As our train pulled into the Marrakesh station I overheard the taller of the two American guys standing in front of me turn to his friend and say, “This will make 22 countries we’ve visited.” “22 countries and all the continents,” his friend added. The man in front of them turned around and said, ”I’ve…
Category: Meandering in Morocco
We rocked the kasbahs
Ali pulled his Toyota Land Cruiser up to the hotel at 8am sharp. We loaded up, strapped in and then his “cousin” called. She’d left her wallet in the car. No way she could be without it for the next 10 days. Who could blame her? We detoured, did a quick handover and THEN we…
Today’s route
Here is our tentative route for today. And just because it looks cool and I forgot to post with yesterday’s entry. The Fes train station. You can see Grubb on the right, sort of.
Bargaining and well-being
We took the morning train to Marrakesh out of Fes through the high-rises of Nouvelle Fes, and then rolled by the disadvantaged burbs: unfinished ravaged apartments, weatherbeaten dwellings with paint peeled away in patches, shantytowns behind low concrete walls looking like they have been created out of landfills. After that, the flat brown landscape parceled into…
Moving on to Marrakech
Up relatively early, we went downstairs for breakfast to find our young Hassan (the staffer who has attended us for breakfast and dinners), sound asleep on a sofa, all lights off, no one in the office. Uh oh. We cleared our throats to wake Hassan up. He popped up, sprang into action, and in 15 minutes…
That’s a wrap on Fes
Breakfast, I guess it happens everyday but for someone who doesn’t usually eat this morning meal, I’ve been chowing down. I’ll spare you the details today but here are a couple of photos of our view whilest dining. The Riad manager spent some time with us after breakfast helping to organize our day. We wanted…
The dream of water
Succumb to the maze of the Medina, get a whiff of an unusual spice, rub up against a certain lamp, and it’s possible a spell has been cast and your belief in dreams has been enhanced. Take my Berber doppelgänger, Ali Baba bin Berzerki Berber. Bin Berzerki has often dreamt of owning a Picasso. So today he exits…
Trippy Tiles
Yesterday our driver, Zamir, took us to Volubilis, the site of Roman ruins dating back to the third century BC. Built on a hill looking out onto what was once probably a much more fertile valley, the settlement appears to have been as large as Pompeii. It has the stamp of empire with the columns and the…
A very expensive picture
Monday. Oct 25. All the staff at our Riad are young and super friendly. Hanna, who seems in charge, said they are trying to make this an unforgettable experience. Great so far! I’m lounging on a sofa in this sitting area as I write. Breakfast: traditional Moroccan pancakes, sweetbread, homemade yogurt, cheese omelet. Coffee. Dinner:…
Tooling Through The Labyrinth (Fes)
Sunday, while we were wandering through the shoulder-wide walkways with Hakim, it became clear that calling Fes a walled Medina referred to more than the exterior fourteen-gated rampart surrounding the town. Inside the Medina, whether we turned left or right, there was always a seamless wall two-to-three stories high on either side of us. This wall…