Last post from Morocco

Our last morning in Tangier, and indeed Morocco...I'm sitting up in bed typing this note while Lloyd snores softly beside me, and the birds are singing outside. I missed the early call to prayer...darn! That would have been my last one. I still find these calls captivating as I try to sort out the notes and listen to individual voices. Some of the muezzins are very melodic even periodically inserting arpeggios. Others are more workmanlike, singing only three notes, often in a very deep bass.

In my last post I mentioned the ATM challenges we were having. It has finally resolved, and the money returned to our account. This took a lot of time, effort and energy, and I must admit to feeling sceptical that it would resolve. 

Here are some last images of Fès...a beautiful set of door knockers and the carved wood above:

And a back view of some of the many mules in the medina carrying gas canisters:

Lloyd visited a private museum celebrating wood carving:

And made some friends along the way:

We arrived in Trangier by train and have stayed at Chez Habitant, http://www.tanger-chez-habitant.com/en/index.php and it's been very comfortable indeed. It's just outside the old medina in a residential neighbourhood. Here's the front of the house with every shutter painted a different colour:

Inside the home is furnished with beautiful Moroccan fabrics and carpets with lots of interesting art on the walls. Our hosts, Olivier and Hicham, don't speak much English so we are communicating in a mixture of French and English with lots of laughs. It took me quite a while to explain that the Montreal Canadiens are nicknamed The Habs, but that was fun. 

We enjoyed some rosé wine on the rooftop terrace on Tuesday at sundown:

Seems somewhat sacrilegious listening to the call to prayer while sipping alcohol which is forbidden in the Islamic faith! But this was Moroccan wine... Besides which we seem to be the only people who pause to listen; everyone else continues doing what they were doing, but then they hear this 5 times a day, everyday, and it's old hat.

We wandered around the medina on Wednesday...the same stuff for sale, and people anxious to sell to us with the same tactics..."free to look!" etc... There is so much inventory and so few customers.  

Lloyd had his last Moroccan shave...

We will have breakfast shortly, and then hail a "petit taxi" to the ferry terminal. We could walk the 2 km but a taxi should be 30 DH or less (about $4). It will be an hour by fast ferry to Tarifa, Spain which is close to Gibraltar. One night in Algeciras and then we move on to Ronda. It will be interesting to explore Andalusia, in particular the Alhambra, now that we've been in Morocco.

 

The continuing adventure in Fès

More contrasting experiences in this fascinating country... I'm trying to be diplomatic. It's a minefield of differing cultural expectations, and I suppose that is a good reason to travel, rather than having a holiday in a safe all-inclusive resort. At least that's what I keep telling myself...that these experiences make me a better person! I understand that just by our very presence we announce our richness and privilege, let alone by how we dress or choose to spend money. Unfortunately we are viewed by many as walking ATMs. And it hasn't helped that we've had big challenges with getting cash from the real ATMs...last night we made the attempt but were denied due to "insufficient funds" only to discover that our account has actually been debited!! So we are still trying to get resolution on that from the local bank, and we're leaving tomorrow...Okay, so you get the picture about some of the "lows". There have been some "highs"as well, and it's those experiences I will now elaborate on! As I said in my opening, this is a fascinating country, and I plan to be better prepared next time! (Speak better French, have a thicker skin, know when and how much to tip...)

We had made arrangements with Hassane, our medina guide on Thursday, for a car and driver to take us to Volubilis on Friday. He also arranged for a guide to meet us at the entrance so that we wouldn't have to negotiate for one ourselves. Our driver, Yusseff, picked us up at 10 AM and off we went. Yusseff is a proud Moroccan and in quite good English proceeded to educate us about Moroccan history and culture. We drove through very attractive rolling farmland in the foothills of the Rif mountains...

And also stopped at a lake (a dammed river for agricultural irrigation as well as hydroelectric power)

Meanwhile the weather worsened, and by the time we arrived at Volubilis (around noon) it was drizzling. Volubilis was the western most Roman city in North Africa, and was abandoned at the fall of the Roman Empire. Over the subsequent centuries it was ransacked for the marble and pillars and other cut stone, many of them being incorporated into the fabulous buildings in the nearby towns of Moulay Idriss and Meknes in the 1600's. It was rediscovered in the 18th C but serious excavations didn't start until 100 years ago. The production of olive oil was very important. Here's a view of a reconstructed oil press.

And a Roman millstone for pressing olives...

Lots of floor mosaics...

The Triumphal Arch erected in AD 217 (reconstructed in 1933):

And a view of the Tangier Gate at the far end:

The Basilica...The only building still visible before the surrounding area was excavated...

Our guide spoke excellent English and had obviously given this tour many times. We felt a little rushed, although he answered all our questions and stopped whenever we got our cameras out. His demeanour fit the day...cold and unenthusiastic. Within an hour we were back at the main entrance, and he suddenly became charming, saying he hoped the tour had been good. When Lloyd handed over a tip, the look on his face was one of disgust at the amount, and he turned and stalked off. We were dismayed to say the least. (So that was a definite low point. We talked this over with an Australian woman who lives here, and she said that the amount was quite appropriate, and he was trying to guilt us into giving him more--that this is a common tactic amongst guides.)

We returned to Fès at a sedate pace, stopping for a picnic lunch and very expensive mint tea (quadrupled) at a service centre on the highway. (Another low point which didn't help our mood!). As well as pay toilets where we as tourists are expected to pay way more... There's nothing like having a woman frown at the coin and refuse to take it... I was so irritated I just walked right in and left the coin on the counter. And I had my own toilet paper...

Back in Fès, Yusseff took us to a ceramic cooperative where they make the blue and white pottery that Fès is famous for as well as the geometric mosaics in the old style (cutting and chipping the tiles to fit specific patterns). These men were making the back of a fountain which I believe is being shipped to the US.

We did buy one very small little dish. We were treated with great courtesy here in spite of not buying very much!

That night we treated ourselves to dinner at the Clock Cafe, a cross-cultural cafe where I enjoyed a fabulous hot sweet milk with roasted almond flavouring, and a goat cheese & aubergine quiche. Yum! Tasted like home! Nothing like familiar food to improve one's mood!

On Saturday we visited the splendid Musée Dar el-Batha nearby, and strolled around in a beautiful park, Jardins de Bou Jeloud. 

There were lots of families out enjoying the weather, and many students sitting with papers in their laps, appearing to be memorizing or studying. It was a nice diversion from the hectic souks. We then treated ourselves to a leisurely lunch at "The Ruined Gardens", owned and operated by an ex-pat Australian woman. We shared vegetarian tapas (goat cheese, pea/bean purée, smoked aubergine pâté, some deep fried potato balls, and bread...another yummy meal!) We're going back there for supper tonight because she assured me that her vegetable cous cous is not overcooked!

This is a view of the Main Street in the Mellah, the former Jewish quarter where many of the buildings are reminiscent of Andalusia. When the Jews and Moors were expelled from Spain (1492 and beyond) many of them came here. We'll be there on Thursday so we'll be able to see the similarities for ourselves.

This is Bab Boujeloud, or blue gate, built about 100 years ago as the principal entrance into Fès el-Bali, the historic medina. 

Beyond this gate are several restaurants, all with touts out front eager to attract the tourists. The menus are very similar if not the same, with the same prices. The only difference is the approach by these young men. I was charmed by one the first night, and we have been back there two more times. I have also made friends with the women behind the counter, well as much a "friend" as possible in this situation...smiles, "Bon jour! Comment ca va?" And thanking her for her good food. She makes one of the best Hairira soups, a Moroccan soup widely available and which is like minestrone with chickpeas. Last night we went back there for supper, first escorting 5 fellow guests from the riad (Italian women here for a 3 day weekend) to the area. Lloyd stood with them, arm-waving the choices available, saying we were going back to our current favourite. The menu touts had surrounded all of us. The Italians left to make their own decisions, we walked into La Palmeria, and the woman behind the counter raised her arms, saying "yes!" We were greeted like old friends, given mint tea and a complimentary dessert of orange and banana slices. When we left, the menu touts surrounded Lloyd in the street basically accusing him of favouritism and of discouraging the Italians from trying their places. This was another low, but a great example of the fierce competition for the precious tourist income.

One of the delights of Moroccan cities are the multiple calls to prayer. These happen 5 times a day and not necessarily at exactly the same time. I love being on the roof top at sunset...Note the stork flying over the city...

First one voice starts, then another, then more...not the same notes--often as much as an octave apart--and not the same rhythm. Sometimes it sounds chaotic to my ear and sometimes melodious, all in the same five minutes! There are over 150 mosques in the Fès medina.

To finish on a high note, here's the current status of my knitting project! I was able to spend yesterday afternoon on the rooftop terrace (note our laundry as well as the riad's) in the sunshine. 

Next challenge is to decide on how the edges will be finished. Fortunately I have my double knitting project to work on while I think about that!

Fès, day two

We started out the day with yet another fabulous breakfast of way too much food at our riad, Dar Skalli:

Today we toured the historic medina of Fès today with Hassane, a professional guide. He has been guiding people through the medina and souks since 1996 and really knows his way around. We went through narrow alleys, so narrow that Lloyd had to turn sideways...

The medina comprises two sections, separated by a river, so he first took us down and across and up the other side to get a view to the left (The trees at the top left are very near our Riad):

And to the right:

We saw interesting old doors...

And election signs...

And mules loaded with goods (no vehicles allowed, and thank goodness, no motorcycles or scooters!):

An Interesting shop full of hardware:

The world famous tanneries where skins (camel, sheep, goat and cow) are de-haired (in vats of lime and pigeon guano), scraped, dyed (both natural and chemical), rinsed, and dried before being sold to leather workers.  This place apparently smells dreadful in the heat of summer--wasn't too bad today in 10 degrees C.  

We visited a carpet cooperative, and received a good lesson in the styles of Arab, Berber, and Bedouin carpets. We ended up buying a small runner (no photo! We were too preoccupied with the negotiating process!)

A wonderful visit to a community bakery...this is a wood fired oven, and residents bring their bread here to be baked.  They also make bread to sell.

And a brief visit to the Hammam furnace to see the man scooping in the sawdust. This is heating the water for the Moroccan public baths.

A visit to a weaving cooperative where men weave with cotton, "vegetable silk" (rayon made from the agave cactus), and wool, in various combinations--sometimes all three fibres in one length.  Fabric was available as scarf and shawl lengths, and by the 2 and 3 metre pieces, some wide enough to use as bedspreads for a king sized bed.

I was wrapped in a Berber turban again:

And while I was sorely tempted I didn't buy anything.  I know very well how much fabric I have at home, some of it purchased in China almost 30 years ago and India 5 years ago. 

rooftops and minarets...

Rabat Day Two...a day of contrasts

I've been sitting on the train from Rabat to Fes, knitting and contemplating yesterday's experiences. I started the day with an emotional low, discovering that the Day One post  I had laboured over the night before had not published. I was able to resurrect the words from the original "notes" app, but was only able to publish once I had deleted and then reinstalled the Blogger app. I then thought that maybe the problem was the number of files in the app...so I started deleting old posts, only to discover that I was in fact deleting them from the blog itself! Oh nuts, or some such expletive...! A quick Google search has led me to believe that these posts can be restored, but it's easier done on a PC. All is not lost because I have since discovered that one of my faithful readers has kept all of my posts, and will be presenting me with a jump drive full of my writing upon our return home in early March. Thanks Donna!

On to the rest of the day... We walked to the Musée Archéologique, and enjoyed a look around. The collection is not extensive, or at least what's on display is not a lot, however there were a few objects that caught our eyes, and we kept returning to them. One was a bronze "puisoir"..."pour puiser le vin dans les cratires et le verser dans les coupes..." From the last quarter of the 8th century BCE. (Just checked google translate and this means ladle or scoop...whew! We were a little concerned it might have been a urinal for after too much wine!) It had a delicately carved duck head on the end. My sketch!

The other delightful object was a Roman bone and ivory carving, about 5 inches tall and less than an inch diameter, with delicately carved intertwined figures. It was exquisite. (No photos allowed)

When we left the museum and were standing on the pavement, we watched a woman driver in a very large BMW SUV carefully navigate the narrow street with parked cars on either side. She had a small dog on her lap. Just after Lloyd had muttered to me "rat on a lap" and I had been thinking "What's an enormous and expensive car like that doing here?", she stopped, rolled down her window and greeted us in French, asking us if we had enjoyed the museum. We replied yes, in our hesitant French, and she then switched to impeccable English, saying that we should now go to their new museum, just down the street, gesturing at a bright white building with lots of colour in its arcade, under carved arches. So, we had probably been talking to one of the wealthy Moroccans, a big contrast to the scarved and veiled beggars we have been seeing on the streets. We did in fact visit this other museum, the newly opened Musée Mohammed VI d'art Moderne & Contemporain.http://www.museemohammed6.ma/ It is a magnificent building, and houses Moroccan art from the beginning of the 20th century. It was not an easy collection to look at, especially the collection for the past 20 years. We had no context, and the info panels were all in French. However some pieces from 50 years ago resonated. Much of the work appears to have been loaned by a few families and banks...who knows, maybe the woman who directed us was one of these benefactors? The most interesting encounter was with one of the staff, a man who spoke good English, and who has a cousin working as a doctor in Montreal. (Many Moroccans have friends or relatives in Montreal). He was most excited to tell us about an upcoming exhibition of Arabic art from the Louvre. He let us look into the salon to watch the preparatory staff (from Italy) at work. Interesting that an Italian crew was brought in to do this work--maybe this was a condition to receive the exhibition.

We the went to the liquor store since it was close by...here's the view of the shop. Note no signs or any identifying marks! The shop on the right is a little convenience store.

We picked up some bread from a cart on the street...

...and then picnicked on the waterfront, just below the Kasbah Oudaïa, which is more correctly a Ksaur or fortified village on the promontory at the mouth of the river.

We entered at the pedestrian gate, and within a few minutes several young men told us that the viewpoint was closed "come this way instead!" Yeah, right, we've heard that line a hundred times since arriving in this country. 

This village is very picturesque...

And sure enough, the promenade was very much open and we enjoyed the view from the wall, along with many other folks enjoying the sunshine. 

Tucked into a corner I notice a sign for a carpet cooperative...so in we went for a look and were faced with about 10 women all knotting/weaving carpets. We were welcomed heartily, "Bienvenue, Madame! Asseyez-vous!" And so I did, right down on the cushion beside her and enjoyed a happy few minutes watching and listening to the rhythm. She inserted a couple rows of weft yarn after a row or two of knots, and the beating was very much like a drum. The down side is that when I got up to leave (after about 5 minutes), I left a 10 dirham coin on the bench. She then remonstrated quite severely "c'est rien! Deux Euros, svp! (10dm is about 10% of the average daily wage, and is what has been recommended as a tip for a short taxi ride, or for taking someone's photo--and we took no photos either.) Lloyd was quite adamant this was enough and so we left, my previously elevated mood of being in female company punctured. And so of course I had to work out my feelings about this on the walk back through the souk to the Riad.  I was able to pose the question of whether or not this was a reasonable gesture to our friends at Naturally Morocco (they booked the tour that we were on last week) and was reassured that this was appropriate, and that I may just need to laugh this off... Writing this a day later, I am recovered!

It helped that we had a bottle of wine waiting for us back at the Riad.  Here is the view of our street...

And a cat enjoying the warm seat!

I spent the end of the afternoon knitting in the sun on the rooftop terrace. We then had a pleasant dinner out around the corner with fellow guests from the UK, and it was fun to exchange experiences!

We are now in Fes for a week staying at the Riad Dar Skalli http://www.riaddarskalli.com/#!/ in the old city. We have walked around a bit to scout out a place for supper, and will be heading out shortly. We have received all the usual warnings from the Riad manager about fake guides, touts, conniving taxi drivers and pickpockets... As tourists we really are marked, and there's no doubt about it, we are rich and privileged to be here. There are just so many people desperate to make a living. However, we have been in worse places...India for example...