The Galavanting Andrew U

Fes!

Some light breakfast, we started our guided tour of Fes around 945. Our guide, Ibrahim (?) had an interesting accent, leaning heavily towards speaking clearer English.

Our first destination was the Royal Palace. Well, the outside of it. Apparently, because of two military attempts at a coup d’etat in the 60s when Hassan II was in power, they decided to tighten up security and not allow anyone in and it was the French that disallowed non-Muslims from entering mosques and mausoleums, and it just stuck after the French left.

Fes, the first imperial city, was built by Moulay Idriss and finished by his son, Moulay Idriss II. The city we were stranded in yesterday actually had a lot of historical significance. It was were Moulay Idriss first lived when he came to Morocco. He was considered the first king, the first refugee, and the bringer of Islam into the region, starting a new dynasty in Morocco.

The Moroccan flag, the star in middle represents the five pillars of Islam. Those being… Believing there is one God and Muhammed was His final messenger, completing the pilgrimage to Mecca, giving 2.5% of annual earnings to charity every year, praying five times a day,……. Uhm.

Anyways, we drove further out to a vantage point, a military outpost. It gave us a panoramic view of the city, the 20th century city on the furthest left, 14th, and then the 9th, the Medina. The Medina is a very much a walk into the past.

Driving out, we passed by a building that was an American Fondouk. A fondouk being a place for travelers to rest, mainly for animals. However, this one in particular became special, the director was an American woman and it is now a free veterinary clinic for any animal run by Canadian or American directors. Canada, known for its exceptional education in veterinary medicine.

Our next stop highlighted the artisanal skills of Moroccan ceramics. We were brought to a ceramics school that was open to tourists, showing off fountains and such. First being shown the raw black clay, soaking it in water to be mixed by foot, then again in smaller chunks beaten and sized by hand. Handed off to the foot motorized spinning things to shape them into plates, bowls, etc. Dried or fired once to hand off to a painter to decorate it with local and naturally created colors, the most common color being the cobalt blue, found in Morocco. Next, two guys were tracing shapes and then hammering them out of the flat clay plates that had one side painted. These small shapes would then be used to create the mosaic patterns in tables, fountains, etc. Showing us the process of actually creating the fountain back, there was one guy holding a handful of small pieces, placing them down color side first onto a template. After all of the pieces, thousands of little clay pieces, were in place, they would pour concrete over the back of it to adhere them all together. The final product is pretty cool. And then the gift shop. The discounts, deals, haggling… Good job Sameer, lol. The guide through the school was basically the salesperson, taking a cut from whatever we buy, or they just have to meet a quota, who knows.

Now, into the Medina. Karen mentioned in the van about a Moroccan donut, and Ibrahim brought us to get some. They are usually made and eaten at breakfast with tea. They reminded us of the Chinese… Rolls that go with congee. Except a bit chewier and these Moroccan donuts are eaten hot.

Walking through the Medina, like the maze it is, or guide brought us to the narrowest alley that was not fit for McDonald’s people. Haha… Single file through on one direction. These alleys were so narrow for security reasons, fighting one on one is much easier then from all sides. There was one shop that was essentially a guild of mothers who bake cookies for events such as weddings, giving it that homemade and personal feel.

El Madrasa, an older but maintained Riad, was a multi-purpose building but it’s main function was to teach. One of the first locations for higher learning, having dormitories in the upper floors, the main courtyard served as a mosque and classroom.

Going through the medina, he showed us the small workshops, souks, for steel, leather, silk and cloth, dyeing silk, carpenters, contrasted by their accompanied shops to sell and essentially a Chinatown alley of imported fakes.

The famous leather tannery! It is strongly suggested that we grab a couple stalks of mint leaves so that the smell of the leather, especially the “fresh” leather does not affect your stomach. We were brought to the a view of the tannery from above, taking a look at several vats of dyes, water, skins… The further bunch of tanks were apparently to clean the hides, full of ammonia, from… Pigeon shit. To make it clear, Pigeon feces. There was a lot stuff done off site, such as the actual skinning and whatever comes before that. The hides, be it goat, lamb, cow, had to be dunked in the dyes several times over a couple of weeks to maintain their rich color. Red, yellow, blue, brown, black, green, etc… Every color dye is locally sourced. Yellow being the most expensive, usually done with saffron or tamarine. They had a lot on sale, from slippers to cushions to jackets and bags and belts.

Next, lunch. Dropped off by our tour guide, to the obvious tourist trap, we sat and ordered. I had the pastilla, chicken filled, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. It wasn’t bad, but it was like a big samosa, haha… Expensive too.

And…. Back to the Riad, tipping our guide.

The Riad also owns a Hammam, so we opted to try that one out, as is obviously for tourists. Calling up our trusty driver Abdul, we set off and paid for a private hammam and 30 minute relaxing massage. We were brought upstairs and we’re directed to some lounge chairs as 3 or 4 girls sat on the side chatting amongst themselves and made comments and giggling when we said something about being naked… Shortly after, we were herded into a change room and told to change for the Hammam. We figured it out and sat inside the bathing area afterwards, waiting for the lady. She didn’t really say anything as she prepared. Eventually she doused each of us in water, scrubbed on the black eucalyptus soap, and rinsed it all off. It left us feeling nice and smooth, but also a bit cold, the room didn’t seem to be heated at all. Next up, one by one, she grabbed a loofah glove and scrubbed us down, getting all that dead skin. That felt good too. After rinsing us all off, she washed and shampooed our hair and sent us on our way for the relaxing massage. The relaxing massage was relaxing, essentially rubbing lotion all over, with slight but ineffective pressure. After finishing up, she turned the light off and left without a word. As I lay there, not knowing what was going on, I eventually sat up and she came in, “Shower?” ok. This shower…. I had no idea how to change the temperature. The left knob seemed to turn forever and the right only went 90 degrees. I had lost the hot water by now and was standing there for a good 5-10 minutes trying to figure it out, whatever. Cold shower it is. Let’s get out of here. Dried off, back to the lounge chairs to wait for everyone and get dressed, the girls just back in their chairs, chatting. Everyone seemed to have the same experience, left on the massage table not knowing what to do. Apparently that dark time was when you were supposed to fall asleep and relax……. Right. I had completely forgot about it, but a facial with clay masks was supposed to be included as well, Michelle had tried asking but they did not seem to understand. At the entrance, we asked about this and they said, “you are supposed to ask them to do it, because not everyone does it.”…. So they gave us some clay mask for” free”. Two bags, one of clay the other of henna. To split amongst ourselves… Thanks. All in all. The best and only good part was the scrubbing. Would definitely not recommend. Maybe a different place is more professional and helpful for tourists.

Had an okay dinner. Soup, brisket, some almond pastry dessert. The random coconut biscuits were really good though, we asked for more. I pulled the birthday card to get the biggest one, haha. Oh. Right. It’s my birthday.

Anyways, we all had agreed that in hindsight, we could have done less time in Fes. It’s possible that it is just the area we stayed in our the people we encountered, but we did not have that good of a time here.

Ceramics, Fountain, El Madrasa, Leather Tannery

Early morning in Rabat. Visit the sites then head out to Chefchaouen.

Our first stop, the qazbah just a couple minutes from our Riad. Qazbah des Oudaya. There was also a small Japanese exhibit as part of their culture outreach. As we walked in, the guy who was standing at entrance told us which way to go then as we hesitated, he started to tell us some information about its inhabitants and such. But apparently he was not a certified tour guide, he didn’t gave the badge. So Sameer and Michelle sent him away, haha. We explored a little bit on our own. Going through a small section that reminded us of Greece with the blue and white houses, we end up in the main courtyard. Several pictures later, we are off.

Hassan Tower. The unfinished mosque that was planned to be the biggest in the world. However, the king that commissioned it died during its construction and it was left in that state. This king would be the grandfather or ancestor of the current king. There were two other buildings in the same area, with guards at every corner and door. One was a mausoleum for Mohammed V while the other was an open air building of columns.

Roman ruins, Chellah. The map had some strange characters, either Phoenician or possibly the ancient writing of the Berbers. Greeted by stray cats, we head down into the ruins. Within the Roman walls, there was a mosque, hammam, graves, mausoleums, and other random Roman buildings such as an Arc de triumph. Several stray cats within, as well as huge huge nests on top of several of the towers within the ruins. Looking on Instagram after the fact, it looks like they were nests for herons or cranes. Too bad we didn’t get to see that.

On our way to Chefchaouen, about a 4 hour drive. So much rain… So much.

We finally arrive at our next place, a hotel! Running through the rain into the hotel, we warm up and are served some tea. After the rain died down a little, we were taken to the villas out in the back. The whole place is nice (relatively), too bad the internet doesn’t extend back into the villas. Jerks. Each of the villas have their own private terrace and a larger one just up the stairs. A really nice view of the city. The city is actually built on the lower part of a mountain, the slopes and stairs are plentiful and there is a large wall that lines the back of the city, splitting it from the mountain. Protecting it from.. whatever, I guess.

Still early, we’ve got sunlight, we venture out into the city to take photos, and shop for souvenirs. There isn’t much to see within the city aside from the city itself. It was very reminiscent of Portugal and Greece. Portugal because of the way things were built and Greece because of the white and blue painted walls. So much blue. Not as nice as Greece, Mykonos though… Walking among the many shops and browsing in the rain, our usual greeting was “konnichiwa”, I guess they get a lot of Japanese tourists? Up and down the alleys, shops line the wall. A nice quaint city.

Wandering back to the hotel for dinner. Moroccan soup, Fish Pastilla, Cream Chocolate. Eh, I didn’t really like any of it. Should have gave some to the cat that was lurking around under the tables and chairs. Ate my fill and off to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a lot of driving as well, it will take about 6 hours to get to Fez with stops every couple of hours through other cities.

Qazbah des Oudaya, Frogs in Qazbah des Oudaya, Mausoleum of Mohammed V, Chellah – Mausoleum, Chefchaouen, Alleyway in Chefchaouen

Arriving at the airport in Faro was… Quick. The taxi driver was going at 130-140km/hr and we got there in about 10 minutes.

Apparently either we were too late or too early, our luggages were marked for free check-in as the cabin would be full. Either way, this gate didn’t seem to care much about weight or size. We can only hope for the same in Paris (BVA)… Flight time, 2 hours.

Landed at the airport with plenty of time to spare to catch our connecting flight. Beauvais is extremely small. It looked like 1 or 2 arrivals baggage belt and 5 departure gates. Still pretty busy though. But we had just enough time to grab a pastry at the airport and shop around in the duty free while we waited for Karen’s friend, Sameer, and the plane to start boarding. Again, Ryanair didn’t seem to care much about the size or weight restrictions this flight… Better safe than sorry though.

Sameer arrived just as people started to line up to board the plane (11:50am), despite being in Paris since 7am landing in Charles de Gaulle. Poor guy… He took the scenic route to from CDG to BVA, making a quick pitstop at the Eiffel Tower, he just didn’t account for the unaccountable Paris traffic jams, and the busses that don’t show up. The only way he made it on time was to cab. You know those cabs who hang out by the bus stops to the airport? Just waiting for the desperate ones? Yea. Those cabs. Hefty bill, but better than missing the flight to Morocco. Flight time, 3:25 hours to Marrakech.

Landing in Marrakech, we are greeted by an hour long line-up to get through Passport Control. Whee. Why? Who knows. When we got to the windows it took all of 30 seconds to stamp each of us through. Baggage Claim was just beyond and someone could have easily swiped them up, it’s a good thing we did carry-on. The airport was built fairly recently, about 4 years ago, so the design of the public-facing walls and ceilings were pretty cool. Met up with our tour guide through Marrakech, Sa’id, and we were on our way into the Medina of Marrakech.

He was telling us so much about the history of Morocco, it was too much to take in. Let’s see what I remember… I apologize in advance if I’m wrong or offensive. The outer walls of the medina were built for fortification of the city and the holes in the walls were to ventilate the actual walls and the city within it. The walls were taller before but erosion has shortened them. The 4 imperial cites were Fez, Marrakech, Meknes, and currently, Rabat. Each city built to overrun the previous imperial family, built by Arabs, Berbers,… Can’t remember. Errr.. Dormedary are camels with one hump…… A road is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden or courtyard. None of the windows face outside, only into this courtyard for security purposes. As we arrived at the drop off spot for our Riad, a random guy with a cart showed up and started to load our luggage. Sa’id said he is trustworthy and would bring our bags to our Riad, so we just.. let that happen. Lots of bikes and motorbikes driving through the alleyways. It felt literally like a maze of clay walls, some with ceilings and floors.

After making a stop to pick up Dirhams from the ATM, we were led through the small alleys towards our Riad, Riad Princese du Désert. Twists, turns, at the end of an alley, there we find it. Met at the door by our host who served us the traditional Moroccan mint tea with biscuits. I’ve definitely had it before though, in Toronto. Sultans tent in downtown. After a little freshening up, we head out again.

Sa’id walked us out into a random Riad, that almost looked abandoned but wasn’t… Anyways, he told us about the way the cities are built, with a mosque in the middle, the four pillars, then supporting those pillars, the outer wall, and the rest is left for houses. The four pillars are what the city needs to develop a community. A fountain, a hammam (public bath), a baker, and a school for children. Clever individuals worked inside the walls as artisans while the less clever outside the walls as farmers. Extending from the center of the city, workshops were built for the artisans. He continued with some history of the Berber, their language, and dialects. The main three are the Riff with the Riffi dialect, Souss and Soussi dialect, and the largest, Amazight people with the tamazight dialect. Each of these names coming from the region in which they reside. While Amazight people are all over. Their writing is heavily influenced by Arabic script and if they are not speaking in their native tongue, French seems to be the immediate second if not first. Most Moroccan people are referred to as Berber, however, Berber is a derogatory term, short for barbarian. They are slowly changing their name into Amazight (I think) which means “free people”, tamazight meaning, the dialect is the free people. There was a time when Judaism entered into Morocco but was eventually converted into Muslim… He just kept on going, I don’t know if I missed anything.

We then continued our walk, as the building we were in was closing? Apparently it was some kind of business… Sa’id took us to the Baker, who basically did all the baking for the families. The families brought their dough and he would make the bread for them. He didn’t use wood, but paper and the waste from carpenters to cook.

He then showed us the Hammam, which consists of several rooms for different stages of the bath. Sweating, scrubbing, washing.. With scented soaps and such.

Continuing through the maze, he led us through the leather workshops that were closed, inhabited by many stray cats. This then led to more and more open stores selling locally made bags, belts, shoes, leather goods. Keep going, it got more and more crowded. Out of the workshop area and into the marketplace, closer to the middle of the city. It then opened up to the main square where stalls were setup selling many different things. Grapefruit orange juice, music, food.. There were snake charmers, monkey handlers, it was quite the scene.

Away from the main square, we visited the herbologist, who sold many spices for health and cooking. Through a brief lesson, he showed us some of the popular spices and herbs used for common things such as headaches. Back through the maze to get to our Riad. Sa’id showed us a path that led almost straight to our Riad. Only one or two turns.

Arriving at our Riad, we chilled a little and dinner was then served on the rooftop terrace. A Moroccan soup, an eggplant dish, and bread. It was still kind of early so we made plans to go back into the market before it closed at 930.

Starting to get ready, our host comes to our rooms and starts calling out. Hello? Hello?… Apparently, he must have gone upstairs and saw that we were gone. We weren’t sure, but that was just the first course. Time for our main. Hahaha, that was a little embarrassing… Our main course was brought up shortly afterwards, a chicken dish, very good. With some laughs, we were told that there was to be a dessert course afterwards as well. Oranges with cinnamon and sugar, refreshing.

We had a discussion about tipping. We don’t know who, when, and how much to tip. Because we’re doing a tour, there are always random people, carrying our luggage, serving food, driving… What’s the common, acceptable practice in Morocco? Anyways, by this time it was too late to venture out into the market, the food had made us tired anyways.

Back in our rooms, suddenly, music was coming from the inner courtyard. Dancing, alcohol, and good times. Our host had some friends over and a couple of tourists as well. We are given traditional garbs and danced along until we were too tired to do anymore.

Goodnight Marrakech.

Marrakech Airport, Random Doorway, Herbologist, Oranges with Cinnamon and Sugar