- Return to Main Page
| On this page: | |
Other links:
|
Hassan
II Mosque. We walked along the eastern side of the medina, hit the
coast, then headed west to the Mosque - only 30 minutes total. We
walked around the Mosque, tried to enter various doors (and were denied),
and finally figured out that the next tour would occur at 2pm - leaving
us 2 free hours to spare. We strolled around the outdoor complex,
took pictures, and admired the gigantic exterior of the building - it is
the third largest religious structure in the world.
We took the hour-long tour at 2pm, which visited the main prayer floor,
the bathes and Hammans beneath the main floor, and 
various
corridors between rooms. The Mosque can hold over 25,000 worshippers.
My favorite feature was the sliding roof, which could be opened in only
three minutes. The craftwork of the walls and ceiling was impressive,
and all building materials had been supplied from national sources.
The Mosque was fairly new - having been completed in 1993 by over 10,000
craftsmen. The tour tickets cost ~100 Dirham (Dr), or about 10 euros.
Tours were offered in four different languages. Shoes were removed
at the Mosque entrance, but the floor was heated year-round.
We found that most Moroccans speak at least three languages (Arabic, French, and English), if not more. Morocco has been been occupied by various empires, nations, and cultures over the past centuries, and its people reflect its diverse history.
We
left the Mosque at 3:30pm, and started the three-hour drive to Marrakech.
The road was in good condition, and the traffic was light - only a few
outrageously loaded freight trucks trying to navigate slowly along the
road. We discovered that the speedometer on the rental car would
not exceed 112 kph - even though we were driving significantly faster,
and the gauge itself reached 180 kph. The road passed through several small
villages, but quickly covered the distance between the two major cities.
Gas was readily available.
We
arrived in Marrakech at 7pm, as the sun was setting. We drove through
the Ville Nouvelle (newer city with more modern hotels) to the edge of
the medina, where we parked and found a small hotel on the edge of the
main square - called Djemaa el-Fna. We checked in and wandered to
the square to find food and entertainment. The main square was packed
with people - mainly local men, women, and children. There were performers
scattered throughout the square - and each performer was surrounded by
~50 onlookers. The performances included music, story-telling, comedy,
etc. The square performances were known to be a direct substitute
for staying home and watching TV, and dominated the nightly local culture.
There were dozens of food stalls, each staffed by several chefs and able
to hold a dozen or more customers. Cecilia and I chose a food booth
near the edge of the square, and enjoyed a traditional Moroccan meal of
meat skewers and various small vegetable plates (see image on left).
After dinner we continued to walk around the square, and then headed back
to the hotel. Images from the day:
 |
 |
through
the main square - the performers and food vendors were gone, and had been
replaced by dozens of fruit juice stands. We were lured into posing
with one of the street performers and his snakes, including a king cobra
(see image on right - note that I have another snake wrapped around my
neck). Our objective was to spend the day in the medina, find a better
hotel, and hopefully buy a carpet.
Most Moroccan cities contain a walled medina, which represents the oldest part of the city. The roads within the medina are often dark and narrow - you can often touch both walls of the street at the same time. The medina walls previously contained the entire city, but in most cases civilization has spread beyond the walls as external invasion threats decreased and population increased. Today, the medina still contains much of the city's populations, and is still the heart of the city's culture, trade, and social activities.
Immediately
after walking through the main gates of the medina (image on left), we
were accosted by several local young men offering to be our guide through
the maze of streets. Moroccan medinas are indeed complicated, and
it is certain that one will get lost. But, we wanted to enjoy the
adventure, and we politely declined. After following us for about
~200 more meters, the men finally gave up, and we were relieved.
But, minutes later we encountered another group of men looking to be our
guide, and we repeated the procedure. I will spare the details, but
this activity would continue for our next nine days in Morocco. We
were unable to walk through any city or public location without being followed
and approached by aggressive young men looking to be our guides.
Morocco had recently outlawed false guiding - 
and
we soon realized why it had become a national problem. No unguided
tourist is safe. There are legitimate registered guides, who can
be booked through the local tourist offices and hotels. The false
guides are very street smart, and know that the average tourist will eventually
give in to the pressure - if for no other reason than to prevent other
false guide from approaching them.
After getting lost several times (and warding off numerous other false
guides), we finally found the artisan section of the medina, holding the
potters, wood workers, and carpet vendors. We browsed the artisan
booths, and finally chose to enter one carpet stall operated by a well-dressed
multi-lingual Moroccan man. He led us back into his cavernous stall,
which opened into larger 
rooms
filled with 100's of carpets of varying sizes, styles, and colors.
He inquired about our history and background, and then began to show us
his carpet selection. Several silent men followed his every command,
whisking carpets in and away from his display room. After fifteen
minutes we were offered to drink mint tea with him, which we kindly accepted.
Any emotion that we showed over a particular carpet prompted other carpets
of a similar type to be displayed. The quality steadily increased,
until we were looking at carpets far more beautiful and colorful than anything
previously shown. After iterating to the best carpet of our desired
type and size, the final bargaining began. We settled at 40% of his
original offer, and walked away with our first carpet. The experience
was great, and worth at least half of the price we paid.
We went to a medina hotel recommended by the Lonely Planet - it was booked, but the concierge accompanied us to another hotel around the corner down a narrow dark alley. All of the medina hotels appear to be impoverished from the narrow, dirt street view on the outside, but upon entry they open into marvelously quaint and luxurious miniature palaces. We were delighted with the original Moroccan theme of the suite-style rooms of our hotel, and we booked a place for the dinner and entertainment that night in the hotel's small center courtyard.
We spent the remainder of the day wandering through the medina.
We enjoyed dinner that evening in the hotel, which was accompanied by two
Moroccan musicians that performed wonderfully. Images from the day:
 |
 |
We
proceeded further south towards Imlil. The road turned to dirt, and
crossed several shallow sections of a flooding river running alongside
the road. Despite the poor road conditions, we never had trouble
with the Honda City. Thirty minutes later we arrived in the small
mountain town of Imlil, at an elevation of 5600'. Our original objective
was to climb Jebel Toubkal, the highest mountain in Morocco at ~13,800'.
The climb is merely a hike/scamble in mid-summer, after the winter snow
has completely melted. But the month of May is known to be a hit-or-miss
month, with winter conditions still possible. We did not know (until
arriving in Imlil) that spring had arrived late this year in Morocco, and
the snowline was still as low as 7000' on certain faces of the mountain.
A summit attempt would be impossible without full mountaineering equipment
and significant time - and we had neither. We decided to spend the
day climbing/hiking to the highest refuge on the mountain, located just
under 11,000'. We set off at noon, hoping to reach the refuge no
later than 5pm - which would be necessary to return to Imlil by the 8pm
sunset. It began to snow as we left Imlil, and would not stop for
the next 24 hours. We hiked in the clouds for the next five hours,
arriving at the frozen refuge just before 5pm. The "trail" had turned
from dirt to snow at around 7000', and from snow to ice at 10,000.
The refuge was full of climbers, all of which had failed to reach the summit
that morning. More planned to try again the following day. This was
comforting news to me, as it supported my decision to not bring my gear
all the way from Paris.
We returned to Imlil by 8:30pm, and hiked the last hour with my headlamp
through the forest above the village of imlil. We checked into the
Hotel Etole de Toubkal, which has very basic but clean rooms. We
were the only clients that night, and they happily prepared soup and dinner
to warm us up after a long day on the mountain. It was close to freezing
that night (even as low as 5600'), and we slept in our sleeping bags on
top of the bed covers. Images from the day:
 |
 |
descent.
We bypassed Marrakech to the west, and then started the two-hour drive
west towards Essaouira and the beach. On the road to Essaouira we saw the
strangest thing - a herd of goats that had climbed to the top of several
very tall trees. The goat herder did not seem to mind (he even charged
us to take a picture of his goats in the tree). Evidently the goats
were attracted to the leaves, and had already eaten the leaves from the
lower limbs.
We arrived on the coast at mid-day, and entered its small medina to find a hotel. Essaouira had a much more relaxed atmosphere than what we had experienced thusfar in Morocco. We found all of the medina hotels booked, but managed to find a free hotel - still in traditional Moroccan luxury, available just outside the medina walls.
We had lunch at a cafe in the main square, then walked along the beach,
watched several pick-up soccer games, and enjoyed the clear breezy day.
Essaouira is a surfer's paradise, and the strong winds supported its reputation.
We relaxed in the main square during sunset, and watched all of the local
children play while the mothers chatted together nearby. After dark
we entered the medina for dinner, and found a local pizza restaurant inside
the walls.
climb
up and over the High Atlas mountains. Our destination was Ouarzazate,
a small town on the edge of the Moroccan desert. Along the way, we
discovered that the car odometer which had read 48,000 km at the start,
now read over 290,000 km. After brief contemplation, we realized
that a 747 jet could not fly that many km during the rental time, and that
the odometer had broken. We did not look forward to explaining this
fact upon return to the Casablanca airport.
We arrived in Ouarzazate in the late-afternoon, and found a series of
large tourist-type (but not quite) hotels. Ouarzazate has a Club
Med tucked away into the desert, and is also the host city to the famous
annual cross-country Moroccan adventure race. We were happy to take
advantage of a little commercial luxury, and we checked into the Hotel
Kenzi Azghor. We had a buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant, and
retired early. I had started to get sick that morning, and I was
feeling a bit feverish by nightfall. Other images from the day:
 |
 |
canyons
of the U.S. southwest, but was spotted with kasbahs and many oasis of palm
trees surrounding the river. We drove north into the Dades Gorge,
parked the car behind a roadside restaurant, and hiked up a narrow side
gorge. We spent a few hours hiking around the deserted canyon, admiring
the high red walls (that closely resembled southern Zion National Park),
and relaxing in a dry river bed. We returned to the car, returned to the
main 
road,
and drove further east to the Todra Gorge.
We again turned off north into the Todra Gorge, parked the car, and strolled towards the gorge entrance. Unlike the Dades Gorge, there were many tourists in the Todra Gorge, and we only briefly stayed to admire the towering walls at the gorge entrance. We returned to the car, then finished the final several hour drive to Er-Rachidia, a town on the edge of the Moroccan sand dunes. We looked at the top-end Hotel Kenzi Rissani hotel, but found that the outdated and stale rooms were not worth the price tag. We dove back into the center of town, and checked into the Hotel M'Daghra - which had clean and simple rooms. We walked back to the Rissani hotel for dinner. I
In most cities and towns, women were not found in any of the local cafes
and restaurants (except prostitutes). Tourists are treated as outsiders,
and therefore are not held to the same standard (and are allowed entry).
But, it certainly feels strange to be the only woman in the middle of a
male-only restaurant, so we often ate at hotel restaurants that catered
to tourists and visitors. Images from the day:
 |
 |
 |
 |
Fes is a truly medieval city - one of only few remaining in the world - including Marrakech, Damascus, etc. Fes consists of two medinas (the old Fes el-Jdid, and even older Fes el-Bali), and the new area of the Ville Nouvelle. We found the pseudo-modern Splendid Hotel in the Ville Nouvelle, and checked in during the early afternoon.
We walked through Fes el-Bali, and became lost within minutes of entry. After returning to our origin and paying closer attention to the compass and map ( and after several attempts), we were successfully able to find our way to and from the heart of the medina. We exited the walls of the medina, passed by the Royal Palace (which is closed to the public), the old Jewish quarter and cemetery, and walked back to our hotel. We drove back up to the five-star Merenides hotel, and enjoyed dinner and an incredible view over the entire city. Images from the day:
 |
 |
we
thought looked more direct on the map), but still arrived within an hour.
Volubilis was one of the Roman empire's most remote outposts, and is one
of the best preserved site in north Africa. We wandered through the
ruins of the city, and admired the numerous floor mosaics, fountains, bathing
buildings, small family palaces, column-lined squares, and giant gate arches.
It was my first visit to any ancient ruins, and I was in awe of the quality
of the Roman work. There were fountains and bathes everywhere, despite
the remote location away from the Moroccan coast. 
Much
of the village had been looted and replaced through subsequent occupations,
but many of the monuments remained untouched.
From the ruins we headed due west towards Rabat, then proceeded north
along the coast. After 30 km we reached the Plage des Nations, a
quiet and isolated beach outside of the populated town area (about 2 km
from the main road towards the beach). We checked into the Hotel
Firdaous, a hotel just above the beach. The hotel is decorated in
complete 1970's style, and must have been a very trendy establishment in
its heyday thirty years ago. We felt like we were in a *futuristic*
science fiction movie shot in the mid-70's, including the curvy green lamps
and red telephones. We spent the remainder of the afternoon on the
beach, soaking up the sun and enjoying the blue skies. The beach
was fairly deserted, except for a few other hotel guests and families on
a day-trip from the city. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant,
and then retired to our balcony to admire the stars of the clear night.
Images from the day:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Did you find a mistake
in this page, or do you want to add an image? Please submit
your new information.