We arrived in Casablanca about 16:00 and were meet at the airport by
Mustafa which would be our guide for the week. After getting some local
money we heading into town to check into our hotel. After getting checked
in we took a little bit of a walk in the city until time for dinner at
19:30. We walked a ways down the street the hotel was on until I saw a
rather busy street that appeared to be a local market street
with people selling all sort of stuff. It was a mix of all sorts of stuff just no
tourist crap. I enjoyed walking down this street but could tell Cindy
was not enjoying it and I did not want to get lost on the first day so
turned around and went back to the main street.
One thing we noticed was the coffee shops only have men in them and later
reading the lonely planet it talks about most of the coffee shops are
men only places. The travel guide said that men can not control them
if women are around.
The hotel had a great view of the Mosque and ocean but the food was
a real disappointment.
The next day we meet our travel companions which turned out to be 2
great people and really helped make the trip really enjoyable. Lee from
Phoenix and Lee from Daytona. During the day we took a tour of the city
which started with the large mosque Hassan the 2nd. This is the 2nd or
3rd largest mosque in the world. Mustafa told us that some count
the place with the tomb of Mohamad as a mosque but he does not so if that
is not a mosque it is the 2nd largest and 3rd if the tomb is
a mosque. We took the tour inside and it was impressive but
very new. I think I found the mosques in Turkey more impressive with
the large domes. The minerates in Morocco are just square towers
and not what I think of when I think of minerates.
I found it
interesting that they had escalators to reach the area for women to
pray. We also visited the Mohammed V Square prior to leaving Casablanca.
We then drove to Rabat the capital. We had lunch and then went to the
hotel. Took a walk since we had time to kill. A little bit lost but
found the city center and walked through a local shopping area and then
through a cemetery. The cemetery was really interesting and really
really huge. The graves did not have any room between each other and
were a rectangle about 1 1/2 feet about the ground but the guide the
following day told me that people are buried underground and this is
not a sort of tomb.
After the cemetery we walked past the gate to the
fort or castle but since we were seeing it the next day did not go in.
We returned via the shopping street that had mostly tourist stuff and
in one place it got really really crowed. We did walk through a place
that was cooking some sort of meat and smelled really great and I still
regret not buying some. The walk back to the hotel was a lot shorter
since we did not really walk so far out of our way. The meal at the
hotel was again a disappointment which is a theme of this trip.
After breakfast we toured the city. Royal Palace, the Oudaya Kasbah,
the Mohamed V Mausoleum, and Hassan Tower. The Mohamed V Mausoleum, has
the tomb of Mohammed the 5th which was one of the kings of morocco and
Mohammed the 6th is the current king. In the Kasbah or castle we
noticed the door knockers in the shape of a hand this is to keep our
evil spirit and the hand is on about every door. We then visited the
Chellah which is a fort that has Roman and Arabic ruins inside but
the thing that impressed me the most was the storks. They had huge
nest everywhere.
After the Chellah we drove to Meknes but did not do much in this town
other than stopping by a couple of city gates and a water reservoir. We
than drove onto the village of Moulay Idriss which we just drove through
and stopped above the village for some pictures. We then visited Volubilis
which is Roman ruins. It was more than I expected and in a lot of ways
reminded me of Pompei. The street layouts and size is the reason I guess
it made me think of Pompei but Pompei is much better preserved.
I enjoyed the drive and seeing the countryside. There were loads of
donkeys in the fields. It seemed like some of the people riding the
donkeys could have dragged their feet. People were also harvesting
olives. I have seen olive trees in a number of countries but don't
recall seeing the olives on the trees anywhere.
Made it to the hotel in Fes and the guide said we should not walk in
the medina by ourselfs. I took a short walk making sure I did not enter
the medina but walking by a major road with nothing to see but found my
way back to the hotel via the Jewish part of town I found out the
following day from the guide. The Jewish part of town had a number of
shops selling different stuff and I bought some peanuts that tasted
great. I managed to buy stamps at the post office and not sure what I
did that the worker found so funny but I was glad to provide a little
laughter to his life. I managed to use the ATM again and get money even
though I don't understand a bit of the French. Morocco is first country
I have visited where the ATMs did not have an English option.
Tuesday was for seeing Fes. We started by going to the Jewish part of
town that I had walked through the night before but had walked right
past the royal palace and did not even notice it.
Next we went to a
place where we have a view of the medina and then onto a place they
made ceramic. Visiting the ceramics place was a 15 to 20 minute tour of
the place followed by the women shopping for 30 minutes. Shopping was
the theme of the day in Fes. We shopped for carpets, jewelry, leather
goods, clocks, shoes, fruits and nuts, postcards and I'm sure a few
things I forgot. The clocks was the funniest thing. Lee wanted a clock
that had an alarm that was a muslim call to prayer. They haggled over
the price and Lee said "that is way too much for the clock, I'll take
2".
The part of the Fes medina we saw was small streets with people selling
all kinds of different stuff. Since I was just following the guide I did
not have any idea where I was at any point inside the medina. The small
streets or alleys were full with donkeys and mules carrying unbelievable
loads. I never managed to get a good picture of any of these animals of
burden that could barely fit in these streets with the size of their
load.
We had the best meal of the trip for Lunch in Fes. I took a few pictures
to see what we had to eat.
We also visited the tannery which did not have a pleasant smell.
After the tour we were dropped off at the hotel and took a short walk
back to the Jewish part of down to kill some time. Saw some storks
flying over head and think the one in this picture was feeding a
baby.
Wednesday was a long day of driving from Fes to Marrakech. It took us a
little over 9 hours. We did have to stop at one point and wait for a
bike race to go by. I enjoyed the stop and all the little boys and one
old lady looking at us like we were from Mars. We could only say hello
in French but don't really think they wanted to say much more but they
would return my smile after a few minutes when they figure I was not
going to eat them alive.
Once in Marrakech I took a walk and ended up finding Djemaa El Fna
Square. The Square at night has a much different feel than in the day
time. It is like the day is for tourist and the night is for locals. I
had read this but it still surprised me the difference. At night for
the most part there were large groups of people standing around and
listing to stories or skits and a few people playing music. I did not
understand anything being said so did not really enjoy but was glad I
saw the square in the evening to compare with seeing the difference the
following day.
We started the day at the Menara Gardens then walked past the Koutoubia
Mosque and onto the Bahia Palace where we were rushed through. I think
the guide was in a hurry to get us to the souks where he would get his
kick back from our shopping. We also visited the Saadian Tombs and then
into the souks. Shopping, shopping and a little bit more shopping. We
started in a shop that sold spices which was sort of interesting but I
smelt like a cheap whore after all the creams and smelly stuff that was
good for one thing or another. I did find the spice place interesting.
After the Lee's were about shopped out we finished the city tour
Marrakech city tour in Djemaa El Fna Square. As I said earlier this
square is for the tourist in the day and a much different feel. The
square has some musicians but mostly things you are suppose to pay to
take pictures. There were snake charmers for picture or you could have
a snake put around your neck. They also had a group of ladies to paint
your hands and feet which I believe is called henna. There were also
kids wanting money for doing cartwheels. It was a little sad to watch
the snake guys chasing off the kids from anybody standing around the
snakes. Sort of don't mess with my customers theirs coins are mine not
yours. I guess I should have taken some pictures of this square but
really did not want to encourage the kids or the snake guys.
After the tour was over it was still early afternoon and I did not want
to go back to the hotel. Cindy was still not shopped out so back into
the souks we went. ( oh yeah ) After about a hour more shopping we
reached the end of the souks and I just kept walking straight. I needed
a break from shopping and wanted to see some of the city that was not
as touristy. We had a couple of guys that walked with us everywhere we
went and really I should not have gone on this walk with Cindy. One of
our little friends kept saying that way is closed when I would try to
make a left so I would keep walking straight. The further we walked the
poorer the city seemed to get. We ended up making it to the tannery
and a guy wanted to show us around but this was not something Cindy was
up for and wanted to get out of the poor part of town. I took a quick
picture of the vats and ask our friend to point us to the square. It
took us to a street and said straight down this street no right no left
straight. After about 150 meters we came to a fork in the road. There
was no straight from my point of view there was a right or a left. Of
course I picked the wrong one but I figured the busier street was best.
After about a kilometer there was an open place where I could see the
mosque by the square and we were not heading in the right direction. A
little boy saw me looking at the mosque and told me to go back one
block and make a left to get back to the square. I was surprised how
good his English was but when I kept walking straight to try and catch
Cindy who seemed to be really pissed off now the boy was really
confused. The boy kept saying no no go back that way you are going the
wrong way. I said I would after I caught my friend since she is still
going the wrong way I had to say this a few times before he understood.
I think he was shocked at the idea that I might have a friend and
wanted to know if it was imaginary or a real person. Once he figure I
was not going to turn around until I caught my imaginary friend he ran
ahead looking at each person to see if they looked like someone that
could possibly be my friend or at least another dumb foreigner going
the wrong way. He caught Cindy and looked at me and I nodded that yes
this was my friend but for some reason he did not seem to want to say
anything to her. I yelled to try and get Cindy's attention and scared
the hell out of lady in front of me. I think her life will be a few
years shorter but Cindy stopped. I told here what the boy told me and
he pointed out on the map where we were. I my little friend some coins
and thanked him very much for this help and said we would take a taxi.
Once I managed to get in the small taxi it worked out great and we were
off once again to the Djemaa El Fna Square for what else more shopping.
It was rather painless and only lasted about 45 minutes this time. Since
I had walked to the square from the hotel the night before the walk
back went well and we did not get lost once. I was really surprised
that Cindy was willing to walk back after earlier.
In the evening we went to dinner with Lee and Lee. It was Lee from
Phoenix's birthday and also they were staying in Marrakech and going
further south the day we were flying out of Casablanca. This dinner
would be the last chance to see the Lee's. They were both really nice
ladies and even though they shop too much for my taste they made the
trip really enjoyable.
The last full day in Morocco was spent driving from Marrakech to
Casablanca. After a short nap in Casablanca Hotel I walked through
the Medina and down to the Mosque. Along the way I meet a couple of
guys that made sure I did not get lost and told me their life stories.
I am getting more use to having people telling me which way to walk,
where to shop, what to buy, but of course I have not gotten good at
listening to them.
This is the end of my rambling about my trip in Morocco. All in all it
was a really good time. This is my first attempt at a travel log for
one of my trips. You will have to let me know if it is a waste of time
or something I should try again in the future.
Keith
