Morroco Trip (in diary form)

January 20th

We flew Royal Air Morroco to Marrakech in 2 ½ hours. As we were crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, leaving one continent for another, I could see how narrow it was-about 14 miles.. It was thrilling to see it from a bird’s eye view after reading about it all of my life. We passed over groves of orange trees growing in orderly rows and landed at a simple airport which reminded me of Mexico-simple architecture, pink walls, marble floors but, of course, there was a moorish look. We had a taxi driver waiting for us and it was a short drive to our riad in the medina, the old walled 11th century ancient city. We parked by a mosque and he walked us up a narrow, dead end street called a Dreb, and we came to a wide wooden studded door which enclosed the Riad Sahara Nour. After ringing the door bell, the door opened into a typical small foyer which is all outsiders can see from the street. We were lead into one of those great central courtyards open to the sky, full of plants with a center water fountain in which marigolds floated. All of the rest of the rooms ranged around this courtyard. The owners are French, very nice people who often offer art classes here. They have really lovely art work and rugs around the place, mostly from Pakistan. After some mint tea-a tradition here-we took a walk through some of the souk-market-dodging dangerous motor cycles and bikes-there is no room for cars in the narrow streets of the medina-and came into the large square, the Place Jemaa el Fna, where there were many food stalls with lit up covered places to eat serving all sorts of food. We never did eat there as the owner of our riad said that there was a one in four chance of getting sick there. There was music and entertainment and it was a very lively and fun place.

I really like Marrakech-such a difference from western civilization. We heard the calls to worship twice from the towers of the mosques in the evening and probably will again during the night.

January 21st

We were, indeed, awakened before dawn by the chanting of the mosques, calling the faithful to worship. I guess in ancient times they must have used the voice of a man high in a tower to call men to prayer instead of the bells of the western world. We did see many men in the long robes with hoods walking around but all of the young people were dressed western in style. And, of course, there were many women in the long dresses, head covering and some veils. There seem to be many similarities between the religions of the world with the beautiful buildings constructed for worshipping God, the calls to prayer/worship/mass, the long robes of the holy men/priests and the rather eastern looking garb of nuns. Plus, all of those rules, traditions, beliefs, prejudices.

After breakfast in the really lovely dining room-very high painted ceilings, carved decorations all along the walls of the narrow room, gorgeous tile behind the red couches which follow the walls-the owner, Francoise, told us about Morrocan architecture.. A ryad, means Eden or paradise, and always has a center courtyard opened to the sky with four beds for plants and trees and a central fountain. A Dar, another type of house, usually doesn’t have a fountain or four garden beds. This riad was one level to start with and then a second one was added. They did two years worth of work with “1000 donkey trips” for supplies, to renovate and stabilize the top floor. HIs wife went to a lot of trouble to get it all authentic as possible.

We walked around the medina in another direction to what is called a cyber garden built by various computer companies and it was fairly lush and well maintained. There is a little internet cafe there along with wifi access. It was closed because today is the New Year Day for Muslims. In fact, there was more than usual calling last night from the mosques because of it. We looked at an artisan place and priced some carpets with no pressure from the salesman at all. We were headed in the direction of a palace when a very nice man stopped to help us with directions. He was very pleasnat and fun to talk to. He said he would take us there but, despite all I read read on Trip Advisor, we ended up at a carpet shop (probably owned by a relative of his) sitting down, drinking mint tea while they laid out carpet after carpet in front of us. The salesman wouldn’t tell us the cost of them until he had finished his presentation and we had narrowed down the rugs to the few we liked. The one we liked the best was, we were told, 12,000 DH. We were told by Francoise to offer back ¾ of the first amount we were told which we did. It was like being with an American car salesman. He looked offended and said it was rare to get this kind of carpet and that only a few came in each year as it took a woman years to make one. Maurice stood firm. By the time we were walking out they were agreeing to our offer but Maurice doesn’t like to be pushed or hurried so we left and never did get a carpet there or anywhere else.

We went through another interesting part of the souk and ended up back the the main square where we had lunch up on a second story balcony over-looking the busy square. Afterwards we found a snake charmer with a cobra which I thought at first was rubber. A man tried to drape another ordinary snake around Maurice’s neck but didn’t succeed. After getting lost and wandering all over the souk, we found the Marrakech Museum, with nothing much in it but a lovely ceiling with a huge center courtyard. After a little rest, we walked to the modern part of the city, full of zooming cars, wide sidewalks, modern shops and fashionable young people. We had an early dinner of pannini and got a taxi back to our riad for about two euros.

Francoise and his wife were now out of town but a nice cook or houseboy were there to help. Maurice was told that a neighbor across the way died last night. We saw a group of men outside the house. Part of tradition when someone dies, is born or is married is to bring a huge container of sugar as a gift. A big cart pulled up with three huge boxes of sugar. There are many of these carts in the medina pulling loads around the narrow streets, sometimes pulled by a man, sometimes a donkey or mule. Bicycles and motorcycles zoom around and are a true danger in the narrow streets. We each had close calls many times barely getting out of the way in time. It really gets irritating after a while. We’ve noticed that no vehicle slows down for pedestrians even if they are on crosswalks. Sometimes motor bikes go through red lights, make turns from the wrong side of the street and everyone seems to ignore one way signs. Even if there is a rare pedestrian crossing light, that doesn’t mean it is safe to cross the street.

January 23rd

Today we totally avoided going through the souk, something I don’t mind but my husband gets annoyed with it. After a fruitless visit once more to the cyber garden-not open until 2 PM-we walked to the Bandi Palace which is totally empty and has few remaining walls or tiles left as it was stipped by a conquerer. It was mostly crumbling brown walls open to the sky. I liked the storks there which had made messy round nests on top of the walls. They had a funny mating call where they bent their heads backwards until it touched their backs and as they brought their heads fowards they clacked their long beaks rapidly together rather like castanettes. We were unable to find another palace that I wanted to see walking around for quite a long time. We found ourselves back at the huge square and had a pizza up three stories over-looking the huge area once more.

My husband called our first taxi driver for a ride out to Palmeraia, an area that reminded me of Scotsdale with many pink mansions, golf courses and desert vegetation. At one time there were 150,000 palm trees but, as a guide book said, they are quickly being replaced with celelbrities, such as Paul McCartney. Chirac has a place there too.

Each evening at about 6:30 PM you can hear carts full of metal cannisters of natural gas being pushed down the streets to be sold. In the morning we hear a man honking a hand held horn with a cart of cooking oil containers for sale. There are often little boys in the narrow street leading to our riad playing some sort of game with a type of hand made ball. I bet they would like a hacky sack. I’ve looked for some around here but didn’t see them. There air here always seems full of dust due to construction, traffic and lack of rain. There are many carts in the streets pulled by men, donkies or horses, carts sitting around with men in them waiting to be hired to carry heavy loads, especially in the medina. There are many horse pulled carriages for tourists all mingled with auto traffic.

We really like our riad. It gives more of a feel of real life, not the artificial life of a hotel. The location is good, on the edge of the medina. My husband's daughter stayed in the center and said it was too isolated and hard to get out to a taxi. Our only complaint is that it gets really cold at night (in January) and the rooms stay very cold. There are gas heaters but they don’t put out enough heat. I was cold in all of the rooms. Our shower head was too high and put out a think stream of water and it wasn’t hot enough to get a good shower. There was no lip on the floor so water spread out on the floor and there was no shower curtain either. Other than that, we loved our riad.

January 23rd

We decided to take the open top bus around Marrakech to get a over view of the city. A 12 euro ticket was good for all day. We took the drive around old Marrakech seeing parts of the old city wall and a wonderful door in the wall, the Bab Agnaou. We got off to see the Bahia Palace but it was closed for lunch. We ended up, via the bus, in the newer part of Marrakech where we once again had pizza. We are having an expensive dinner so we want to eat light. We got of the bus to to see the la Menara garden, a total waste of time. All that is there is an olive tree grove and a big rectanglular cement basin. We took another bus out to the Palmeraia again and saw the same palm trees and camels. I did learn that the palm trees are not natural but were planted from date seeds brought from Arabia centuries ago. There is a lot of unseen irrigation underground. There are plans to plant more trees and there will one day be many more. We were riding the bus all day and got back to the riad at 5 PM.

Dinner at Dar Moha turned out to be a fabulous, romantic experience. We walked into the reception area where rose petals floated on the water of a fountain. We were led through several very nice rooms out to the patio. In the center was a small swimming pool filled to the brim with clear water and a geometric design of tile on the bottom. The walls surrounding the patio were painted a persian blue. Huge trees grew on each side. We were seated at a round table with a tall silver candle holder holding a white candle which was lit when we sat down. Rose petasl of red, apricot and white were scattered across the table top. We were were able to order a bottle of wine-a Morrocan rose-not always possible in this muslim city. Before our entre, 11 small dishes were placed on the table with a variety of marinated vegetables, cauliflower-tempera fried, small pieces of chicken breaded and fried. Everything had strong, pleasant tastes of various spices. It was hard not to eat too much to be too full for what was to come. The entre was a pastille, a pastry with a vegetable filling. We both had a tangine, Maurice’s lamb, mine beef fillet with two different vegetable couscous dishes. It all tasted wonderful. My beef dish was very tender with a flavorful gravy blended into the couscous and several types of vegetables. My dessert was a dainty apple concoction, very light and delicious. The service was great and it was a joy to sit in the beautiful lush setting while musicians played Morrocan music by the pool. The first musician had a stringed, guitar-like instrument. Some of his music sounded like he was tuning it, but some sounded like the guitar music from Spain, probably showing traces of the Andulasian affect still in existance here, in music and architecture. Two other musicians also played, with the guitar and a drum. Their music and singing sounded more Aftican. One man had a hat on with a tassle that he would swing around in a circle in time to the beat. (cost with wine 150 Euros)

January 24th

Up bright and early to catch a bus to the sea coast town of Essaouira. It was a three hour drive but it seemed to go by quickly. We had to make the usual prerequisite stops that tour groups always do, such as an almond commune where women sat on the floor and shelled almonds, smashed them or crushed them into a paste. They sold soap, oil and face creams. We also made an stop near the town of Haha for a bathroom break where three restaurants all in a row advertised toilettes.

The landscape was interesting as we traveled. There was a very busy four lane highway as we left Marrakech which then became two lane. We saw fewer and fewer vehicles although near villages there would be motor bikes and bicycles. Mostly people were on donkeys with an occasional mule or horse. They are truly beasts of burden here. I saw one pulling a plow, many being loaded up or pulling wagons. I think Morroco is actually rockier than Provence, something I never thought I’d see. At points there were no trees or plants to be seen although the sheep and goats must have been finding something out there. There were just rocks and, except for the lack of red coloring, it looked like a scene of the landscape of Mars sent down from the little explorer up there on that distant planet. It was very arid and deserty in places and seeing Joseph leading a pregnant Mary seated on a mule looking for a place to stay wouldn’t have been surprising..

The town of Essaouira turned out to be delightful. We did a short walking tour through the old medina and around the ramparts and toured a little factory making, by hand, inlayed objects of wood found in a forest we passed through just before entering the little town. It was originally called Mogador, the name the Portugeues gave it when they occupied it. There were once many hippies here in the 60’s and 70’s but they got kicked out eventually. The mosque here was closed for a while recently as extremist were showing up and trying to recruit men for their activities.. For a long time it was the only port which shipped goods from Africa abroad until the French built a larger port in Casablanca. The town was full of doors into parts of an old wall. There was a little rampart to explore which overlooked the bay and crashing waves on a rocky coast. The harbor was very interesting with large boats being built of wood and many smaller boats, all painted blue, floating in the still waters. Blue and white are the predominant colors here, looking a little like some of the islands in Greece. It had a European feel having been designed by a Frenchman rather like St Malo with ramparts to protect the town.

We made it back to Marrakech by 7:15 glad we had made the journey.

Janurary 25th

We only had half a day left on our last day here and spent it wandering around the medina buying a few things. I wanted to buy a tangine dish but a friend told me that they are very tough on carryons at the airport and that she was forced to put it with the luggage and it arrived broken, so I decided to wait and get that back in Paris. They have great slippers, brightly colored and covered in sequin designs that are perfect for loafing around the house, so I got some of those. I also got some wonderful tassels to decorate pullls on curtains.

I was pleasantly surprised by Morroco. I arrived with few expectations not knowing what to expect. We had perfect weather with blue skies and sunshine with the weather in the 70’s everyday-not bad for January. The people were friendly, the city fascinating, and there is a very heavy French influenence here as France was the protectorate of Morroco until the 50’s-which is rather like being a colony but it is voluntary. French is still mandatory in schools and everyone I met spoke French along with some English. Our guide on our day trip even spoke German. The main income of Morroco is its produce such as nuts and dates and tourism is becoming a big source as well. I really recommend a trip to Morroco for those who love to travel and see something different.