goat, or cow (maybe some others, but I don’t know what).

and then went to the leather dying area. At the bottom of the stairs was a box of mint leaves to take and hold under your nose when you arrived at the top to look out over the dying vats. It smelled like boiling meat that might be too old, as they wash the skins (mostly sheep, cow, goat) and then dye them in big vats. Men stand in the vats and pull the skins one at a time to be pushed down and spread out with both hands and feet to soak for 7-10 days.

These were the white dye baths for the leather. You can just see some skins over the ledge set out on straw to dry in the sun.

When they are the color desired they are set out in the sun to dry. From there they are sent to tailors to make them into saleable items. Our guide wanted to take us to another Berber pharmacy,

Narrow streets were a complete maze and populated by bicycles, motorcycles, donkeys, carts, and people. . .lots of people.

Peeking into a mosque in the old city of Fes.

Another peek inside the mosque from a different doorway.

You don’t see pay phones anymore, so I thought this was kind of quaint.

This was a school filled with small children. I had to sneak the picture so it’s not very good because our guide said the teacher would come out and want money.

but we said we’d already seen several, so back to the riad where we had a scrumptious tagine meal! I slept in the loft here, which was accessed by a narrow, rickety wooden staircase (wish I’d taken a picture of it). The next day our riad host (who was quite a braggart) arranged for us to be picked up and driven to Volubilis

Nearing Volubilis which was about an hour from Fes on very small, very bumpy roads.

Countryside surrounding Volubilis (Old Roman City ruins)

Roman ruins in Volubilis

Roman ruins and the surrounding countryside

to see the Roman ruins, and then to Meknes. In Meknes, we ended up taking photos from the car and having lunch at a rooftop café.

Gates into Meknes

View of Old Meknes from our rooftop terrace cafe.

Our cafe from street level

We were pretty done with medinas and mosques we could only view from outside. So back to another delicious meal at the riad.

Rabat

The next day was a long drive to Rabat,

Ovens at a roadside stop

Tagines cooking to be ready for the lunch crowd at the road side stop

the political capital of Morocco. I loved seeing the storks and their nests atop buildings, walls, and towers there as well as in Marrakech. We walked through a gigantic graveyard

The cemetery was vast. It goes all the way to the top of the hill there.

Cemetery headstones

(I can’t remember ever seeing one in Kuwait, or any of the other Middle Eastern countries I’ve been to so far) and then along the seaside to a restaurant overlooking the beach.

The coastline in Rabat.

Lunch overlooking the beach.

The Moroccan coastline is very rocky,

Very rocky coastline!

but there are small spaces (probably manmade) where there is sand and traditional beach activities could occur – though it was very windy and cold.

Small sandy area where people were having picnics, walking dogs, play soccer, and eventually a surf school came and were teaching/learning to surf.

Then we walked up to the ancient walled city

The walled city with a small cemetery at the foot of the hill.

and through the Bab Oudaïa Gate

Gate to the walled city.

and walked around inside there.

Inside the walled city. I don’t know the significance of the blue and white walls, but it was beautiful.

This is about how big the alley was that our riad was on. This is in the walled city though.

We were shooed away from the mosque as it was near time for prayer, and many people offered to be our guide ($$). We wandered out and through a small garden.

Garden within the walled city. It was quite peaceful and beautiful.

Interesting flowers and one of the gardeners eagerly told me their names, one was either Angel’s Trumpet or Devil’s Trumpet, probably the latter.

Trumpet, of devils or angels, I don’t know.

Giant poinsettia, of which there were many

So delicate and beautiful.

Everywhere we went in Morocco there were orange trees loaded with oranges. Many cities had them lining the streets. We were told these are not sweet oranges for eating, but bitter oranges from which essences, perfumes, etc. are made.

Our place in Rabat was called a riad, or ryad. This is a house, or palace with an interior garden or courtyard.

Sitting in the courtyard and looking into the kitchen at our riad in Rabat

Looking directly up while sitting in the courtyard, which is open to the outdoors

They are frequently open air above the courtyard garden and have a water feature. This acts sort of like air-conditioning as the hot air enters, passes over the water and is cooled. The walls are very thick as well, which insulates for both hot and cold. The inward focus with few windows supports the Muslim idea of protecting women from being seen. They are surprising in that when you stand at the door it looks small and sometimes even very rundown. Then once inside you are stunned by the expansive courtyard with rooms off to the sides and above, creating a peaceful and beautiful oasis right in the middle of a bustling city.

The dining room from the courtyard

Doors to our room “La Confidente”

View from the rooftop terrace at the riad

Christmas! . . . and some musings

Christmas Day we decided we’d like to go up in the mountains and see if we could find snow. Marrakech is very red (It is known as the “Red City” or “Ochre City”).

Marrakech from the rooftop pool of our hotel

Marrakech from the rooftops

Roses were everywhere! This is in the median.

The earth, the buildings, even the animals (sheep, cats, goats, dogs) are stained reddish. It took 2-1/2 to 3 hours (only 1-1/2 on the way back by a different road) on tiny, sometimes dirt and often 1-way roads winding up and around (the road less traveled?),

As we headed up to the mountains

This was a tiny little auto mechanic where we got air for our tires

Fog in the valley

Atlas Mountains

but we found snow!

SNOW! Skiiers were out on it.

Gabe in the snow, and see the tracks of skis?

It was amazingly refreshing and felt quite exotic to be in snow in Africa!

Magnificent!

Panoramic view on the way back down

Skiers were out and there was a chair lift to the top (but not for skiing, you rode it around and back down!). Even here we were hounded by men (mostly) trying to sell jewelry, “authentic” amethyst geodes, and sweets. We went to a little café for more traditional Moroccan food that was recommended by either Lonely Planet or Trip Advisor. It was a gloriously beautiful day!

Baubles on the branches at the cafe where we got lunch.

Our waiter coming out the door

I believe it was in Marrakech that we were told no buildings could be higher than the minaret of the grand mosque, so nothing was higher than 5 floors. Christmas dinner was eaten at “Level Five” a restaurant on the 5^th floor not far from the hotel.

This is a country of such contrasts, as I think about it. We had free wifi almost everywhere we went, but on our way up the mountains we saw people hand tilling and animal plowing fields. Egrets would thoroughly dot the fields white in the freshly tilled soil. All throughout Morocco we saw shepherds with their flocks of sheep (all of which had tails), goats, or cows. Some were on cell phones, and many were right next to the roads, even the highways. I was also interested in the aqueducts that seemed to be alongside all the roads.

Roadside aquaduct (yes, it looks more like a gutter, I know.)

Up in the mountains they were rushing with water, and it appeared that was the main source of water for households. Vast fields were planted with prickly pear cactus, especially between Casablanca and Marrakech. Of course there were also endless fields of olives and argon trees. I still can’t tell the difference between the two. When we went to Volubilis we saw them harvesting olives by laying tarps under the trees and then beating the branches with long sticks.

On to Marrakech

The next morning after our breakfast buffet,

breakfast buffet in our hotel

we met our guide and driver for a half-day tour of Casablanca. We started off with a visit to the grand mosque named after Hassan II.

Outside in the courtyard where 80,000 additional worshipers can be held.

Me inside Hassan II Grand Mosque in Casablanca, where 25,000 worshipers can be held.

Inside, where the Imam sits

There was a fee to enter and it is the only mosque in the country that non-Muslims are allowed to enter. It is gorgeous. We were then steered toward the first of the hard-sell shops: carpets. I’m a sucker.

The Tree of Life – silk carpet I bought in Casablanca

Then we were steered toward a Berber pharmacy (the first of many!!). This guy wasn’t hard-sell, so we were able to leave unscathed. Lastly, we stopped at the Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic church (I think it is the only one in Casablanca).

Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic church. I think it may be the only one in Casablanca.

After a nice Moroccan lunch (tagine), we returned to our hotel, retrieved our luggage and car, and drove to Marrakech.

Lunch at the restaurant across the street from our hotel.

It was rather exciting to see the mountains loom up in the distance as we approached Marrakech (founded in the 11^th century, but inhabited by Berbers since Neolithic times).

A field of cultivated prickly pear cactus! One of many we saw as we drove to Marrakech.

There were mopeds and small motorcycles everywhere, in addition to bicycles and donkey drawn carts. The cycles wove in and out of traffic, often with only a hair’s breadth of room between them and the car. We found a little bar to go for dinner and they referred us to another bar where they had belly dancers, some of who wore big platters of candles on their heads.  It seemed like both bars were mostly full of tourists and it is clear that Marrakech is geared to tourists. The next day we had a full-day tour of the city. This was a large tour (probably about 40 people) and we saw the big mosque there, but only from the outside,

Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech

Minaret of Koutoubia Mosque

visited a mausoleum,

Entering the medina through Bab Agnaou

Storks nesting on top of the gate

Gardens inside Saadian Tombs area

One of the rooms in the Saadian Tombs

an old castle/mansion that was partly museum,

Fountain inside Bahia Palace

Inside Bahia Palace

Courtyard inside Bahia Palace

Sub Sahara African sculptures 

Bitter orange tree – they were everywhere in Morocco

Camel saddles

Old rifles

had lunch in an old Moroccan restaurant,

Traditional Moroccan restaurant where we had lunch

and then visited the old medina area.

Jemaa el Fna is a UNESCO heritage site and is abuzz with more than you can even imagine…snake charmers, young men with chained and dressed Barbary apes, stalls selling anything and everything.

Looking down on Jemaa el Fna from the French Cafe

It was a maze of small streets and alleys all lined with stall after stall of people selling and making their wares. It was amazing to look into the shop and watch metal workers pounding away; tailors sewing – some by machine, some by hand; or a wood worker making chess pieces on a hand turned lathe.

He’s using his foot to guide the wood while he uses a hand tool (chisel?) with one hand and operates the lathe with the other hand

Neighborhood bakery where you bring your things to be baked and picked up later.

Metal lanterns – so pretty, but where would I put it??

We visited an old Quranic school called Ben Youssef Medersa, which was very interesting.

The water feature area at this Quranic School was being repaired by hand.

Wooden ceiling and intricate stonework below

This little bit of color caught my eye on the wall.

Everything is elaborately carved or painted.

Quranic students lived in these quarters when it was a school. The rungs are up to the sleeping loft.

Looking down at the hallway from the student quarters.

Quranic school

Looking up from the student housing level.

Part of this journey also included a hard-sell visit to another Berber pharmacy.

Berber pharmacy. It was a hard sell place, but I learned a lot.

Women shelling argon seeds in the pharmacy.

I was tempted, and tiny part of me wishes I had. The mark-up on big tours like this had to be enormous though. We finally departed the big group and found a rooftop bar.

Lovely beer at a rooftop terrace bar

It was beautiful to see the sunset behind the minaret of the grand mosque

Me with the minaret in the background from the rooftop terrace bar.

and see the moon in the sky as we left. Happy Christmas Eve!

Beginning with Casablanca

It’s hard to know where to start, but I think I’ll start by sharing Gabe’s musings about Morocco by copying it here. Several people are wondering and some have asked about Gabe. He is a colleague and friend. That is all. We tend to have similar ideas about what to see and do when we travel, so he is an ideal travel buddy. (He didn’t know he was in the picture here.)

Gabe at Rick’s Cafe

Here’s Gabe’s post:

Morocco – Thoughts on Travels

Really enjoyed Morocco, on the whole. Some random observations…

1. Casablanca is lame – no need to spend much time there. Isn’t much to see beyond the grand mosque and a few other locations. Otherwise, it’s overly populated, horrible traffic, limited open spaces, feels old, not much character to it in my opinion.
2. Marrakech is stunning – the red city. Every building has a red tint to it, old and new. A vibrant market and market square with everything for sale, artisans, performers, snake charmers, monkeys, etc. There are beautiful public parks and gardens, thousands of rose plants, and more mopeds than you could ever imagine. They zoom in and out of traffic and around cars, sharing the road with the occasional donkey pulled cart. The Atlas Mountains are nearby, snow! The one bad thing about Marrakech, it’s a very touristy city, a lot of poor people, and hawkers can be very pushy and annoying.
3. Fes and Tanger were my next favorite cities. I started to get a bit tired of markets, medinas, and shopping, however.
4. Morocco, one of the poorest countries in North Africa and the Middle East $3,100 per capita GDP), is currently building a 200mph high-speed rail between Tanger and their capital, Rabat. Eventually it’s planned to extend to Casablanca and south to Marrakech. Tanger is building the largest marina in the Mediterranean, according to our Riad host. Both, at great expense. It’s arguable if you should spend so much money when the country has such poverty and even low literacy levels (67% I think). But, I guess they are looking to the future by building infrastructure, for what that’s worth. How much it will benefit the poor, who knows. I kept wondering to myself, how is it that Morocco can be building a high speed rail, and we don’t even have ONE in the U.S.?
5. There were noticeable police/military that wondered around the major cities. They were always in threes, with two military in fatigues with submachine guns, and a police officer in the middle of them with a sidearm. I found it interesting because they ALWAYS were in public this way, in the exact same order too, like the police officer HAD to walk in the middle. We asked a guide about the police/military presence, he said the government was concerned about the number of Moroccans that had left the country to fight for ISIS, and when/if they returned… Hence the higher than normal security the last year or so. In a side note, I just found an article estimating the number of foreign fighters with ISIS. Morocco is one of the highest contributors, 3,000.
6. I spoke four languages while there (French, Spanish, Arabic, English, none well except English, haha). Moroccans usually learn Arabic as their first language, but most learn French all through school, so are fluent in both. Berber is another national language that many speak, and English is learned by many as a third+ language. Spanish is also spoken by some in northern areas near Spain.
7. Morocco was incredibly green, with diverse geography, from mountains to forests, to oceans and rolling fields, farmlands, and huge deserts (didn’t make it there though).
Go if you have the chance!

I agree with what he said, but here are a few more words from me. (I’m going to break my entries into days, so stay tuned for more.) We arrived in Casablanca (it’s been around since the 7^th century BC) about midday and managed to find our way to the hotel in our rental car.

Road from the airport

We wandered around the old medina (old fortified city packed with vendors and their stalls) and grabbed a bite to eat on the street there.

Just down the street from our hotel

The tower in the previous photo lit up at night.

Just outside the medina – dates, figs, etc. Who knows what it all is?

Graffiti on a wall outside the medina

I was struck by the number of very poor and probably homeless people I saw, most of whom were begging. Children and some adults were wandering in and out among people (and along the road, among cars) selling packets or boxes of tissue. Older men would set up a crate and sell single cigarettes. People smoked everywhere. Shoe shiners walked around looking for people wearing polishable shoes or hitting their supply box with their brush to call attention to themselves. It was sad and made me realize what a poor country Morocco is.

After it got dark, we took a shared taxi (someone else was already in it who was dropped off along the way) to Rick’s Café, which was modeled after the café in the movie ‘Casablanca’. The movie was filmed entirely in Hollywood, but it was fun to hang out there.

Inside Rick’s Cafe

Looking up at the ceiling in Rick’s Cafe

Inside Rick’s Cafe