Marrakech and Fez - Morroco, Summer 2019

July 18, 2019

Marrakech and Fez - Morroco, Summer 2019

After a quick flight from Spain to Marrakech, with the roughest landing we have ever experienced, we had our first steps on the continent of Africa. Immigration in Morocco was quick and simple and then out in to the heat of Africa. Our first impressions, particularly in comparison to India was something that our Indian friends would know as "same, same but different". I think our impressions were heavily swayed by looking at everything through our Indian lens with very little shock factor for us.

We were staying in a lovely Riad (a guest house with a courtyard) right in the middle of the medina. It was small but pretty cool, an oasis in the middle of the mayhem.The first night the hotel had arranged a lovely local meal for us - a sensational lamb tajine where the meat just fell off the bones served with salads, rices and the local bread called khobz - a fabulous start to our Moroccan adventure.

We were a little concerned about getting very, very lost in the Medina, so we arrange to have a local guide to learn about some of the history and interesting local sites within the Medina. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the greatest guide. He did provide some slivers of history and local sights and places of interest, but most of the time he spent introducing us to all his tourist trap trinket and bauble places for his kickback. To be fair, perhaps to some people this would be right up their alley and what they were looking for. Sadly, for us being haggled, yelled and leered at is not novel to us, it's a daily situation in India. In contrast though, in Morocco, apparently there is a very common situation of westerners being pickpocketed and being led astray purely for financial reasons - so sad for a country with so much to offer. Another unfortunate thing for those of us with allergies, is that the streets, shops, and Riads are all homes to load of stray cats, and usually, not very healthy. As a Muslim country, they don't like dogs, so there are cats everywhere - one significant difference to India where it is stray dogs.

We decided that a train ride to Fes was easier than another flight - so 6.5 hours on the train let us recharge, literally, and enjoy some downtime and enjoy the rocky, sandy scenery of Morocco. Our Riad was pretty cool and was a little more upmarket to the one in Marrakech with a lovely rooftop terrace overlooking the city of Fes. We had read that it was almost impossible NOT to get lost in the Fes Medina, but there were more than enough locals who would be willing to escort you back to where you had to go……..for the right price, of course. We headed into the Medina and started to have a good wander around to see the sights, sounds and smells of Fes. After a few hours just freewheeling through the Medina we found the restaurant for our dinner reservation at The Clock Cafe. We had the best table in the place as we had a fabulous view over the entire Medina and it also offered a great view to the surrounding hills and districts. Another mouth watering tajine !

We had arranged a guide for the morning and had given the Riad staff strict instructions that we were not looking to do any shopping. Our guide this day was really good (a former school teacher), although he was a strict Muslim and had some hard line views on todays culture and society - especially when it came to raising children. A bit of an insight for our boys on how others expect you to behave. Overall, it was good fun as we toured the very narrow and at times very, very narrow alleyways of both sides of the Medina. We got a great insight into some of the history of the town and the day to day life and customs of the locals. We also took in one of the local Madrasa’s which is where you study the Quran and dedicate yourself to Islam.

The best part of the tour was a visit to a place that Fes is renowned for, the tannery. Despite being given mint leaves at the entrance, to ward off the smell emanating from the vats it wasn’t as bad as we had expected. It was explained to use that first the beast is used for meat and then handed to the tannery. The skin is put into a vat full of water, limestone, and pigeon droppings for several days that “burns” the fur off the hide before then scraping the remaining fur off and putting the hide into a seperate vat of a specific natural colour for several more days before it being extracted, by hand and then dried and ready for whatever manufacturing they want to do.

In the afternoon we took in the Royal Palace, Jewish quarter, another local market and then somehow worked our way around to where we started the prior day - without a guide or help from a local !!

My standard early morning walk, had me accompanied by Mike, and we headed up to a highpoint outside the Medina to the Marinid Tombs. It was very peaceful up there as we were early enough to beat the tourists (although still had a bloke trying to sell us carpet…….on a remote hillside!) and it gave a fabulous view over the Medina where we could pick out some of the spots we had visited the prior couple of days.

After a late breakfast we took a relaxing walk through one of the local Jardine’s (gardens) where the boys could run off some energy before heading out to the airport for our flight to Portugal.

Morocco was different to what we were expecting and also quite similar to our daily life in India. Overall, I think we all enjoyed seeing and experiencing Moroccan life.