Morocco is one of those places where tradition and modernity compete in every aspect of daily life. Images of women in traditional Islamic attire such as hijab, and some in burqa where only the eyes can be seen, contrast with those of young affluent Moroccan girls in the latest fashions of short skirts and low-cut tops. Morocco is a country in transition. It stands at a point in time when modernity is being embraced, but at which tradition and conservatism are still very much at the core.
I visited Morocco in May - my second time in the country. My first visit, several years ago, was to the north. On this occasion, with my good friend Dan, we were taking in Casablanca plus the Imperial Cities of Fès, Meknès, Rabat and finally Marrakesh.
Morocco is an easy country to travel around - the main cities are linked by a good train system, and decent accommodation is relatively cheap and easy to find. The people of Morocco speak mostly Arabic, but unlike in the very north where Spanish is widely-spoken, most people in the rest of Morocco, especially in the cities, speak French as their second language. It is worth noting that tourist-infested Marrakesh apart, English has made virtually little or no impact. Most tourists therefore tend to be French or Spanish speakers. In fact, Marrakesh aside, we saw almost no British tourists, and no North Americans whatsoever.
The food ranges from the cheap to the very expensive but it is generally excellent! Alcohol is available but pricey, and if you're the type who likes a smoke, then be warned, because police informers are apparently everywhere!
The Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca is the second largest mosque in the world. They say it can hold 25000 people, and in the evening light it provided a good opportunity for a photograph. We spent a couple of action-packed days in Casablanca, living the high life, hanging out in upmarket clubs and restaurants, before taking the train east to Meknès.
Meknès is a cool and relaxing city, quite different to Casablanca or its more illustrious neighbour, nearby Fès. We spent our time in Meknès chilling out in the
medina, enjoying the good local food and wandering the markets.
The market in Meknès was vibrant and colourful, and we enjoyed haggling with the tradesmen
Moroccan tea, known as
thé à la menthe (mint tea) in French, is served in one of two ways. It can be served with mint stuffed into the glass (as above) and poured from a great height, or it can be served with the mint inside the teapot, added at the last stage in the brewing process (as below). Either way it's a beautiful drink, although it can be a little on the sweet side. When I asked a local shopkeeper if the sugar was a necessary addition, she just laughed at me as if I was mad.
Swallows can be found in huge numbers all over Morocco, especially around sunset. The sight and sounds of hundreds of them flying in and out of holes in buildings as they prepare to roost is stunning!
Sheep heads on display, such as on this market in Fès, are a regular site in Morocco. The locals seem particularly keen on sheep soup, and it can be seen on sale in many markets. I would suggest that if you are a vegetarian or of a squeamish nature then Morocco may not be the best destination for you.
Fès has probably the most spectacular medina in Morocco. It is a designated UNESCO World Heritage and is believed to be the largest contiguous car-free urban area in the world. The 11th century tanneries, the oldest in North Africa, where animal skins are treated and dyed before being sold and made into bags, jackets and belts, are its most famous attraction. The skins are first placed in limestone vats where the hair is soaked off in a solution containing sulphur and pigeon dung. Then they are washed and transferred to the dyeing vats before being dried out on the flat roofs of the buildings around the tanneries. The life of a tannery worker can be hard, with earnings as low as £3 per day for backbreaking work.
The Blue Gate is one of the most popular attractions in Fès, and is perhaps the most photographed monument in the city.
The
souqs of Fès are a great place to while away the hours
Alcohol is not easy to come by in Morocco and when you do find it it is usually very expensive. Bars and nightclubs are few and far between and cater for a mostly affluent and high-end clientele. As a result, the price of alcohol can be extremely high. In one bar we paid 100 dirham for a 250ml beer, that works out at almost £14 per pint! Spirits were even more pricey, so we tended to have a couple of drinks in the hotel before we went out. Luckily for us, the assumption that Muslims don't drink proved to be a myth, because we had little trouble finding liquor stores with a thriving local custom. We had never heard of Rhum Pecoul, a rum imported from “les îles françaises” but figured it was worth a go! We were pessimistic, but fortunately it wasn’t too bad!
The Old Pascas (an imported rum from Barbados) which we found in Rabat a couple of days later was a better rum than the Pecoul. At only 95 dirhams (around £6) - contrast this to the 120 dirhams we paid for practically alcohol-free mojitos in one swanky Marrakesh nightclub - it represented one of the best purchases of the trip.
As usual, train was the preferred method of transport. We found Moroccan trains - which reminded me of old SCNF trains - pretty decent. Second class was more than adequate, although it must be said that train timetables in Morocco are more of “rough guide” than anything else.
The Hassan Tower in Rabat is an 11th century mosque tower which was never completed. Intended to be the largest mosque in the world, in 1199 the sultan Yacoub al-Mansour died and construction stopped. It is now the number one tourist attraction in Rabat.
The Kasbah Oudayas, on Rabat's Atlanctic coast, is an astonishing place. It was apparently established by Moors fleeing from medieval Spain and the
reconquista. As a result, the similarities between this and small towns in Andalucía are striking, and they underline just how much Spain owes to the long presence of the Moors on the Iberian peninusula.
Storks nest on top of the walls of the King’s Palace in Marrakesh. In this photo the male (left) has just climbed off the female after appearing to have his way with her.
Place Djemaa El Fna, in Marrakesh, is the focal point of the city and one of the most spectacular squares you are ever likely to see. Street performers, musicians, dancers and magicians all compete for the attention of tourists and locals, and there is also a huge area dedicated solely to eating where dishes such as lentils or soup with bread can be had for as little as 3 dirham (20p).
Place Djemaa El Fna, Marrakesh
Sparrows were not timid and this one allowed me to get within a metre and a half to take this shot
It had been a while since I'd shaved, so I decided to get a cut-throat shave at a small backstreet barber in Marrakesh. Unfortunately, as is common among the Moroccan working-class and those not involved in tourism, the barber’s French was basic and he totally misunderstood my instructions to shave off everything but the sideburns. Instead, what I ended up with was everything shaved, including the sideburns, except for a little goatee beard which he had carefully crafted around the edges of my mouth. It looked weird – and I felt and looked slightly gay - but within 3 days I was back to normal.
Tajines, a kind of meat stew served with fruit or vegetables, are the national dish of Morocco. Served in a kind of ceramic pot with lid, the fusion of the meat and the fruit, often dates or raisins, is delicious.
We stayed in a variety of hotels during out 10-day trip, ranging from the painfully dire to the semi-luxurious. The Riad Maison Rouge in Marrakesh, which is where we spent our last three nights, was the best of the bunch. However, catering for middle-class weekend easyjetters as opposed to backpackers like ourselves, it had a totally different dynamic to any of the other places we had stayed at. By the second day we were slowly beginning to realize that all the other guests in the ryad were couples on what for them was most probably a romantic weekend away. Quite what the other guests made of two young men sharing a room at such a place is anybody's guess. My newly-styled facial hair would only have enforced the assumption that we were in fact more than just friends. Eek!
After a night out in Marrakesh, which involved visits to a few bars followed by a nightclub (all of which charged extortionate prices for drinks and, in some cases, entry), we stumbled out into the night and began the walk home. Normally we would have taken a taxi, but Marrakesh is inundated with tourists and its taxi drivers have become accustomed to charging them well over the market rates for taxis. As with everywhere, the presence of huge numbers of tourists, especially Brits who flock there in their droves at weekends, is driving the prices of goods and services sky-high! This means getting a good price is practically impossible for non-Moroccans. Therefore, sticking to our principles and refusing to pay inflated prices, we decided to walk most of our time in Marrakesh.
However, on this particular night, we found ourselves on the opposite side of the medina to our hotel, and there were two ways to get there. The simplest way was to circumnavigate the medina, a straightforward but time-consuming route, and the second option was to go straight through it.
We chose option number two.
Big mistake!
We quickly became lost and disorientated, and more than an hour later we were still nowhere near our destination. The roads turned into alleyways. Back and forth we went, going round in circles, delving deeper into the labyrinth, every path looked the same. Soon it was prayer time and hooded figures emerged from the shadows as eerie calls to prayer bellowed out over loud-speakers. We were tired, slightly drunk, and totally lost. It was a weird experience.
"Don't ask me! I have no idea where we are!"
After many more wrong turns and dead ends, we eventually emerged from the medina on totally the wrong side to where we needed to be. We were still at least half-an-hour from the hotel, however this time we decided to walk around the medina, rather than through it, and by the time we reached our hotel more than two hours had passed since we left the nightclub. All this to avoid paying a £3 taxi fare!
A poor attempt at a "we were there" photo in Place Djemaa El Fna, Marrakesh
All in all, a great trip!
