AFRICA - The Kingdom of Morocco - The First 6 Days, starting May 26

The last fifteen days with Intrepid Tour in Morocco have been a blur of travel and activity.  Relaxing now on Crete, it will be hard to go back and not mix up the memories.  I welcome corrections from our travelling companions.  Having only two weeks to spare, a tour was a great choice.  Intrepid and our guide Mohamed provided some exceptional experiences in small villages, desert camps and endless Medinas.  We are a group of seven and join up on an evening in Casablanca, then onto a train the next day for Rabat.  Everywhere we go we hear: Salaam Alelkumi! - Welcome to Morocco...and humbly we soon learn the word shrukun - thank you.  

And everywhere we are served Moroccan Whiskey (AKA: Mint tea), which we come to love and early on are given lessons on how to make:  Put a pinch (or more) of green tea leaves in a teapot.  From another teapot pour hot water onto the green tea leaves, swirl around for a bit, then discard the water ... this is to "wash" the green tea leaves.  Put a fistful (or more) of fresh mint leaves into the pot with the green tea, fill with hot water, add anywhere from one to four cubes of sugar.  To dissolve the sugar: pour, from a great height, the tea into a glass then pour the tea back into the pot.  Repeat this process 3 to 5 times or until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Enjoy.  

We learn early on that unlike other Muslim countries, Morocco was never occupied by the Ottomans, so the dress, the minarets of the mosques, the music and other aspects of the culture here are very unique.

Our upcoming journey looks like this:

Rabat, an Imperial City of Morocco, a World Heritage site and the capital of Morocco sits where the  Bou Regreg River meets the Atlantic Ocean.  The Palace here is King Hassam II's official residence.  Here are ancient Arab monuments dating to the 10th. century as well as modern-day embassies from around the world.  It's port once was home to African pirates and is still important to the economy.

The waterfront supplies endless views & some cooling breezes

We have time to explore the fortress, Kasbah des Oudais... 

... and the Medina inside the fortress

A three-hour train ride brings us to the Imperial City of Meknes.  Twenty-five thousand slaves were used by Sultan Moulay Ismail to build walls, gates and over fifty palaces.

The first of many group photos

Meknes suffered severe damage in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.  Below is a water reservoir enjoyed by many, both from walking its perimeter to children swimming in its cooling waters.  The top right photo is partial ruins of the Sultan's stables which at one time housed 12,000 horses, each with its own groom and slave to meet the horse's every need.

Meknes has more than twenty gates lining its forty km of protective walls; however, Bab Lakhmis and Bab El Mansour are two of its most beautiful.

Bab Lakhmis, built in the 17th. century as the western entrance to the City of the Amber Garden.  The city was destroyed less than a hundred years later by Sultan Moulay Ismal's successor, Moulay Abdellah.  Today there are only ruins, except the gate is well-preserved.

Bab El Mansour was Sultan Ismal's tribute to himself ... a grand gate with beautiful mosaic tiles.  Today it is no longer used to enter the Medina, but stands to be admired:

A photo from Place El Hedim, the large square facing Bab El Manour.  We learn that normally this square is mostly reserved for cultural events, but during Ramadan, these events are not held.

One other gate of great beauty in Meknes:

In the old city in a beautiful restaurant, the meat-eaters among us eat a camel burger for lunch.  It's delicious.

While walking through the Medina with our very funny and knowledgeable guide Abdulah we note some of the beautiful riads open to guests for accommodation:

We now get a private minibus for much of the rest of the tour and have the pleasure of being with our driver Lahsam, a very competent driver and lovely companion.  A brief ride brings us to Volubilis the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Mauritania, founded in the 3rd. century BC growing and expanding under Roman rule in the 1st. century AD.  This beautiful rural area was rich for olive growing.

One can clearly see Roman engineering ingenuity with the aqua duct system high in the air and the underground sewage system far from the water supply. 

Below: middle top photo are the toilets and top right is the hot tub; bottom left is for animal sacrifice

Beautiful mosaic floors are also evident in the ruins.  One can only hope that they soon are protected from the blazing sun here.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ...

The Apian Way of Volubilis

All too soon we are on our way to Fes (or Fez), a two-hour drive to the old capital of Morocco (until 1912) where we stay for a couple of days.

A quick stop on the way to Fez to stretch our legs and soak in the view

From a viewpoint high above the city, we get our first glimpse of Fes, a city of 1.4 million people.  Fes is made up of two old Medina quarters and a modern urban area (Ville Nouvelle).

Moving down into Fes we stop at the Fes Royal Palace (Dar El-Makhezen) which is not open to the public, but its Seven Golden Gates, with handsome door knockers and intricate tile work is beautiful to behold:

Fes is acknowledged as the spiritual and cultural heart of Morocco.  The huge well-preserved and very active Medina is overwhelming to all the senses.  Life and work are carried on here in very stark and visible ways.  For example, the butcher shop that sells camel meat has two camel heads hanging from its outside walls, so there is no mistaking its purpose.

To be a guide here, one must have lived in the Medina, and our local guide, Hichan has, for twenty-some years.  With unerring accuracy, he can negotiate the labyrinth of narrow alleys that form the souks (markets) and the residential areas of Fes El Bali.  He tells us that there are 9,000 streets and 40,000 dead ends here.  There are two Islamic Schools and a University inside these walls; a museum and a mausoleum also share the space

We are taught to recognize the Jewish quarter by the 6-sided star on the doors or outsides of the buildings, sometimes quite small and inconspicuous.

The souks are organized by what they sell.  Leather tanneries and goods, fruit and veg, shoes, clothing, meat, mosques, metal-ware, pottery and on and on.  120,000 people live here.  There are no cars or scooters here, only donkeys or mules.  The shout of Balak!, Balak! means step aside, coming through.  It pays to be nimble.

We visit the 700-year-old Chouara leather factory where at the doorway, we are given a large sprig of fresh mint leaves to crush and hold over our noses to fend off the stench that workers are immersed in for hours and days at a time.  The skins are delivered to the factory, soaked for 15 days in lime (white vats), then placed in vats of natural dyes for 7 days to fix their colour before being used. 

 A visit to a weaver's guild teaches us how 'silk' fabric is made from the agave plant and woven into beautiful scarves and clothing, including the pointy, hooded caftan which is unique to Fes.  Here too we learn how to form a scarf into a turban, a skill we will need in the Sahara.  Mateuse models for us.  A critical piece is right at the start with the knot and about 18" of scarf below the knot that later will be untied to go over the face to keep out blowing sand.

Watching the delicate engraving of metal by a craftsman we learn how youth come to the shop as apprentices to learn the trade and how men can only do this work for a couple of hours without a break as its so hard on the eyes.

A gallery upstairs in the metal workshop features the work of four local artists, one of whom chats with us for a while:

A visit to a ceramic factory has us in awe of the skills of the workers here who start at the age of 16, committed to a 4-year apprenticeship.  They learn all aspects of the trade and may specialize.  As in the leather factory, colours here are only from natural plant and mineral dyes.

The outdoor tables and water fountains have a strong, clear resin finish which means that they will last outdoors forever.  Note the silver work in the red tea set.

Residents of the Ceramic Factory

Lunch in the Medina

Fes has been an immersive experience.  Now for some quieter time, we head into the Middle Atlas Mountains in a 4-hour drive to Midelt.  This is a land of canyons, cedar and pine forests and barren, rocky landscapes.  It is a land of wandering nomadic shepherds.

Driving through a forest we stop to see a monkey on the side of the road.  Lahsam opens the side door of the van so we can take photos.  Someone says the word banana in conversation.  The monkey clearly knows the word and hops into the van right away.  We quickly shoo him out. 

On the way, we visit the village of Bremmen which looks like an Alpine village from Austria or some ski hill in North America.  The pine cones are about a foot long.

On the way to Midelt, we decide that we will picnic for lunch, so we make a stop first for fresh bread.  We still wonder how the sheep get on and off the roof of the van!

Mohamed discovers that its local market day.  We are the only Caucasians here.  We look for food to have a picnic later in the day.  The vegetable and fruit seller where a number of us stop to buy refuses to take any money from us.  There is much tapping, listening and discussing to discover which watermelon is exactly right to eat today.

Picnic time at last, in a quiet field, by a peaceful stream ... perfect.

Our accommodation is this lovely place in the country.  There were apple, almond and walnut trees, roses growing everywhere with fresh roses on all the tables at mealtime, tables in the garden under the trees.

Before dinner, we walk along the canyon for about an hour to have tea with a family in a remote village.

Our guide Mohamed is known here and as we approach the village, children run out to greet him.

After school, the children need to take the donkeys down the canyon to 'water' them.  Parents have cordoned off a calm area of water where the kids can be safe.

This family have been nomads.  For now, they have moved into an empty adobe home in the village.  We are honoured that they have let us into their lives for this brief time.

Sunset and the village is awash in gold as we head back to our accommodation.

The first six days of this tour have been excellent.  The country is beautiful, the people warm and our guides have taught us much.  There is anticipation in the air as next on the agenda is our camel ride and overnight stay in the Sahara Dessert.