Travelog: Morocco, Melting Pot of Cultures

 Road Scholar #56 for me!   Stevens and I began traveling with Elderhostel, as Road Scholar was then called, in 1996 when they changed the minimum age requirement.  My parents traveled with Elderhostel, too, so I'm second-generation.   Click on the tab at the top to see the entire list.  

Helen and I have known one another for many years (AAUW and P.E.O.). This was the first time we've traveled together.  She's been to many countries and Morocco was nearing the top of her list.  It was further down on mine, but I was delighted to have a traveling companion and roommate.  

Saturday, October 3-Sunday, October 4:   our flight left O'Hare right on time.  We landed at CDG (Charles DeGaulle) in Paris on Sunday morning.  At the gate for the Paris-Rabat flight we met 13 of the 22 people in our group, all coming from other cities in the U.S.  (Our carryon luggage had Road Scholar tags so we could tell.)   It's a 3-1/2 hour flight but there's a time change.  Paris is GMT+1.  Morroco is GMT but they don't observe daylight saving so they are GMT-1.   [Daylight saving ended in GMT on October 25 so now Morocco is in sync with London.]

Aziz, the group leader, met us at the Rabat airport. We checked into the hotel and then had free time before the orientation and opening dinner. Aziz said there were two museums nearby so Helen and I went to the Museum of History and Civilizations.  It was compact but very informative with artifacts from Phoenician, Mauritanian, Roman, and Islamic periods. What we learned was helpful for our field trip Monday.

Left: a stele from Volubilis (more on that later). The object in the upper center is a wine ladle. The plates are from the 12th-14th centuries. The tumbling figures are gladiators, also from Volubilis (Roman settlement, 40 BC-200 AD).  The sphinx is 300-100 BC.

The coach bus took us to the entrance to the medina (walled city) for dinner and orientation at the  Center for Cross Cultural Learning.   We walked the rest of the way along the narrow streets.  I was reminded of Venice.  (But unlike Venice, motorbikes are allowed.) 

CCCL has been the Road Scholar program provider since the Elderhostel days.  They also coordinate study abroad for many U.S. colleges.  Their building is a riad, which is a multi-story house around a central courtyard.  Not much to see from the street and the interior is a colorful, airy surprise.   

Left: white-glove service at dinner.  Center: entrance to the medina.  Bottom: looking down at from the balcony on the center of the courtyard.  

Monday, October 5:   Chellah (Phoenician Sala; Roman Sala Colonia; Arabic
Shalla). Established by Phoenicians as a trading post. (Morocco was the western edge of the known world for millennia.). The Muslims came in the 7th century. They established a mosque, a madrassa (school), and renewed commercial enterprise.  There was much damage in the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Rather than rebuild here they built anew on other sites.  The area fell into disuse. French archaeologists began excavations in the 1920s. It is now a UNESCO Heritage site with beautiful gardens ….. and storks!

A note about language:  Moroccans learn Arabic and French, but English is used more and more.  Official government signs are Arabic and French. Explanatory signs like this include English.  Amazigh is the Berber language (the pre-Arab people of Morocco). It has it own writing system. Arabic/French/Amazigh signage is more common in the south.  

Storks are big and noisy. Moroccans call them clack-clacks because of the sound they make.  They summer in northern Europe and winter here. They return to the same nests and keep adding to them. 

More from Monday morning:  

The Mausoleum of King Mohammed V, built 1961-1971. Mohammed V and sons Hassan II and Prince Abdullah are buried here. 

There were two guards on white horses on one side and two guards on brown horses on the other side. Neither they nor the guards at the door cracked a smile but we did get a photo with one.

 Morocco has been ruled by the Alawi Dynasty since 1631.  The rulers were called Sultans until Mohammed V changed the title to King in 1957.  The French Protectorate, 1912-1956, was a quasi-colonial status where the Sultan had nominal control, but France actually controlled foreign policy, defense, and internal administration through a resident-general.

The exterior plaza is the remains of a 12th century mosque built around Hassan Tower, never completed due to lack of funds and then damage from the Lisbon earthquake. UNESCO Heritage Site.

A casbah is a citadel, fort, or garrison. Rabat's was first built in the 12th century and expanded over the centuries.  Restored by the French, now a UNESCO Heritage site. Beautiful gardens.

The holes in the walls were used for construction scaffolding and then as spacers for heat expansion. Pigeons nest in them too.  (Medinas and casbahs in other cities had the same holes.) 

We had lunch at a restaurant in the medina.  After lunch we had a free afternoon. Helen, Margie, and I went back to the casbah (across the street from the medina) to the National Museum of Jewelry. We were so glad we did! From a prehistoric shell necklace (100,000 years old) to embroidered clothing and wedding jewelry.

To end Monday: back to the Center for Cross Cultural Learning for a lecture about Moroccan politics in historical perspective. 

Dr. Abdellhay Moudden is the cofounder of the Center and is a retired political science professor.   After independence from France in 1956 a constitution was created and parliamentary body established. A prime minister was recently chosen (from the majority party)—the first woman!

After the lecture we had another delicious dinner (lamb with raisins and couscous). After that we were treated to music by the Andalusiyyat Group—quartet with cello, oud, traditional drum, and voice.

 Tuesday, October 6: at the Cross Cultural Center again for a lively talk about women and Islam in Morocco with Farah Cherif D’ouezza, CCCL cofounder and administrator. (Her husband is the professor we heard the evening before.)  She said that much of the clothing “requirements” for women are cultural adaptations rather than Islamic mandates. At independence in 1956 96% of the women were illiterate. Now 32% of women, 20% of men are illiterate but of those under age 25 98% of women can read. School is mandatory but not widely enforced. Attendance went up when school supplies were provided. 

Tuesday afternoon and evening: free time. Helen and I went to the zoo! We took a taxi. Signs in Arabic and French. Such fun, and not crowded.

Black rhino, white porcupine (not albino), giraffe, cow and calf hippos, ferenc fox (long-eared), hyena, Atlas lions, flamingos. 

The adventure was our return to the hotel. How to call a cab? We asked the zoo guard who said, “Just go to the curb and a cab will come by.” [Mind you, this is in mostly French, some English.]. No cabs in sight. Two men said were heading for the train station. We didn’t want to attempt that (plus the station was a hike). There was a tall well-dressed man in a suit, on his phone. Helen asked him if he know how we could get a cab. He spoke excellent English and he showed us the ride-sharing app he was using. (Their version of Uber.). I fumbled at trying to get the app. His driver pulled up. He said, “Here, why don’t you just come in this car?” and he asked the driver if that would work, to drop him off and then drop us off. Yes, it was. We learned that the man is from Mali and works for an international financial consulting firm in Indianapolis. (“I speak French, English, German, Spanish. Arabic just enough to read the Quran.”). After his meetings today he decided to visit the zoo.

The driver dropped him off — and our knight in shining armor paid the entire fare, for us too! And we got back to the hotel safely.

 We found a very small Moroccan restaurant just a block from the hotel. The name, Dar L’Walida means “House of Mom,” said the owner/server, as in mom’s home cooking. And it was good! Tajine (clay pot) chicken and prunes.

I commented on the pictures on the wall. Girls can do anything! (Just right for us two AAUWs.)

Wednesday, October 7: We left Rabat after breakfast and drove north along the Atlantic coast through farmland that looked like California.  Crops are vegetables, olives, cork oaks, and bananas.  (Bananas are grown under canopies to shield from the sun and to preserve humidity.) 

Asilah is a resort town (winter pop 32k doubles in summer). We walked in the medina  and saw many of the murals it’s known for.   Asilah is the site of an annual international cultural conference (art, music, current world affairs) begun in 1978. 

We continued north to Tangier.  Tangier is the current English spelling. Tanger is French and Spanish.  

Hercules Cave is a big tourist attraction.  There's a light show (amber in the photo changed to red, green, blue, etc.)  Hercules  separated Africa from Europe (obviously he was very strong!) and created the Strait of Gibraltar. 

  The view from cave is spectacular. 

Wednesday evening: Both our hotel and the restaurant where we had dinner are on Avenue Mohammed VI overlooking the municipal beach.

Camille and I took a walk along the avenue.  People can rent horses to ride on the beach.  

Look at the food cart!   We did not try them. 

Thursday, October 8:   walking tour of Tangier medina.  The city is on the Strait of Gibraltar, eight miles from Spain, has been a strategic point since the time of the Phoenicians. In 1923 it wSas declared an international zone managed by France, Spain, and the UK, later Italy; US after WWII.  It  is a longtime destination for diplomats, spies, writers, artists, bohemians and hippies.  In the last 25 years Tangier has become an automotive manufacturing center.  It has grown tremendously.  

Scenes from Tangier:  top center, our guide; bottom center: Librarie des Colonnes, a famous 100+-year-old bookstore where the author Paul Bowles, among others, hung out. 

Street art in the medina.  The electrical boxes are painted by Punksy, the nom-de-brush of Samir Douas. When Banksy took to political opinions Douas began using his real name. 

See the clouds in the middle of the picture? That's Gibraltar. 

We left Tangier after lunch and drove southeast into the Rif Mountains toward Chefchaouen.   The agricultural land reminded me of California but the architecture in the villages we passed definitely did not. 

Rest stop with an ATM, a restaurant, a view -- and a mosque.  

 

 

We were in Chefchaouen for two nights. 

Our hotel  was comprised of numerous buildings, each suite different.  It reminded me of a Thomas Kincaid painting. 

Upper left: on the terrace above our suite with suitemates Lauren and Sherry. 

Call to prayer at sunset. The mosques are the bright blue lighted towers.  (We also hear the call to prayer at 4:30 a.m.  Our hotel was uphill from the old city so the sound carried, almost too well.)

Friday, October 9: walking tour of Chefchaouen. The casbah (fort) was built in 1471 as a defense against the Portuguese. It was settled by Muslims and Jews who were exiled from Spain by the Inquisition.  It was part of the Spanish protectorate (not French) in the early 20th century. Economy agricultural rather than industrial.  Now the economic base is tourism and handicrafts. Name origin is debatable but maybe “look at the horns,” meaning the mountains to the east.

It's called the Blue City because it's blue!  Adobe buildings were whitewashed, then they tinted the whitewash with indigo to cut down the glare. The wash went as high as the painters could reach.  The blue color became a tourist attraction. (Traders brought indigo from India to Spain and North Africa.)

 

 So much blue!  Upper right: a sack of powdered indigo. I dipped a finger into it -- it's stainy stuff. Center: the communal oven.    Housewives would deliver the loaves to the baker; he was able to keep track of whose was whose. Built in the mid 16th century!  

Free afternoon. Helen, Margie, and I shopped in the souk, or marketplace. You are expected to counter the vendor’s initial price and then compromise.  The quick exchange rate is 10 dirhams to a dollar.

Date palm in the courtyard of a now-abandoned hotel (active in the 17th century); the marketplace; a 500-year-old olive tree; Helen bargaining for earrings. 

Dinner was on our own, but it turned out we were all so tired from walking up and down the hills in the medina that we all ate in the hotel dining room.  

Saturday, October 10:    au revoir, Chefchaouen!

We had a rest stop that included an open-air  open air tajine demonstration.  Fresh goat meat. I didn't get a photo of the butchers and their refrigerated meat display case.   

Midday in Ouezzane.   Ouezzane is known as a home for Sufism (a spiritual discipline of Islam) and Jewish devotion (tombs of several Jewish saints (yes, there are Jewish saints; I haven’t looked up all the detail).)  The Center for Cross Cultural Learning (the RS tour partner) has an extension site in  of Ouezzane.  We had lunch at the center (a riad (house around a courtyard) with all locally-grown organic food. 

Then we were treated to a concert—Sufi singing by a youth group (all girls). Wonderful!!   

Upper left: "Welcome to Morocco," said the girls we posed with.  Center right: the cook and the server admired the singing, too. 

 

My Air Trackers kept me apprised of the location of my luggage. This message was marginally helpful.  (Don’t be alarmed. It was never lost, just stored in the cargo hold of the bus. I was amused by the Arabic.)

Saturday afternoon we traveled from Ouezzane to Fez through prime farmland. Agriculture is 25% of GDP. Moroccan olive trees are long-lived but do not bear as heavily as Spanish olives, but the Spanish olives trees are short-lived. Such are the tradeoffs. I saw many sheep. (As I learned on my trips to New Zealand and Scotland, sheep are bred for the meat. The market for wool is far less than it used to be.)  They use donkeys and mules for transport from field to field. 

Fes is Arabic and French. Fez is Spanish and English (and the hat).  The city was founded in the 9th century.  It now the 3rd largest city with 1.3m population and growing. 3rd largest city in Morocco 

Sunday, October 11:  We began our walking tour in the Jewish neighborhood, oldest in the country. Called the malacci or salt, because they were merchants and traders in salt (and many other things). 

Jews and Muslims coexisted peaceably. Both groups were exiled from Spain in the Inquisition.  Many Jews emigrated to Israel and now there are 3000 nationwide, 70 in Fez. 

 
Architecture in the Jewish quarter is distinguished by balconies. Muslim homes have inner courtyards.  

 The Aben Danan Synagogue dates from the 16th century. It has been deconsecrated. Lower left: the mikvah (ritual bath) seen from the main floor. Center right: mikvah up close. Upper right: women's balcony.

Fez is the king's summer residence.  We posed in front of the gate at the Royal Palace but did not go in. The palace has 82 acres and 6000 employees. 

The Fez medina dates from the 9th century.  It's one of the largest car-free areas in the world.  Deliveries are made by handcart.  The souk, or market, in the medina is a very busy place with streets lined with shops and alleys branching off.  One person in our group turned the wrong way and got lost.  She called the group leader but cell reception was spotty.  The advice she got to "go to the gate" was the right thing. We were all relieved to see her and she was relieved to see us!

In the medina:   the University of Al-Qarawiyyin (Al-Karaoiune) founded in 859 CE—oldest in the world. Still operational, public, coed. There is an adjacent madrassa  (Islamic high school) founded in 14th century, not in operation.

 Architectural details of the madrassa. Lower tier: tile, center tier: ceramic/clay, upper tier: cedar.  

The shops in the souk sell practical things fresh produce and meat; hardware and everyday clothes.  They also sell the gamut of tourist stuff.  We quickly discerned the made-in-China mass-produced souvenirs (they were on display in every souk).  

Of course I poked my head in the sewing machine repair shop!  They hung a birdcage outside the door.

 After lunch: the guide took us to workshops where they make the really good goods.  It gave us an opportunity for retail therapy. Rugs, weaving (yardage, pillowcovers, scarves, etc.), the tanner, and pottery. 

 

Rug cooperative. Beautiful, natural dyes. And I bought one.  (Top center.) They are shipping it.

Uppr right:  Berber symbols. 

Weaving shop.  The bright blue on the bobbin and the loom is "vegan silk" made from agave. (I was reminded of New Zealand flax. Both plants have huge leaves with tough outer layers and long-fibered inner layers.)   

Lower left;  I asked what the embroidered tablecloth was made out of.  "Dee-em-ceh," he said.  What? "Very fine t'read. French."   Ahhh! He meant the embroidery thread is DMC.  He clarified that the base fabric is linen. 

The merchandise was shawls, tablecloths, and pillowcoverings. Lovely but nothing I wanted.

The tannery was established in the 11th century.  The best hides are camel and goat.  Pigeon guano is used for tanning; its enzymes relax the fiber in the hides. 

The tile factory produces a range of ceramics.  

Center:  carefully cutting glazed tiles to make mosaics (center right).  

There were pallets with boxes of merchandise (tile fountains, tables, flooring) labeled to ship to U.S. and other global customers.

Monday, October 12:    Volubilis was the farthest south Roman city. It was established in 25 BCE on the site of the Berber capital. It encompassed 90 acres and 10,000 people. 

Local tribes overran it in 285 CE and the Romans didn’t retake it (too remote). Christians and then Muslims lived there until the 11th century when Fez became the regional capital.

The ruins were damaged in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The French began modern archaeological excavation in the early 20th century. Now a UNESCO Heritage Site.

The mosaic floors are dusty brown-gray from exposure (of course the buildings had roofs) but the color comes back with a little water--see the patch at the corner of the top right photo.

Volubilis is great fun to say. It actually means morning glory but it could be a drug (“I need to refill my Volubilis”) or car (“he got a great deal on that new Volubilis) or a body part (“Look at the volubilis on her!”)

Monday afternoon: a short stop in Meknes. It was founded in the 11th century and was the capital in the 17th century.  Population now 600,000.  We saw the Dar Jamai Museum in a 19th century riad (mansion).  The museum focuses on traditional music and musical instruments of Morocco.  The exhibits provided context for the several musical performances we had.

Back to the hotel in Fez.  We gathered in a hotel meeting room for a lecture.  Tired as we were, we perked up with Dr. Fatima Amrani's presentation about women in Moroccan society. She teaches women's studies at the university in Fez.   She said that the restrictions other Islamic countries place on women are cultural, not based on specific Quranic verse. In 2004 the King proclaimed to Parliament, "Give only the rights Allah has given," meaning that if it's not expressly prohibited in the Quran the government can legislate.   In the 14th-15th centuries women were active in business, arts, science. They were educated. In the 16th century some (men) reinterpreted the Quran and women began to be secluded at home.  They ceased going to school until French colonial rule (1912-1956).   Now school is compulsory for 12 yrs. Public education including university is free.  

Free time for dinner. Helen and I went to the food court at the mall adjacent to the hotel grounds. We could have had Domino’s, Burger King, or Pizza Hut but opted for Indian with gelato for dessert.

It looked like . . . a mall!    English signs, motorbikes for sale at a sort of Walmart, and a poster for Hallowe'en.  

Tuesday, October 13:  We departed Fez and headed southeast into the mountains.  

Our rest stop was in Ifran where it was just 66 degrees at 10 a.m.  Ifrane is called the Switzerland of Morocco. There are ski areas just outside the city. (Skiing in Morocco: who knew?)  The university here has a strong English-languge curriculum.  Note the gabled rooflines rather than the flat roofs further north.   Those big stacks are storks' nests! 

For miles and miles we saw sheep grazing with the Middle Atlas Mountains in the background.  The Berbers are still nomadic, tending their flocks on public (government) land, but many have houses in towns so their children can go to school.  Sheep are worth up to $500/head so one flock is worth a lot. Technically they are Amazigh.   Berber is from the Greek word meaning gibberish-speakers ("bar-bar-bar" barbarians). The Romans and the Arabs adopted the word. 

We had lunch at a restaurant/hotel that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.  As you can see from the sticker-covered board, a lot of other travelers have stopped there.  Lower left: fossils; meteorite remnants are also found in the area. Upper left: we had many meals cooked in tajine/clay pots. 

260 miles (418km) later we arrived in Erfoud.  The scrubby landscape reminded me of Nevada or Arizona. We paralleled an oasis for many miles--a lush green ribbon visible from the highway.  Flocks of sheep, some goats, donkeys as transport in the fields/pastures.  Dusty villages, a couple of larger towns that were French garrisons during colonial times.  

Our hotel was like a casbah--enter through the gate and behold a courtyard (this one with a swimming pool).  The beds were firm, to put it mildly--I think they were on concrete platforms! Lower right: the room key. Upper left: new moon as seen from our room.  

 

After dinner music with Berber musicians and a little dancing. The rhythm was hard to follow.  They ended with a rendition of  "Oh, Susanna," and we sang along. (There was no explanation why they chose that American song!) 

Wednesday, October 14:    First stop : stonemasons specializing in fossils. The fossil-rich rock (black and brown limestone from the Devonian period) was discovered in 1960. Stone is cut and polished as slabs and as sculpture, sold world-wide.  (Yes, we got to shop!) 

The Ziz River flows from the High Atlas Mountains to the Sahara. The oasis it creates is the longest in the world. There are dams and reservoirs to manage water. The soil is rich; the river brings water and agriculture predominates. Over 1.25 million date palms, plus pomegranates, quince, scallions, and other crops. 

 In Rissani we walked along the irrigation dams dividing the growers’ plots. Water is released and diverted along the little canals to whoever has a turn. (Utah pioneers used the same techniques. I am sure there is a technical term for it.)

Rissani was a significant stop on the caravan route, 52 days from Timbuktu. 

We went to the primary school in Rissani. The preschoolers sang for us, then asked us to sing our national anthem. We opted for My Country 'Tis of Thee (for the sake of brevity.)  

Center:  my spidey-sense can always find a library, even if it's just one room. Lower left: how does U.S. teamwear travel so far? 

We arrived in Merzouga, at the edge of the Sahara.  The bus dropped us off at the camel-stand (for want of a better word).   

Our repacked luggage (overnight bags only) were reloaded onto four-wheelers.  We took a different mode of transportation. 

That's me at the head of this string (6 camels), concentrating more on staying on.  

The ride was a half-hour.  Time enough to qualify for a bucket list check-off!  

The camels delivered us to our tent-camp hotel.  Our were not the fanciest (I looked up "tent camps Merzouga") but it was definitely glamping.  

The toilet was behind the curtain to the left of the sink. The shower was behind another curtain to the right of the sink.  The hot water wasn't very hot (just from running the sink) so we skipped showers the next morning.  We even had wifi.

Sunset over the dunes.  (The guide led us...no way would we venture out on our own!) 

Lower left: a rainbow (top center of the photo) to the east over Algeria.

There was a tent for dining (food brought in from Merzougah).  After dinner we enjoyed  music by the fire pit.  The performers were Gnawa from Khamlia -- "gnawa" means "black people." They are descended from sub-Saharans enslaved by the Berbers.  The music is on the UNESCO heritage list. Lanterns guided us to our tents. 

A short predawn rain did not dampen our enthusiasm for sunrise photos.  

We (and our luggage) returned to town in 4x4s. The drivers deliberately swooped up and down the dunes--quite a ride. 

Thursday, October 15:   We drove west 235 miles from the camp outside Merzouga to Ouarzazate. The High Atlas Mountains were to the north and the Anti-Atlas (as in “lesser”) to the south. Known as the Valley of the Casbahs, used as refuges along the trade route. Many more date palms. 

The area is also the Valley of the Roses. Damascene (Damask) roses flourish and are used for rose water and other preparations.  Lower right: rose petals. 

We arrived in Ouarzazate to check in and have dinner, with an early evening.

Friday, October 16: the Casbah Taourit in Ouarzazate. Built in the 1600s, private ownership until 1972, now owned by the municipality. It is the largest of the casbahs in the Valley of the Casbahs (Merzouga in the east to Marrakech in the west.) Some casbahs were forts/garrisons but many were the strategically situated homes of powerful families along the major trading route between the High Atlas and the Anti-Atlas Mountains.

Made of adobe. The clay is orange in the entire region. In the peak years it held 300-400 people, a self contained city. Now it’s empty except for the resident cats, dogs, and a gift shop.

Ouarzazate is known as "Ollywood" for moviemaking— Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, and this year’s The Odyssey were filmed here.  We passed studios /sets as we drove west.

Friday, October 16:   Ouarzazate to Marrakesh, 196 miles.    We left the flat valley and drove up into the High Atlas. Spectacular views, hairpin turns, punctuated by little villages that hugged the roadside. 

One final rest stop at an argan oil cooperative. The oil comes from the kernels of the nut-like fruit of the argan tree. The oil is nutritious (dip for bread, or mixed with nuts or honey as a spread) and is now popular for skin and hair care.

We saw a demonstration of traditional preparation. 40 kilograms/88 lbs of dried fruit produce 1 liter of oil. Coops like the one we saw are impacted by large-scale mechanized operations.

Yes, long ago goats climbed argan trees, ate the nuts, and passed them.  The women collected them to process. Definitely more sanitary (and efficient) now.

We reached Marrakesh to check into the hotel and have dinner. Another early night.

Saturday, October 17:  We woke up hearing a call to prayer and birdsong in the trees beneath our hotel room balcony.

An English breakfast for a change. Sausage is turkey. Fresh dates, too. 

Marrakesh is the top tourist destination in Morocco. Many French people retire here.  Population is 1.1 million.  

Walking tour of central Marrakesh:   

Koutoubia Mosque is largest in the city. Established 1147; this building from 1195. Minaret is 253 feet/77 meters.

The Bahia Palace dates to the 1860s. 150 rooms. Noted for the painted wood and tile work.

After that a walk through the souk (marketplace)—very crowded!

A short bus ride to the Majorelle Garden. Two acre botanical garden created by French artist Jacques Majorelle starting in 1923. 

Yves St. Laurent and his partner bought the property in the 1980s. They restored it and added the Berber Museum (collection of Berber artifacts and costume).   Upper right: those beads are amber. 

Saturday: free afternoon and evening.  Helen and I had a leisurely lunch at the hotel’s poolside snack bar. At 4:00 we met six others of our group and took taxis back to the square adjacent to the big mosque. We returned to the alley we walked through earlier in the day and did a round of serious souvenir shopping.  

 

The market square is a busy place  with vendors selling souvenirs, fresh produce, open air restaurants. Musicians, performers, and monkeys and snake charmers.

We met the others at a rooftop bar in time to catch the sunset.  We had dinner at a restaurant in the square and were back at the hotel by 8:30.  

Sunday, October 18:    Al Maqam Art Retreat in Tahanoute, 20 miles south of Marrakesh. Studios for artists, exhibit space, lodging. 

We had a demonstration of couscous-making. Finely-milled grain (usually wheat but also corn and barley) and water, rolled and then sieved. The white flour is often called “force” because they used to get US Air Force surplus in labeled sacks. Delicious buffet lunch.

The women are Berber:  two sisters and a daughter. 

We enjoyed a buffet lunch that included couscous.

A guinea fowl, chickens, and ducks raced around the grounds. 

Sunday afternoon: The bus dropped Terri, Margie, and me  off at La Mamounia, rated one of the best hotels in the world. Opened in 1929 on the site of a 37-acre orchard, transformed into lush gardens. 3-year renovation 2006-09. Winston Churchill stayed here (there is a Churchill suite) as have a host of celebrities and world leaders.

As non-guests we were allowed to walk around the lobby and the gardens. 

We could have walked back to our hotel but it was more fun to take a horse-drawn carriage.  

 

Monday, October 19:  Marrakesh to Casablanca, 245 km/152 miles.  

Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco with 5 million people. It's the third-largest city in North Africa.  It is the financial hub of the country.  Arab name was Anfa. There are different stories about the origin of the name Casa Branca (Portuguese) which led to Casablanca (Spanish).

We went to the Hassan II Mosque, largest in Morocco. It was constructed from 1986-1993 at a cost $800 million, paid by the king, the government, and individuals.  The minaret is 210m/679ft (second highest in the world).    The 9-hectare oceanfront site is party on top of a municipal swimming pool dating from the French colonial period.    

The general architect had 77 architects working for him. 12,500 workers. 

Capacity 25,000 inside, 80,000 outside. 

The complex includes a museum, library, school, and conference space.

 

Our last night Morocco! Helen and I and our new friends Camille and Candy opted out of the group dinner at the hotel for a more legendary place. Both the atmosphere and the food were memorable!

The story was based on a place in Tangier. The movie people thought Casablanca was a catchier name — and they filmed it in Hollywood. Thus this Rick’s Cafe is a recreation (2004) in a genuine 1930’s riad (Moroccan house built around a courtyard).

 

Tuesday, October 20:   We had to be up at 2:00 a.m. to leave the hotel at 3:00 a.m. to be at the Casablanca airport for the 6:30 a.m. flight to CDG/Paris.  As when we arrived, most of our group were on the same flight.  At CDG we dispersed for our flight to the U.S.  Helen and I were the only ones headed to ORD.   We landed at ORD twenty minutes early!  Customs was easy.  I walked in the front door at 5:30 p.m.

It was a wonderful trip all around.  I saw so much and learned so much.  I made new friends.  Thanks for reading all the way to the end!

I'll write a post with other observations and share photos of all the pattern/design inspiration provided by tiles, carpets, and buildings.