Morocco 2023

Sensory overload today! Spent the whole day in the old medina: wedding stuff, the tannery, old synagogue (no longer used), spices, and more. One part of the market does all the dyeing of wool, silk and agave fiber (that's what's in the picture, but a little research says it's probably really rayon) and weaving is done elsewhere. Dinner was with a family. They broke the group into small subsets to go to different families. In ours, the father is a nurse, the mother works for a rental car company and the 16 year old daughter week go to university with the intention of becoming a doctor. Interesting to meet them and see their modest two-bedroom apartment.

Interesting drive from Rabat to Fés. Landscape looks very much like California, with mostly brown/golden colors, though from wheat and barley, broken by olive orchards and citrus orchards. Stopped to taste a kind of milk from a woman selling at the roadside--sour like filmjölk or buttermilk but really thin. Traditionally eaten with couscous. We liked it. Then another stop where we had time for a quick walk through the food market. The woman selling very thirsty chickens is Amazigh (Berber). The tattoo on her forehead indicates the specific tribe. Then on to Fés where we had lunch at our Riad before heading up to an old kasbah overlooking the medina. Then a visit to a "factory" that makes beautiful pottery and mosaic tiles. Everything completely made by hand. We managed to buy only two small glasses and two tiles. Dinner on our own tonight, and we decided to head off truly on our own. Dinner was a tasty pastille and a noticing salad.

Started with an orientation session and city tour. The tour started with the king's palace, which is really just government offices now, and a number of places we had already seen, but nice to learn more about them. The theater is so new it isn't even open. The architect is Zaha Hadid, an Iraqi woman. Decided on a lazy afternoon, then fabulous dinner with the group--the official welcome dinner. First we were less through the medina by a man with a lantern, as would have been fine "in the old days". Dinner was at a beautiful riad. First were the appetizers: i don't even know what they all were, but they were delicious and would have been plenty for dinner all by themselves. The main course was a variety of stuffed vegetables in a tomato sauce of some kind. Dessert was a pastilla (filo dough with milk, almonds and orange water). And Moroccan mint tea...

Today was a relatively quiet day. Made our way from our lovely, simple riad in the m medina (photo shows the central courtyard) to the completely different modern hotel where the tour will  start. Went to the Museum of History and Civilizations. Nice small museum with some beautiful Neolithic (and Roman) artifacts, but I think we're spoiled by having spent so much time in Greece and Italy. Then to the botanical garden, which turned out to be a pleasant park, but didn't feel like a botanical garden to us as the plants weren't labeled. Maybe we're just tired from the 9 miles we walked yesterday! Met our group for dinner... Seems like a nice bunch, and clearly our tour guide has a good sense of humor! 

Started the day with a visit to the National Museum of Adornment. We got an extra walk through the Kasbah because Google maps is less than accurate in Morocco, but once we found it-- fully modernized beautiful museum of traditional clothing and jewelry from all over Morocco. Amazing workmanship. The Andalusian gardens were nice--mostly full of plants that we know from California. The society garlic was in full bloom, which you could tell without actually looking.  "Free" Walking tour in the afternoon. Turns out our guide, Youness, not only knows his history but is also a musician. The photo is of him demonstratng a guembri. The skin is camel skin and it's played like a banjo (I think--I'm not a banjo player!) By strumming down so you can tap the front as you strum down using it as a sort of built-in drum.

We're here! Made it to our Riad (guesthouse) in the Medina, nap, then some exploration. Walked through the Medina sand souks to get a take version of what we'll see when we get to Fez (not many tourists, and no constant healing you to buy). Also wandered around the Kasbah of the Udayas, a  UNESCO World Heritage Site. I'm sure we'll actually learn something about it tomorrow on our walking tour or when we meet up with the tour group. Yummy dinner at a place specializing in Moroccan food. We kept it light sharing a bowl of a thick tomato soup--not sure what it was seasoned with, but sure was good. We also shared s big salad of course cucumber, tomatoes, onion and lettuce. Not so unusual, but hit the spot.

Trip starts April 24 with flight from RDU-->Paris-->Rabat, we hope. I'm not expecting to have anything to post on the 20th, so I'll just do this now (a week early) to get the blog set up!