Morocco

 We spent an exhausting day touring Marrakech with a guide. Our guide, Mohammed, is a most interesting person. He has a PhD from the University of Michigan in history and ethnology, so he was very knowledgeable.  We started at Bahia Palace, and toured the former home of the mid 19th century prime minister Si Moussa. It was filled with gorgeous tile and plaster work, as well as carved cedar doors and ceilings. Carved door and ceiling Carved plaster From there we walked to the Jewish quarter, which was next to the palace. We wore ourselves out visiting the souks, mosques, and other tourist sites. We have seen many examples of  beautiful carpets, spices, tile work, cloth and yarn dyes, and leather in the past two weeks.  The streets and alleys are almost always packed with people. Michael and I just returned to the hotel at 9:30 on a Sunday night, and the streets are so packed it’s very difficult to walk, not to mention jump out of the way for a motorcycle every couple ...

 We drove into Marrakech around lunch time, had lunch at an Italian restaurant in the new modern part of the city. Then we drove into the gates of the largest Medina in the world.  After we parked outside the narrow twisted streets, our pre arranged luggage cart picked up our luggage, and we followed him into the labyrinth. After resting a bit, we decided to head our way to the Jemaa, a large square that was a five minute walk, and was right, right, left, which we thought we could manage along with our mapping programs.  When we got to our left turn, which was a bigger street, we noted the Isis (Egyptian goddess), and the Herbology signs as the landmarks for our return.  The streets are just nuts, with motorcycles, carts, and people cheek to jowl. Our main goal in the Jemaa, was an ATM machine as we were out of dirhams, the Moroccan currency. Unlike Spain, where everything was paid for by credit cart or more often Apple or Google pay, it’s uncommon in Morocco to be a...

 Today we hiked to Ouzoud Falls along a trail along a ridge filled with almond and olive groves, seeing pistachio and pomegranate on our way. We then descended down to the river, where there were small cafes, counter culture communities, and camping areas. The river is silty because of rain last week. These are a Moroccan version of “spoons” or castanets, that were on display in a cafe. We have seen all the Berber musicians playing them, but this was our first opportunity to play them. Next we came to the falls. Our guide asked us if we wanted to cross by boat or the bridge. We weren’t particularly interested in the boat, but it turned out that the “bridge” was actually rock hopping, which wasn’t exactly our definition of a bridge.  This is the boat choice, which we didn’t take. Everything you see in the picture is part of the falls when it rains. We had lunch overlooking the falls. This is one of the restaurant employees, a blue man, in charge of the tagines (stews). We had a...

 We spent last night in the Oasis village of Skoura. The drive through the village on dusty dirt roads was disconcerting. We arrived at our hotel, which like many places in Morocco looked like nothing from the outside. However, going inside the gate was magical. The grounds were very large, with many areas for relaxing, as well as a pool and rooftop bar. A bar with actual wine, beer, as well as gin and tonics. Places that serve alcohol are few and far between. Thank goodness for the French owner who served the best food we’ve had in Morocco, as well as the wine.   Today, we had a long drive through the Atlas Mountains. There was continual road construction. The scenery was great though. We did have a fun stop at a spice and tea shop. It was in the town of Ourzazate, which is in the center of many spice growing regions. Apparently, we are now cured of all that ails us. Another stop was at the Universal Studios of Morocco. Many films such as Cleopatra, Gladiator, Prince of Persi...

 We drove all day yesterday from Fes to the Saharan town of Merzouga. This is the home of the Tuareg tribe of Berber. This morning we woke up with the sun, to see it rise over the dunes. We started our day visiting a Berber dance and musical group, who were great! It’s not possible to upload a video, but here’s a still. The Berbers are semi nomadic now, and are made up of three main tribes. They used to migrate between several countries, but now that is more difficult. They would migrate between Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Niger, Mauritania, and Algeria. Algeria is about 15 miles from us at the moment. We had lunch in the town of Rissani. The lunch was the best food we’ve had in Spain or Morocco. It was a Berber style pizza or calzone called  Medfouna. Our restaurant and blue man Berber waiter. The blue men are called that for obvious reasons. We began our desert experience in the afternoon with a 4 wheel drive trip across the dunes to our tented camp, passing a Berber wedding par...

We began our stay in Fes, by the four of us getting completely lost in the Medina (market). We were careful to note our exit and entrance, which didn’t help us all that much. We exited the Medina, and then returned to the entrance where we originally came in to our Riad. It didn’t help. We had Google maps and Gaia. They got us close, but not to our Riad. Finally, we happened to see the young man who delivered all of our bags by cart to our Riad. He helped us. We were so close. This is a photo of the carts that are used to deliver anything inside the Medina, including luggage. Below is a photo of our Riad. It’s amazing. From the outside, the doors look mostly the same. You have no idea what amazing things are inside the door. A few Medina photos: One interesting thing we did this morning was to go to the old Jewish quarter. The main street was built by Spanish Jews after the Inquisition. It’s clearly in the Spanish style with balconies, as opposed to the Muslim style of inner courtyards...