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Second last day on our tour - what an amazing country - the colours, the smells, the sounds all are amazing. The countryside changes from the deserts to rocks to lush valleys and oasis. We travelled through the middle Atlas and the high Atlas ranges - it would be a dream for any geologist - or amateur rock "watcher". Morocco has the most amazing black marble - and is immensely rich in fossils. In the black marble you see hundreds of squid - one wonders what incredible natural disaster took place to turn a sea bed into an huge desert - and imbed all these creatures all at once!! I will have to do some reading on the theories and origins of the fossils in Maroc when I get back home.....
Each of the cities has their own magic - there is obviously a medina and a number of Mosques in each city - but they all look different. In Fez the medina is on a hillside - and all the little alleyways snake around - it is amazing how the people live. Inside the medina the only mode of transport is donkeys (barrac) - apparently Coke Cola has 500 donkeys to deliver Coke into the medina, so one wonders how many donkeys there are actually in the medina. One actually see artisans plying their trade - be it leather work, brass work or carpet weaving
When one gets to Marrakech it is very flat - and the medina has a huge square at its centre and alley ways running off it. Everything goes as far as transport - in the square during the day one has run the gauntlet and constantly avoid motorcycles, donkey carts, horse drawn carriages and petit taxis.
Marrakech is the first opportunity I have had to use the petit taxis (Fiat Uno, or small Peugeot's) Not sure whether it is my knack of finding the maniacs but I have had a few horror rides - obviously they all drive on the wrong side of the road for a girl from Africa and NZ - but then they really drive on the wrong side of the road - and expect the ongoing traffic to get out of the way!! Did you know that 5 cars can drive next to each other on a 2 lane street?? And then they shout and scream at each other - and blow on their horns if the traffic stops - as if that will get rid of the 50 cars in front of you.
The people in Marrakech also seems more cosmopolitan - you see more woman out on the streets at night, and you also see girls driving on scooters - quite different from Fez and Erfoud.
At night time the square in Marrakech comes alive when all the locals visit. Everywhere one sees circles of people listening to story tellers - old ladies tell fortunes - and snake charmers and guys with Barbary monkeys try to get you to take pictures with their snakes / monkeys - you obviously have to make a donation.... Making a donation is quite a thing - one has to make sure that you have a pocket full of small change. To use a toilet is 1 dirham - if you take a picture with someone anything from 1 to 5 dirham, and if someone shows you the way - another 5 dirham... The petit taxis all take you for a ride (literally) none of their meters work and they all charge more that what the hotels porters advise you should pay (obviously not speaking the language makes it hard to argue)
From a shopping point of view you get about 6 or 7 types of stores: Pottery, Jewelry, Leather goods, Traditional clothing, Metal / Brass, Carpets and then little General Dealers that sell water, biscuits, basic toiletries - but then you get hundreds of the same type of stores - and in one area you find the same guy selling at 4 or 5 of the stores - so it is all a big family run business.
My highlights -two that stand out is the trip into the desert, and the Jardin Marjorelle in Marrakech. The Jardin Marjorelle is a garden behind walls that was started by the artist Jaques Marjorelle when he settled in Marocco in 1924 - he opened the garden to the public in 1947. After he died the gardens were not well maintained until it was bought by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner who has established a trust to look after the gardens. The massive walls around the Medina's and Kasbah's, the amazing mosaic work, huge doors and brass work one sees everywhere is truly amazing. You sometimes get an ABC moment (Another bloody Kasbah), but then the magic takes over again.
The Mosque Hassan II in Casablanca is quite spectacular. It is a new mosque - opened its doors in the 1980's and still not completely finished - it was built on reclaimed land on the harbour - so from some angles looks as if it is built on water. I have said it so many times, but the colors - the way the buildings blend into their background - and then have a splattering of vivid blues and greens. Non Muslims are not allowed to enter the mosques in Maroc - so you normally only get a sneak peak inside. The Hassan II mosque in Cassablanca is apparently open to tourists at certain times but I have not been able to find out how to get in yet.
Oh - it is Ramadan at the moment - an interesting time to travel - most places close at 4pm - some then open again after 8pm. During the day a lot of restaurants / cafes stay closed as the locals obviously can't eat. Others will only serve a limited menu.
The food - as we saw olive trees and date palms all over the country it was not much of a surprise that olives and dates feature on all the menus. Olives are served breakfast, lunch and dinner - and bread is also served with every meal (as in Europe mostly without butter)
The traditional Tagine (Stew) and Couscous with Vegetables feature heavily. The vegetables are normally potato, courgette, carrots and green beans. Peas and pumpkin also features in dishes. Meat in the tagines is normally beef, chicken or lamb. As the country was run by the French for a while all menus are in French - and most people speak Arab and French - so my few words of French got a dusting off again....
On the whole the organised tour was not too bad - a nice bunch of people - the majority retired, one british couple in their 30's and 5 or 6 of us in our 40's. Some of the older people showed me up in their energy and enthusiasm to go everywhere and "climb every mountain"!!
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