Our first impression of Spain is amazing. People were friendly and helpful. The food has been incredible and the sightseeing very interesting. I think we are really going to enjoy ourselves here.

Flying to Casablanca today on a small propeller plane. There’s only 18 rows on the plane \240and our seat is in row 4, directly in front of the prop. It is incredibly noisy and I’m thankful for the noise cancelling headphones.

Our flight from Malaga to Morocco was 1/2 hour late leaving. The flight is only 1 hr and 20 mins. The 20 km trip into Casablanca from the airport took 1 hour. The sun was setting as we were driving in and the sky was a beautiful red with streaks of purple.

We were talking to the driver on the drive in from the airport. He said he never went to school, but his older brother is a partner in the business and a school teacher. I thought he was joking, but when we were checking into the hotel, we had to write down where we were going tomorrow. We didn’t know how to spell Chefchaouen, so we asked the driver to write it and he said he didn’t know how to write! That was shocking to me!

Our room is a really nice suite. It backs on to the Hassan ll. Mosque. The first thing that came to mind was, how many times during the night will there be a call to prayer? The driver drove past it so we could take a look. It is indeed enormous! Our tour begins there at 8:30 tomorrow.

The view of the Hassan ll Mosque from our balcony.

I didn’t hear any chanting during the night. Our alarm was set for 6:45 and the chanting started at 7 \240and lasted 15 minutes.

We started the day with a tour of the Hassan ll Mosque. This is the 2nd largest mosque in the world. The interior of the mosque is stunningly beautiful. All materials used in the construction of the mosque were sourced in Morocco with the exception of 3 items. The chandeliers are handcrafted Murano glass from Italy. A couple of white marble pillars were also outsourced.

The money collected from tours is used to pay the 200 staff that clean and maintain the mosque. There is a heavy security presence both in side and outside the mosque.

Twenty five thousand people can pray inside the mosque and another 80, 000 in the square outside!

The main floor’s doors open to a view of the Atlantic Ocean. The ornate ceiling can also slide open to allow the heat from inside to escape in the summer. The tile floor is heated in the winter. There is a central area that has a glass floor with low walls around it. This is sometimes filled with water and reflects the clouds when the roof is open.

The lower floor is where their ablutions are performed. The guide went into detail about how these are performed....wash your hands 3 times, wash your feet 3 times, wash your arms to the elbows 3 times, wash your mouth and nose, etc. This was also an enormous room with many pillars supporting the floor and marble flower shaped type fountains for cleaning.

The guide said it cost in the neighborhood of 800 million US dollars, but who knows, it may be 3 times that!

This was an exceptional sight to see. So much ornate decoration and the sheer size of this place was well worth the stop. We did not like that our tour guide rushed through here and there wasn’t a lot of time to take it all in.

We headed on to the highway and left Casablanca behind. This is our chance to see some of the Moroccan countryside. \240Our next destination is Rabat, the capitol city of Morocco.

Our first order of business is to exchange some money in Rabat. The Moroccan Dirham is a closed currency so we can’t get any money outside the country and we have to change it back before we leave.

We had chicken tajine and kebab in a traditional Moroccan restaurant for lunch. It was delicious. Next stop was the unfinished mosque of King Hassan. He wanted to build a mosque larger than the one in Casablanca. They started to take rock from the ruins at Volubulis, but the king died and construction stopped. It is very much like the mosque in Casablanca.

We stopped at a viewpoint just outside of Chefchaouen to take some photos. When we arrived at our hotel, there was a lot of discussion going on between our tour guide and the hotel staff. It wasn’t hard to figure out there was a problem. There was a leak in the roof and they tried to have it repaired but weren’t successful. They graciously offered to take us to another hotel that was equally as nice. Off we went through the tiny maze of streets to another hotel. For some reason that choice was rejected and we set off again. While discussions were ongoing, I noticed a framed article next to the desk from Conde Nast Travel about the hotel and restaurant. This site was a winner, problem solved.

In an effort to save time, our guide took us to a natural spring that night. It was almost completely dark making our way there, so it was a waste of time. There is a sheltered area there where many washboards are arranged in a square where the ladies would go to wash their clothes using water from the spring.

Chefchaouen is known as the blue city. In olden times they would paint the buildings that distinctive shade of blue to repel mosquitoes. The city is a beautiful sight of blue and white buildings in maze of tiny streets. There are many stray cats and a lot of pedestrian traffic in the evening.

We were up early enough that there were mostly deserted streets. It was such an ethereal experience to wander alone in the early morning light, the blue color bouncing off the walls.

From Chefchaouen we crossed the Rif mountains to the Roman ruins of Volubulis. Olive trees line the roadside leading to Volubulis.

This is a designated world UNESCO heritage site. It was first developed in the 3rd century BC. The Romans came here in the first century AD for olives, and became very prosperous. They built nice houses with mosaic tile floors that are still visible today. This ancient Roman city is situated in a beautiful fertile valley. It has incredible views of the surrounding land and valley. It must have been an amazing sight in its day.

We declined a guide here, opting instead to wander the ruins with our driver.

Continuing on, we arrive at Meknes. The temperature here is a beautiful 25 degrees. The countryside around Meknes is quite beautiful. The hillsides are covered in olive trees. There are a few flowering almond trees along the way. You can also see sweeping panoramic views of the valley.

We stopped here and enjoyed a lunch of lamb chops on the shaded patio in front of the restaurant. After I finished eating, I realized my front tooth is broken. I don’t know how or when it happened! Since I’m not having any pain, I will deal with it when we are in Spain and have more free time.

We visit the Bab (gate) Mansour. This is a huge gate into the walled old city. The old city inside the walls is called a Medina.

Hri Souani stables were \240King Mohammed Vl’s stables, able to house 15,000 horses.

We had a guide to take us through the Medina here. After seeing Chafaouen, this was a let down. An interesting note here was the underground prison. At the time, there was a mixture of people living in Meknes-Moroccans, Spanish, Portuguese, French. Inevitably there were problems so the king ordered an underground prison be built. This prison was capable of housing 25,000 inmates. At the height of its use, 15,000 inmates were incarcerated there. The only access was the holes in from ground level. Prisoners were dropped through the holes into the prison, as well as food and water. These were the most unspeakable conditions. A number of years ago, the French sent a team here to explore the underground labyrinth. They were fully equipped with lights and equipment, but never returned. Following that experience, the Moroccan government closed off the prison permanently.

We were on the road again to Fes. We are averaging 5 hours per day in the car. It’s interesting talking to the driver. He plays a mix of music in the car, from pop to Arab to Berber and Saudi Arabian tunes. I liked the Berber and desert music. It’s such a fun and immersive experience to hear the indigenous music while you are travelling through that area.

The driver touring us around Morocco is only allowed to drive the vehicle. He cannot act as a tour guide. If he gets out of the vehicle, for example, to show us where the bathroom is and he is spotted by the police, they will ask to see his guide license. If he can’t produce a license, he will have to pay a fine. When we visit popular tourist destinations, we are handed off to a local guide. If you are touring a medina, a local guide is a must because there are so many tiny interconnected streets it is easy to get lost. Our guide for the medina in Fes was about our age and was born in the medina. He said there are 10,000 streets and he has not visited them all.

The heart of this medina was built in the 9th century. It is home to the first university in the world, teaching mathematics, geometry and astronomy, among other subjects. Women were not allowed to go to university. The other university was strictly to study the Koran.

When the population outgrew this medina in the 11th century, another set of walls was built surrounding the 9th century medina. This happened again in the 14th century. Fez is one of the oldest and largest medinas in the world. It is designated a UNESCO site. The first restoration projects that were started was to restore 7 of the fountains inside the medina. These fountains were the water source for families.

There is also a new medina in another location in the city. Once people have enough money, they move to a better and more expensive home in the new medina.

My first feeling inside the medina was, this is right out of the movies. It’s a maze of twisting, narrow passageways, most of which are lined with some type of shop. It’s crowded and chaotic with some motorbikes making their way amongst the pedestrians. The stink of the exhaust from these poorly running machines hangs in the air. People are pulling wagon loads of goods through the tangle. Shopkeepers can rent a donkey as well, to transport their goods through the streets. Price is based on distance and the load.

It is a total immersion into the past and another culture. Some areas, or streets sell running shoes, others sell cell phone covers and kitschy souvenirs. Venturing further into the medina it becomes more of a local experience. Many places sold baked sweets in glass fronted showcases that were attracting a large number of wasps. A section specialized in custom wedding apparel for ladies. The fabrics and trims are extraordinary. From silk to metallics and elaborate trims. When a Muslim lady gets married, her betrothed buys her a gold belt. The guide said that’s why the men are looking for tiny ladies. Traditional handicrafts are still being practised here. We watched metal work in progress, making everything from lamps to pots. Most of the work here was being done in copper. We would have stayed here a lot longer to watch, but had to move along with the guide. I really enjoyed looking at all the intricate bronze and metal pieces here. The design of the lamps and plates are stunning. The sales people can get annoying and aggressive.

We had an interesting education in hand made carpets and I had the opportunity to try my hand at it. The woman that showed me how it’s done had incredibly fast fingers. It was obvious that she was in the zone as she knotted the threads on the loom. What’s so amazing about the process is that they don’t follow any kind of pattern, or blueprint. They just know in their head what they are doing.

Some carpets are made from sheep’s wool and have some tuft to them. Some carpets are woven and others are woven and then embroidered. These come in camel hair or wool and are reversible. Some have silk threads embroidered in as well. Those are the more expensive choices. We weren’t happy about being railroaded into watching the sales pitch of various carpets afterward. First they want to serve you tea and snacks and then they allow you to go upstairs to try weaving a carpet yourself. Then back downstairs while they roll carpet after carpet out for you to purchase. We continually told them we weren’t interested in purchasing a carpet. We decided to be more forceful after that episode. The prices were shockingly expensive, partly because the guide gets a kickback for taking you there. The guide doesn’t allow you to look at what you want to look at, instead taking you to the places where he gets a kickback. Frustrating because it’s not possible to find your through the maze of streets back to these places.

Big Chouara Tannery

There’s an area where jewelry making is is done, but we didn’t visit it. Custom pieces are the order of the day.

One of the more interesting stops was the tannery. When you enter the building, you are given a sprig of mint to hold under your nose. Nature’s air freshener is what we were told. As you ascend the stairs, the odour becomes stronger and more unpleasant. The guide went into detail about how the sheep’s skin is tanned. The process takes place outdoors. There are multiple steps, moving the skins from vat to vat. One of the steps involved the skins soaking in pigeon droppings and another chemical for 15 days! This could explain part of the smell. In the summer under the hot sun, the stench is overwhelming. The people who work here earn 3 times the wages of the average worker because the work is hard and so unpleasant.

Also contained in the medina is a hammam. This is the spa of the Middle East. You bask in sauna like heat, rinse off and get scrubbed down roughly and vigorously by a worker. The only part of your body left untouched is your face. The surroundings in this particular hammam were beautiful. I really wanted to visit a hammam, but we did not have time at any of our stops. The guide continued touring us through the streets of the medina. He stopped and opened a small door. This was a sight right out of National Geographic! A withered old man was sitting in the darkness, about 6 feet below ground level. The only light was the fire visible through a small opening. This man did not look mentally stable. He was grabbing handfuls of what looked like sawdust and was throwing that into the fire. He was very animated, arms swinging in a wide arc. Clouds of dust were hanging in the air. This fire was used to warm the floor under the hammam, like it has been done for centuries. This was such a shocking sight!

The tour through the medina was not to be missed!

We visited a shop where a woodworker was stripping and restoring old doors and window shutters and decorative woodwork. He was hand planing a piece when we showed up. Most of the wood used for decorative carvings is cedar from Lebanon. It is much harder than Canadian cedar. He had some completed works there and they were stunning.

In the evening, we visited a lookout so we could watch the sun set over the old city. The Marinid Tombs are located here.

We arrive at the desert just before sunset after 8 hours of driving. We listened to desert music as we got closer. This is the part of the trip that I was most looking forward to - riding a camel and being in the Sahara Desert. Technically, Erg Chebbi is not the Sahara Desert, but a huge formation of dunes caused by windblown sand from the Sahara. It’s approximately 150 meters in height, 28 kilometres long and 5-7 kilometres wide.

Our guide grew up in the desert and was also looking forward to this part of the trip.

We turned off the highway onto a sandy road headed toward the dunes. There are a few groups of people clustered around camels that are resting in the sand. Khalil asks me to get my scarf out of my bag. I usually pack a scarf in my carry on in case I need it on the plane. You’re never quite sure what the temperature is going to be inside the plane, or whether the a/c is going to be blowing on the back of your neck. I packed an extra scarf in case I had to cover up when entering the mosques. You need the real desert experience he says as he ties it around my head and neck. They use the scarf for protection from the heat and the cold of the desert, as well as from the blowing sand. Fortunately, the wind is calm and the temperature is about 19 degrees. \240Temperatures in the desert in the summer are in the mid to high 40’s and can reach 50 degrees Celsius! Our camels are waiting for us, complete with colourful “saddles.”We take a few photos and get introduced to our guide for the ride. I wanted to take a video of Dave getting on his camel, but I was to get on first. I slung my backpack over the handle on the saddle and we were off.

We were up early for sunrise. It wasn’t anything special and I didn’t do a good job with the photos.

We left the dunes and went for a drive in the desert. It wasn’t the Sahara, but the black desert. This was the most barren and bleak landscape, where next to nothing grows. It’s covered in rough rocks and it quite a bumpy ride. We were scheduled to stop at Merzouga Lake, but \240the water from this man made lake is used for irrigation and the lake is dry right now.

Next stop was to visit an indigenous Berber family. Originally, we did not want to stop here. It’s usually quite uncomfortable to be set up to visit someone’s home, but we felt it would insult Khalil if we refused.

This was the most abject poverty I have ever seen. The family has 10 children from 2 wives. You are allowed to have 4 wives in Morocco, as long as the wive signs a document agreeing to that arrangement. They lived in an adobe hut in the middle of nowhere. There’s such a sparsity of any kind of growth whatsoever. That’s the reason for the nomadic lifestyle. Two little boys were running around outside and one of the daughters was making bread outside. The whole scene was appalling. We were welcomed inside the tent for some tea. Looking at the surroundings, we were afraid to drink it.

We couldn’t get away fast enough!

We continued on our desert tour, following the route Ralley Dakar Paris used to race. The last race was run here in 2007 because of political instability with Mauritania. The road is rough and rock strewn. It is a barren, desolate area the driver called the black desert. The land is flat and isnt growing anything. It was unusual to see land that is so desolate.

Eventually we stopped at a water well. It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. There were a number of them scattered around for the villagers to use.

We also visited the MFIS mine. This was owned by France and they exported the minerals from here. Our driver said they mined diamonds, not sure about that. The ground was littered with pieces of quartz and a lot of purple and black rock.

Our next stop was to watch the black Berber people from Mali, Niger perform some of their traditional music. I did not like this stop. The music was so loud inside this adobe building that it was irritating. We listened to 3 songs and moved on.

After lunch we visited an oasis. Many families have a small plot of land here where they can grow food for their family. Each family contributes money to pay for the building of the irrigation channel. Certain sections have access to this water for 2 hours per day.

We stayed overnight in Merzouga. Our hotel was walking distance to the sand dunes, so we had another chance to play in the desert. Khalil said it would take about an hour to hike to the top. I think it would take a lot longer than that. It’s hard to walk in sand. We didn’t realize at first that people were hiking on what looked like the edge of the dune. It’s wider than it appears. We walked a distance into the dunes and chose a spot to take some sunset photos. This time we were by ourselves and we had to be careful not to stay too long because it’s so dark in the desert. This happens to be Saturday, and what else do young people in a small village do but go to the sand dunes. There was Arabic music playing, some people driving like idiots on the dunes. We were being harassed by one idiot in particular who kept on wanting to know if we wanted a ride up the dunes. I took some photos and we started to head back. It was getting pretty dark by this time and we started to worry about finding our way off the dunes, not getting run over and then finding our hotel. Everything worked out in the end.

One thing I noticed about the desert is just how dry my skin got while I was there. No amount of lotion was going to fix it. I needed a visit to a hammam!

Today we drove to the town of Rissanni. This was once a major stopping point for Saharan caravans. Luckily, we were there on market day. This was another fascinating step back in time. Some of the streets weren’t paved. There were dark alleys, horse drawn carts in the street and people riding donkeys. It was a bustling town. We stopped in to see where the sheep and goats were bought and sold. This was a penned area with concrete walls. Half a block down the street cattle were for sale.

We toured through the market and were given an education on preventative health using herbs and teas. The herbologist grew up in the desert where the nearest doctor was a 4 hour drive away, so they had to look after themselves. Chamomile for sleep, lavender for sleep and calming, etc.

Glass jars contained solid blocks of perfume, the consistency of soft soap. These were concentrates and last all day because there’s no additives. Rose, jasmine, and lemongrass to name a few.

There were some nice displays of spices for sale. The spices were so good in Morocco, probably because of their freshness.

Khalil had made arrangements when we were in Rissanni to have a Berber pizza ready to go. When we left Rissanni and continued on in the dessert, he pulled the vehicle off the road and drove a short way into the desert and parked under an African tree. He opened the trunk and whipped out a table and 3 chairs. We had a picnic in the desert eating Berber pizza. It was sweet.

After lunch, we drove on to Erfoud. This is a town known for fossils. We toured through a small family owned factory where they cut slabs of rock containing fossils into sinks and countertops, even entire shelving units. It was fascinating to see how many fossils are in a single slab.

We watched the owner cut a small fossil in half on a diamond wet saw. It made me cringe to see him hold this small rock by hand, wearing loose fitting rubber gloves and feed it into the large saw blade. I was surprised that he still had all his fingers!

We continue driving, passing numerous small villages like Millab, Tinjdad and Toroug, on our way to Todra Gorge. This is an area where cliffs rise 300 meters on either side of the road.

Next stop was the “monkey’s fingers” rock formations. These rock formations were caused by erosion.

We stayed overnight in Dades Valley. I had time to take some sunset photos from the hotel. The red color of the rock made for a strange color sunset.

We stopped at El Kalaat M’Gouna, otherwise known as rose town. This area is known for producing rose petals for the perfume industry. Since the roses were not in bloom, it was just a quick stop in a store. I’m sure it’s beautiful when the roses are blooming.

We stopped at the village of Skoura to visit a kasbah with beautiful views of the surrounding valley. It was interesting to hear about the layout of the kasbah. The animals were kept in a penned area inside the home, next to the kitchen so they would be handy to slaughter.

Ouarzazate is known in Morocco as “the Hollywood of Africa.” It is the largest film studio in Morocco. We didn’t spend any time here, other than to stop to take a photo. Once you’ve seen the real Hollywood, we didn’t think there would be any point to see this.

We passed a number of kasbah’s in the Dades valley. From here we drove to the UNESCO site, Ait Benhaddou. This is a site famous for its earthen clay architecture. There are still 4 families living inside the walls. There were some shops lining the entrance. It was an interesting site perched on the hillside and blending in to its surroundings.

We arrived in Marrakesh before sunset. Khalil drove us to a popular bar that overlooks the square so I would have a chance to take some sunset photos. This rooftop was full of tourists, most of them clutching Lonely Planet guide books.

Khalil lives in Marrakesh now and offered to take us to his neighborhood where we could have some barbecued goat for dinner. We really enjoyed that. The bathroom, on the other hand, NOT! I don’t think it is meant for customers. Up a back deserted hallway, it is a squattie in a tiny stall on the rooftop in the dark. I took a chance and left the door open so I would not be in pitch darkness. There is a sink area near the seating area where you can wash your hands.

We spend the night in a riad in the medina in Marrakesh.

We had a tour of the medina this morning. Our guide is a Muslim and he started the tour by singing the call to prayer in Arabic and then translating it to English. It’s the first time I hear exactly what the words mean:

God is Great! God is Great! God is Great! God is Great!

I bear witness that there is no god except the One God.

I bear witness that there is no god except the One God.

I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God.

I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God.

Hurry to the prayer. Hurry to the prayer.

Hurry to salvation. Hurry to salvation.

God is Great! God is Great!

There is no god except the One God.

When the call to prayer occurs at dawn, they also say the words that prayer is better than sleep.

While he had a nice voice, I found it a little weird. Apparently this is a prestigious appointment and the Muezzin (the person who calls people to prayer) can be a near celebrity if his voice is beautiful enough. They used to climb half way up the minaret and announce the call to prayer from there, but now they use amplifiers from the ground. Just the loudspeakers are half way up the height of the minaret.

Ok, now that’s out of the way, we carry on into the souk. The streets are a little wider here and the medina is not as big. We weren’t happy about the guide wanting to rush the tour and trying to cut it short. We told him we wanted to go further into the medina where the shops are located. He took us in and stopped at a store with fixed pricing. We were curious to see if what we paid for the few things we bought was a good deal or a rip off. Turns out that we did good! The clerk in that store told us we could look at whatever we wanted, he wasn’t going to push us to buy anything. That was ok until we went to the second floor where the rugs were. That’s when the hard sell came on. We just said politely that we did not want to buy a rug and then walked away. He realized he was coming on too strong and finally shut up.

We had tajine for lunch in the medina before carrying on. This was a disappointment because it was just chicken without the potatoes and veggies. They said the version with the potatoes and veggies is the Berber style tajine.

The guide asked if we wanted to see some elaborate Muslim tombs inside an old mosque, but we declined. Looking at any kind of grave is not Dave’s thing.

We did want to see the Bahia Palace. Built around 1867, it sits on 2 acres of land in the medina. It contains over 150 rooms and there is a section for the harem. The palace was originally built by Si Moussa, the grand Vizier to the Sultan, who rose from slave through the ranks. Shortly after construction, his son Bou Ahmed lived in the palace with his 4 wives and numerous concubines. The harem area was off limits, but we could visit the living area of his wive.

We left the medina and did a walk through the botanical garden, Jardin Majorelle.

The garden was built in the early 30’s and opened to the public in 1947. It contains plants collected from around the world. There were certainly some unique specimens there.

We drove from Marrakesh to Casablanca for our last night in Morocco.

Our hotel here is formerly someone’s home. It is really beautiful, with a courtyard and pool. It’s located close to the airport so we don’t have to drive through rush hour traffic in the morning.

We saw a lot of different sights in Morocco and really enjoyed our vacation as well as the food. We fly back to Malaga and then we have a driver to take us to Nerja for the next leg of our Spain journey.