Day 15 Back to Casablanca

After checkout and a long walk to the van we started our 5 hour drive to Casablanca. This included the prettiest country side. Rolling hills and miles of agriculture fields (reddish soil) all plowed and ready for sowing for the next crop (probably winter wheat). We made a stop at a small garage size building to see olives being pressed for olive oil. To our surprise, the press was operated by a large camel blindfolded walking in circles pulling 2 grinding stones. Olives are a huge crop in Morocco. They are omnipresent – fields and fields of them. They are also served with every meal. We’ve had our share. A drive through Casablanca was insane --- cars, motorcycles, pedestrians – nobody obeying any rules it seems. After checking in, we tried to get something to eat, but it was a time of day (3 pm) where no meals are being served in Moroccan restaurants, we ended up in McDonalds. For dinner we went to Rick’s Cafe, named after the Rick’s Café in Humphrey Bogart’s movie Casablanca. It’s a lovely place with good food, great atmosphere and colonial charm. We really enjoyed this last night in Morocco.

Day 14 drive to the coast

After breakfast on the roof, we left our splendid riad and set out for the coastal city of Essaouira. It is a 3 hour drive and after 1.5 hours the landscape changed dramatically. Cities were more modern and the rolling hills were pretty. We stopped in the area where argon oil is produced first to take pictures of goats in trees, and then in an argail oil cooperative to see a demonstration of how argan oil is made. This actually is not the time when goats get up the trees to eat argan nuts, but a couple of entrepreneurial farmers got them into the trees so tourists buses stop and they can collect some money from them. It was quite an amazing site. Essaouira is a beach resort city. Even though it’s low Season now, there are lots of mostly French tourist and lots of shops catering to tourist trade. Lunch was fresh fish by the harbor. We picked the fish from the ice display and they barbequed them for us. We spent the afternoon walking all the shops and buying some more Moroccan stuff. Prices here are lower than in Fez or Marrakech, and the selection is pretty good. Then back to our riad, which is located at the tip of the little peninsula so with our corner room we have a 180 degree sea view. We asked if we could get wine with dinner and were told no alcohol here but bellboy/doorman said he would take us to where we could buy some. We followed him down many dark alleys then through a doorway and up 2 flights to a restaurant which had a bar and sold us a bottle of wine While traversing the alleys we saw a man with a bag of cat food feeding a group of cats. Morocco is definitely a cat country. There are hundreds or thousands of cats in every area and all look happy and well fed.

Day 13 Marrakech

We had breakfast on the terrace then met with our local guide for our walking tour. The first stop was the main Koutoubia Mosque built in the 12th century. We could only see the outside of the mosque because the French rule that no nonbelievers are allowed to enter. Then we walked through very lovely mosque gardens to the Jewish quarter. It’s interesting that the gardens are immaculately maintained, but the paths, steps and fountains are in terrible disrepair. After that, we walked to the cemetery where the whole royal family was buried. They all died within a short period of time of bubonic plague around 1600, The graves (3 separate sets – one for male kings and princes, one for females and one for children) were hidden until the early 20th century when the French found them and opened them up. Afterwards, we went into the Bahia palace built by a high official for his favorite wife. Each site was accompanied by a lengthy explanation of its origins and history. Our guide took us to a natural pharmacy where we got a demo of all kinds of spices and herbal remedies and beautifying products. We are skeptical about their effectiveness after surveying the appearance of the local populace. After lunch at the famous Djemaa El Fna square, we separated from the guide and toured the souk ourselves. It is overwhelming – 50,000 separate vendors. It’s hard to focus on anything because there is so much of everything all around and people constantly grab you to come in and bargain. We did manage to buy a few things, but decided that buying in smaller cities and smaller souks or stores is a lot less exhausting. After a short rest in our room, we went out again, this time to explore the modern part of Marrakech. We came across a lovely huge plaza (Marrakech Plaza), which led us to the main avenue full of nice high-end shops and restaurants. Quite a contrast with the old medina. After dinner we went to the main plaza where thousands of people were gathered to eat and watch performers.

Day 12 Crossing the Atlas Mountains

Dinner at the hotel last night was a shock. When we checked in the hotel was empty but when we came for dinner there were hoards. Tour busses had arrived. Breakfast the next morning was with the same hoards and soon after, we started our drive to the mountains. The scenery was stark and beautiful. We could see mountains covered with snow. We stopped and Bo bought a tagine for 1/14th the price they were asking at the factory in Fez that our tour guide took us to. We stopped in the town of Ourzazate, where movies such as Lawrence of Arabia, the Gladiator, the Mummy, Jesus of Nazareth and many others were filmed. We stopped for lunch and when we ordered 2 chicken pastilles they said they were out so we selected something else. Then they came back a few minutes later and said they had them. We think they got them from the restaurant next door. Then we started toward Marrakech. We took a quick detour to take a look at a very picturesque Ksar Ait Ben Haddou, a fortified village that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Unfortunately, Bo was the only one who wanted to walk through the village but she was outvoted so we just looked at this amazing place and went on. The drive on very steep and narrow road through the High Atlas mountains was treacherous but we reached the peak at Tichka Pass (7,000 feet). The drive down was even more scary. We finally arrived in Marrakech and after fighting the traffic got to our hotel. It is a converted mansion (riad) and unbelievable. It looks like a dump from the outside but inside it is beautiful.If you ever travel to Marrakech, Riad Moucharabieh is the place to stay.

Day 11 Sahara to Gorges

Woke up at 6:30 in prep for our 7 am camel ride. We got on our camels and were led by two guides to the top of dunes to see the sunrise. The sunrise was beautiful and the camel ride was once in a lifetime experience. Interesting, but probably not to be repeated. When we got back, we were served breakfast in the tent compound. Then back to Erfoud to meet with Rachid and continue the tour. The drive towards Quarzatate and the gorges was absolutely stunning. This must be the most beautiful part of Morocco --- red mountains with clay-colored villages clinging to the slopes and surrounded by the greenery of the oases. We passes many little towns with most of the buildings being pinkish-clay color, but surprisingly, most of the doors are turquoise green. We stopped at the Todra gorges to admire the view and take pictures and then drove to the city of Dades, our home for the night. We checked into the hotel (a big Kasbah on the hill) and then walked all the way down to the city center. It’s definitely not an attractive city. We met a young Berber man who showed us his bakery, which unfortunately was out of bread. Then we discovered another bakery that was just baking a new batch so we walked around the city market and came back when the bread was ready and hot. Delicious.

Day 10 out in the Sahara

We started our tour by stopping at the Erfoud souk only at Bo’s request. It was one of the better stops, a great lively market with produce as well as crafts. Bo bought a Berber necklace and looked at a bunch of Berber rugs, but there was no time engage in bargaining. Then we went to a fossil factory. There are tons of fossils in this area from 40 million years ago. You can buy everything from rock with fossils including plates sinks, toilets, etc. We resisted the hard sell. Then Rachid took us to a Tuareg compound where we were given a hard sell for rugs. We resisted that too. The said they would serve us Berber pizza which was a local delicacy. It arrived on the back of a bicycle and was not very good. After lunch, we rendezvoused with a 4 wheel drive SUV for the ride to the Sahara. He asked us if we wanted to see a panoramic view of Erfoud and we foolishly said yes. Then he took us up a very steep dirt trail about 1000 ft. After we got our heartbeat down we started the trip to the desert (30 minutes). We drove on dirt without any roads and stopped at a nomad camp to see how they lived. We signed in at the Belle Etoille hotel and drove off into the desert to check into our 4 star tent. It was actually a compound of several tents – two bedrooms, each with a toilet and shower, a dining room and an open space with seating areas and a fire ring. We walked around the dunes and saw caravans of camels coming back from the desert at sunset. We were also supposed to get our camel ride at sunset but they told us that the weather was not very good (it was cloudy and windy) so we should do it in the morning at sunrise instead. Dinner was served in the tent dining area – a tagine of chicken, couscous and vegetables and a tagine of beef with prunes, followed by lots of fruit for desert. We were done by 8:30 and with noting to do, we sat and played word games until bedtime.

Day 9 Drive to Sahara

We embarked on an 8 hour drive from Fez through the Middle Atlas mountains to Erfoud, a town on the edge of the Sahara desert. Because of the climate (cooler summers and snowy winters), the Atlas mountains are a popular destination in both summer and winter. We drove trough a lovely town of Ifrane that looked almost like a mountain resort in Austria or France. Once we got to the desert, the landscape looked very much like the Mojave desert. We passed some nomads living in tents and saw many herds of sheep and goats. Villages were the color of clay and looked like Indian pueblos from a distance. Actually, we saw a lot of new construction, including a big, brand new city, which is the administrative center of this area. In some cases, it was hard to tell if what we saw was old crumbling buildings or shoddy new construction that has started to crumble. The hotel we arrived at is quite large and caters to tours. Several tour busses of people arrived at about the same time and we all had the same buffet dinner in the huge dining room. It seems to us that Morocco is modernizing very quickly and who knows how long the traditions, customs and crafts we associate with Morocco will be alive and real. Soon, they may be relegated to tourist places and available mostly for tourists’ amusement.

Day 8 Meknes

After breakfast we embarked on a long drive. The countryside is mostly barren brown after the harvest of the previous crop and the fields plowed. Rachid, our driver, told us that in the spring everything looks very different as all the fields are green and full of flowers. The first stop was the Roman ruins at Volubilis. This is an amazing site. It is the remains of a large (20000 inhabitants) 2000 year old city. You can see large homes with mosaic floors, many shops with their signs, the sewer system, the temple …. Supposedly only about 1/3 of the city has been uncovered so far. The next stop was a small remote (non tourist) village of Moulay Idris. Perched on a hilltop, it looked like one of the pueblos blancos from the south of Spain. Bo priced ceramic cooking pot (tagine) and it was 1/10th the starting price of the ceramic factory we visited the day before. From there we went to Meknes. It’s a large (about a million people), relatively modern city. Actually, like most cities we’ve visited so far, it has a modern section and an old section (the medina). We stopped at an enormous building that just said “Stables/Granary”. We had no other information, but were intrigued by the size of the place. When we got to our hotel we Googled it and found out that it was built in early 18th century by the king for his 12,000 horses – each horse had 2 servants. The granary had capacity for enough grain for 20 years. He also built a reservoir that supplied fresh water for the horses. Our driver suggested a pizza place which had terrible pizza. Then to the large central square located in front of the main gate to the medina. The shopping area had a plethora of ceramics and crafts, and downstairs was a spice and food market. We wandered through it and were amazed at all the colorful spiced arranged in conical shapes. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a supermarket as big as Costco. The aisles and aisles of wine, booze and beer was amazing considering that you can’t buy any of this stuff just a few miles away inside the medina.

Day 7 Fez

Today we toured the Fez medina all day. We started the day with a nice breakfast in our hotel and then left with our driver and our Fez guide, Hassan, a graduate student from the local university. Fez medina is the largest in Morocco with about 200,000 people living within its walls and about 950 (unmarked and narrow) streets. It’s a maze and if you get lost, there is no way you can find your way out. First stop was the royal palace, from the outside only. Next was a long tour of the Jewish quarter and an old synagogue. Then we walked in the narrow alleys with different specialties – produce, metalworks, etc. One tiny door opened into an old large house which has been converted into a museum. Many splendid pieces from antiquity. We visited several working places. A leather tannery where they were processing hides from sheep, cattle, goats, and camels. We saw them acid washing to remove the fur then dying in at lest 4 different colors (using natural dyes or so they said). They had thousands of leather goods for sale. We visited a tile place and were astonished at the labor intensive process of creating mosaics. We also visited 2 rug cooperatives and had hundreds of rugs rolled out for us. In both we had to partake in the obligatory good will-inducing mint tea. It was interesting to learn about different styles of rugs from different parts of Morocco. Some were really gorgeous, but the prices were very high. We visited a metal shop and saw the production of decorative trays. Everywhere we went, people were trying to sell us stuff. So far we’ve resisted the temptation as it was only our first real experience with Moroccan crafts. More to come for sure.

Day 6 Casablanca-Rabat-Fez

We left the hotel after breakfast and started the drive. We drove along the coast for about 2.5 hours until we got to Rabat. We were amazed at the number of new developments being built along the coast – one after another – blocks of flats and single family homes. In between you can still see some shabby favelas that were probably terminated to make room for these new places. After a quick stop for lunch in Rabat, we stopped at the royal mausoleum and Kasbah Chellah – a necropolis built on the site of 2nd century B.C. Roman ruins. From there we drove about 3.5 more hours to Fez. The country side is very barren as all the crops have been harvested and there is nothing green. When we got to FEZ, we checked into our riyad (hotel) inside the medina. It is amazing --- a traditional old Moroccan house with a beautiful courtyard and rooms all around it. Our room is actually a suite with a long, tiled hall, a sitting room, two bedrooms and a big bathroom with a jaccuzzi tub (did not work). We left our stuff and walked in the maze-like medina for about an hour before dinner, which was served in the courtyard. We had our second tagine + a delicious soup, lots of little salads, fruits and of course traditional mint tea.

Day 5 -- Travel

Easy travel day. Lisbon airport is big. 5 minute walk from entry to check-in counter, check-in girl said it was a 20 minute walk to the gate. AirMaroc flight was very nice. We were surprised that during this one hour flight they served a nice three-course meal. The driver who was supposed to pick us up was nowhere to be seen. After walking back and forth from Terminal 1 to terminal 2, we started looking for his phone number and some guy approached us and asked what the problem was. He offered to call, and the driver appeared from somewhere nearby with a bullshit story of why he wasn’t there with a sign. The drive to the hotel was frightening. Traffic and drivers are crazy. The hotel (Novotel) is right in the heart of the city so we got outside and walked around for a couple of hours waiting for our friends to arrive. We were surprised that there were bars in the city with locals drinkings and women were dressed in every way possible – from traditional djallabas in all kinds of colors to tight jeans and revealing tops. Even some the djallabas were very tight-fitting showing a woman’s every curve. At dinner (hotel), we had our first tagine – delicious. Our friends Ed and Sandi arrived at the hotel 2 hours later than expected – without luggage. Their bags never made it to Morocco but were located and promised they would get them in a day or 2.

Day 4 Last day in Lisbon

We spent the day walking and touring. Breakfast was a trial. We ordered at the counter by pointing to the pastries and specifying the type of coffee. They tell us go sit somewhere. After 5 minutes we see a guy with a tray with our pastries but no coffee walking around, but not coming anywhere near our table. Since nobody claimed the order, he went back to the counter. They don’t know the number system here. We gave up and tried another cafe. Same deal only this time the guy came out with 2 coffees and only one pastry. Lots of inefficiencies here. We saw a large building being refurbished – one guy with a 4in. sponge. It’s going to take him 30 years. We went to the shopping area and surprising many stores were open (Sunday). In the evening we went to traditional Portuguese music performance (Fado) (Casa de Linhares). Very overpriced but performance was excellent.

Day 3 Sintra

After 10 hours of sleep we hit the streets. After pastry and coffee in an outdoor café, we went to the train station. We experienced Portugal inefficiency in taking 30 minutes to buy train tickets thereby missing the next train. Luckily, there is a train every 20-30 minutes because Sintra is one of Portugal’s biggest tourist attractions. It’s a UNESCO heritage site and a place where Portuguese kings had their summer palaces. The train ride was 40 minutes and we got a view of the ugly Lisbon suburbs. Sintra is a pretty, picturesque town with hills all around sprinkled with castles, palaces, monasteries, gardens, etc. We visited the ruins of a 12th century Moorish castle and a 19th century royal palace. When we got to the castle, Bo could not find her camera. It was a downer. The highlight of the day was when we returned to the tourist office, they had Bo’s camera. The town has many outdoor cafes and we selected one for our 4 pm lunch. Then for dessert we had a shot of cherry liqueur served in a small chocolate cup. We took the train back to Lisbon and arrived at 7pm. We went to Bairro Alto (shortening the walk up by taking the long escalators in the train station). After walking a lot we selected a wine/tapas bar. Bo had heard the woman sitting across the aisle on the flight telling her companion to have the traditional Portuguese sausage (chorizo asado). They set it on fire at our table and let it cook there. Several other people had it too because we saw flames at a few other tables. When we got back to the hotel, we saw on TV that there were riots in Lisbon while we were gone.

Day 1/2

Day 1/2 Lisbon Flights were just OK. Both Asiana and Korean Air are much nicer than US Airways. It was only 6-7 hours from Philly to Lisbon so it was OK, but we need to remember to avoid Boeing 757 on long flights. We arrived at Lisbon 8:30 am and were surprised at how slow and inefficient immigration was at Lisbon airport. It took almost an hour to get through it. Our luggage was already waiting so we took a taxi to Hotel Santa Justa. Nice hotel in nice location. We left our luggage (room not ready) and started to walk until we found a Tourist Info office. Then we took a city tour bus to get oriented. It was narrated tour of most Lisbon neighborhoods with most time spent in Belem. Then back to hotel for 10 minute rest and out again. We had lunch in a little outdoor place near the hotel. It gets our stars for the best service. Ricardo bent over backwards to please us (his only non-Portuguese clients) and at the end offered us free pastries and liqueurs for desert. After lunch, we decided to try some of the things they mentioned on the tour – we started with Elevador Santa Justa, a metal tower right near our hotel, which took us to the neighborhood of Bairro Alto. From there we took a funicular down to Chiado, and from there another funicular up to another hill. Then we walked down back to the hotel. After a little rest, we walked up to the castle (nice hotel lady told us to take department store elevator up to the 8th floor to shorten hike). We walked to old Arab section of Alfama (not impressive) and ended up on a large square by the river where we had drinks in a large, very modern outdoor café. By then we were totally exhausted so dinner was pizza with Portuguese vinho verde. Got to bed after being up for 30 hours.