Casablanca, Morocco – Apr 16

Casablanca, Morocco – Apr 16

No voice day 5

It was nice to have a hot day for a change. I’m so tired of wearing every layer I have and still being cold, so today was a treat.

Today we had one of our top 3 worst tours of the trip. It was our first trip to Marrakech, though not to Morocco. We were joined today by Tom & Cathy and Roberta & John. Our guide was El Mehdi with ToursByLocals. https://www.toursbylocals.com/ Our driver was Simo who was a gem despite not much English for our 3 hours plus drive each way. The landscape was very beautiful, and we were surprised by the huge numbers of crops in fields and horses, sheep, donkeys, cattle and goats. There were pretty mountain areas with formations and colors that reminded us of the Badlands. It was a treat to see ploughs that were donkey or horse driven. Many people were out tending to the herds and working in the fields. The time flew by as we took in the countryside.

billboard

cemetery

farms along the way

rest stop

arriving in Marrakech

Mehdi on the other hand was a terrible guide. He met us once we got to Marrakech and just like the guide we had in Israel, he would stand and tell you about something and then run past it.

El Mehdi

snow on High Atlas Mountains

walking to the square

Other than our over-land to India we looked most forward to Marrakech. We loved Marrakech we just wished we had had a guide that understood our needs and could adapt his plan to ours. He had specific places we “had” to be shown and despite our requests he just ran way out ahead of us with us all struggling to keep up all the while wanting to stop and look at things along the way.

One of the highlights for many of us is to do some of the touristy things like watching the Snake Charmers, Acrobats, Story tellers, Musicians, Fortune Tellers. He explained that we could watch for free, but if we took photos, they would want money and he would negotiate that for us. So, I expected that meant he would lead us by them and probably stop so we could watch. No, he runs at light speed past all of it. I don’t have a voice to say anything, but not sure it would have mattered anyway. Greg even told him I wanted a photo with one of the entertainers and he scoffed and just walked on.

Jemaa el-Fnaa - the Main Square & Markets

snake charmer - we didn't take more photos since we thought we would have more opportunities

So, he then leads us through the narrow maze of the Medina dodging people, carts, bikes and motorcycles. Cathy and I wanted to stop to look or buy things and he just kept on blocks ahead of us. We asked if we would return to the square and he said no. 

It soon became clear that it was important to him to guide us into specific places. The first was a stop at a place where they sell argon oil and a few other spices. We rush by everything we wanted to do and the guy starts his spiel with I’ll just take 20 to 30 minutes of your time. I croak out with no voice. No. None-the- less, we were seated while he showed us various products that we had no intention of buying. We stopped by the Majorelle Gardens, but they didn’t look that exciting, so we didn’t go in. (hoping for more time to shop) Cathy and I stopped to buy a pair of earrings each. The guide finally realized he was missing 2 people and came back for us. The guy at the stall said he didn’t have change and was trying to get us to buy them together instead of separately and we said no. He takes our 200 MAD and then gives us each 100 back. The guide came in and helped straighten out the mess. Telling the guy to go get change and give us each the correct amount. I know I got my change, but Cathy isn’t sure she did. MAD is about 10 to 1 so the earrings were cheap, but I imagine we overpaid. (we don't care.)

argon oil & spice stop

Tom & Cathy & our guide

carrying dead birds (chicken or?) bad shot, but he walked right past me and hard to get a shot)

Finally, we are headed to lunch. It was down a series of empty alley ways and I’m thinking to myself it was a bit like trying to find our hotel in Varanasi (only in the daylight with fewer cows). It turned out to be a very nice restaurant and the food was very good. The Moorish Kitchen & Café was the name, and we were taken to the top of the restaurant, but there was no shade as it was open to the sun, so we asked to go downstairs. They took us down and 4 of us sat together and the other 2 had to sit separately. We had pre-ordered our food, so it didn’t take long to get it. I got the Beef/Lamb Tagine and Greg got the Couscous with meat. Both were loaded with roasted veggies and the meat was falling off the bone.

we took a bunch of back alleys to get to the lunch restaurant

lunch stop

presenting our lunch

Couscous with meat

Beef/Lamb Tagine

Cathy & me on the right

foundouck - used to be a camel motel animals downstairs and people slept upstairs

Thinking we are trying to rush to our lunch reservation, we run past everything else we want to look at. Then he asks if we want a visit to a rug demonstration. I said “no” and I shook my head no since I couldn’t talk. So, we continued only to be taken into the rug store for the demonstration. Greg and I turned to walk out after all of us saying we don’t wish to buy any rugs or watch the demonstration. The guide says to come back as we are leaving out of a different exit. (it turned out to be very close to where we went in) There was a cat curled up and sleeping on one of the carpets and I turned to point to it and the seller “pounces”. “Do you like that carpet, let me show you that carpet”. I joked, “No, but how much is the cat?”

Carpet shop

beautiful tiles in the carpet shop

cat on some rugs

going to the bakery

We did pop into a small old-style Bakery. and saw a Foundouk a type of camel motel. 

family bakery

One of the highlights was our visit of The Jewel Mederssa Ben Youssef old school. Beautiful and intricate tiles and we saw where the students lived, learned, worked and slept.

The Jewel Medersa Ben Youssef old Koranic University

tutorial

student room

tutorial

Cathy

We did walk through the workshops of some of the craftsmen & watched a part of the production process in their ancestral heritage.  It was interesting and reminded me a bit of the Dharavi slums in India. 

the industrial section (workshops & craftsmen)

me walking past

We asked if we could have some free time to shop and he said he would take us to one street to do that. We could have 30 minutes. He kept pressing us for what exactly did we want to buy, and he would take us there. Nothing in particular, just wanted to interact with the shop owners and poke around and buy if something strikes us. He just didn't get it. Finally, we just give up and say let's go. Then, we end up back at the square where he said we wouldn't return. There were things there that Cathy saw and would have bought if we knew we were going back there. 

It's now in the heat of the day and the performers were all gone except for a few snake charmers which our guide steers clear and has no intention of stopping. So, we leave the guide and our driver takes us back to the port.

leaving Marrakech

Ramadan is still going, and our driver had fasted all day. We stopped for his breakfast on the way back to the port where we all grabbed something to eat as well. Cathy said he sat with his food checking his watch until the precise moment of sundown to start eating. He offered us some of his dates as we got off the van and they were very tasty, but I felt guilty eating part of his meal. I also noticed that he had his prayer rug with him so he could pray when it was time.

While in the rest stop several young men saw me and said, “ooh la la, English”. I laughed that they were so intrigued probably by the blonde hair. It’s those little moments that make this 70-year-old woman smile inside.

our snack at the rest stop

magnet

trinkets

Back in the van for the rest of the ride back to the ship. Simo was a great driver and guided us safely from a near miss situation with narrowing of lanes due to roadwork or something and we went around a truckload of chickens with their heads sticking out of the top of the truck. 

It was a frustrating day with our guide, but even the bad tours become memories and stories to tell. 

Tomorrow, we have a sea day before our last 2 ports of this voyage.

Morocco, Africa https://photos.app.goo.gl/q4cENtqHqhiyrpSW7

Birds seen:

Alpine Swift

Cattle Egret

Common Bulbul

Common Wood-Pigeon

Eurasian Blackbird

Little Swift

Meadow Pipit - NEW

Pallid Swift

White Stork