Monthly Archives: April 2009

Day 4 – Meknes & Rabat

Today, we visited Meknes & Rabat. Meknes is one of the capitals in Morocco. It is a smaller city with 900 k inhabitants. It lies in the same fertile plains as Fez. As a result, there are many agriculture activities. Its gates are quite famous. Most Moroccan cities retains the mud city walls, which require frequent repair due to erosion from the rain and storms. The guide told me that every 5 – 6 years, the city wall needs to be revamped.

We visited a moslem and an engraving shop. The tour guide, Idris, told us that on the needle on the roof of a moslem, there are 5 balls. On the other hand, on the needle of the roof on a mosque, there are only 3 balls. Furthermore, the muslim calendar begins in year 621. On many recent tombstone, we can see 2 calendars, one in Gregorian calender, the other in Islamic calendar. Additionally, the Islam tradition dictates that the deceased are bury sideways and facing the holy city Meca. Because Islam forbid worshipping idols and image of people. Therefore, the tombstones are all decorated with geometric patterns rather than sculptures of people.

While we were there, the tour guide took us to a nice restaurant. It was the best meal that I had on this trip!

Rabat was where we had overnighted. It is also a smaller city on the coast. The weather here is fantastic, 20 degrees with sunshine and cool ocean breeze. There is a moslem of King Mohammed VI: . The building is really beautiful. And, directly facing the moslem, there is the ruin of a mezquita tower, which was destroyed from the 1755 Lisbon earthquke.

Day 3 – Volubilis, a Roman ruin in North Africa

Today we visited Volubilis, which Roman ruin in North, dating back to 3 AD. Formerly, the city was a 6,000 people Roman outpost dedicated to making olive oil which is an important stable for the roman diet. The city ruin is small, when I compared it to another much more impressive ruin in Turkey, Ephesus. However, this city is quite charming as well. I saw several storks nesting on top of the columns in the ruin. The tour guide showed us a roman sundial as well as mosaics, including one depicting the legends of Hercules.

 

Day 2 – Fez

Our tour in Fez begins with a panoramic view of the Medina from the a distance hill.

Fez is one of the imperial cities in Morocco. Historically, the imperial cities were either Fez, Meknes, or Marrakech. Only during the French rule, Rabat was once the capital of Morocco. Fez has a very impressive medina. In the medina, car is not allowed. The tour guide joked that the best 4×4 vehicle is a donkey or a mule. 

The king of Morocco maintains a place in Fez. There are several different types of guards. The royal guard’s uniform is red color. Moroccans are considered white people of the Africa. They are tall, slender, with dark and curly hair. Occasionally, I see some people with greenish eyes.

In the medina, we visited many shops and saw the traditional Morocco industries, for example textile, leather tannery, pottery manufacturing, etc. It is quite interesting to see artisans making clothe using very simple & basic machines. The clothes are really good strong fabric. As for me, the Moroccan leather is of really good quality. The merchant showed me how that the leather is fire resistant. However, the odor at the tannery is horrible, mainly because it is treated with natural chemicals. I suspect that it has a lot of ammonia in it. The view of the tannery is an explosion of color. I decided to buy a nice leather jacket at the tannery. It is about $200. And, the merchant was willing to custom-dye it to any color that I desired. I chose a smooth white color. For woman, yellow, pink, and green are all great colors as well.

Day 1 – Arriving in Morocco

I arrived in Morocco on Sunday, April 26. There is a direct flight from Madrid to Marrakesh. As I arrived in the early afternoon, I had some free time and decided to explored the city. I walked from Hotel Myriems to La Mezquita La Koutoubia. Marrakech is situated in the drier part of the country. For a person who has gotten used to live in the developed country, Morocco is definitely an exotic experience. The city is quite lively. The street is filled with pedestrian, cars, mopeds, bicycles, donkey-carts, horses, and camels. And, there are very few street lights in the city. Even, when there is a stop-light, the traffic simply flows around it, with little regard for the changing signals. Moroccan people are quite friendly. Often, when I walked down the street, some stranger will greet me. Moroccan can speak many different languages. Our tour guide speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, and the native dialect. Be aware, a typical person who you meet on the street will often demand tips for services, for example giving you directions, etc. And, the local boy will beg for loose changes.

My hotel is 4-star rated and room is quite comfortable. It is a welcome change from Salamanca, where I stayed in the tiny and uncomfortable room of the university residence, which is so tiny that I would hit the wall just turn around and suffered claustrophobic attacks.

After getting an initial taste of the city, our tour started the next day toward Fez. On route, we made a lunch stop in Beni Mellal. In a nice hotel next to the mountain, I eat spaghetti next to a nice clean swimming pool. 

Below are some photos from my trip.

Some more photos from Salamanca

Here are some more photos of Salamanca, including:

  1. A day in the park with my classmates
  2. Semana Santa (Easter Week) processions
  3. Plaza Mayor 
  4. Final dinner with my friends.