A tale of (two more) cities

My first week in Morocco was a journey through some of the ‘big’ cities (Tangier: 700,000, Casablanca: 3.5 million, Meknes: 1 million and Fes: 1 million) – population figures courtesy of Wiki!

I’ve already posted my thoughts on my introduction to Morocco (in Tangier), and my less than 24 hours in its largest city (Casa).  

Next stop was Meknes which we reached via a four-hour train journey (a chance for me to totally ‘zone-out’).  We had only a half-day in Meknes, during which we had a local guide lead us around to some of the main sights.  As I wasn’t feeling particularly well, this tour became a bit of a blur, and an exercise in endurance for me… to the extent that one of my fellow ‘tour groupies’ said to me at one point “wasn’t that interesting?”, and the best I could muster was something along the lines of “mmmmm”. 

As further evidence of my lack of enthusiasm on this particular day: I have only a handful of photos (this is unusual; as I am operating on the principal of ‘take multiple shots, and hopefully a few will be ok’) and I’ve had to use Google to try to piece together what these things are of, as I have no recollection of any of the explanations that were given to us by the guide.

In fact, the one point that did stick was when our guide (Youssef) was introduced he told us that we would be going into the old prison, and that there would be lots of ‘lice’… this was (obviously) a concern to most of the group, and Youssef was queried on this point a couple of times (he assured us that yes, we had heard correctly “a lot of lice”) – Ugghhh!  About an hour later, as we were being led towards the prison, a final consultation clarified this point: Youssef is a big story-teller, and was offering to tell us “lots of LIES”  - some relief on this point!

So, the main sights we were led to in Meknes, were:

·         The Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail (the resting place of the sultan who made Meknes an imperial city).

·         The Habs Qara; Youssef said this huge underground cellar was more like a massive ‘dormitory’ for the prisoners working for the king – rather than a prison.  Personally, I failed to understand the distinction between a ‘prison’ and a ‘dormitory for prisoners’!

·         The most impressive structure was the big gate opposite the big square.  My Google search has since confirmed that this is an ‘important’ sight (it’s called the Bab Mansour gate and is apparently the biggest and the most important city gate in Meknes) – I don’t recall anything from the tour itself!

After seeing these sights, we were led on a tour through the markets… None of us in the group are quite sure how long this part of the tour lasted; maybe 20 minutes, maybe it seemed like an hour! - Essentially, we played follow-the-leader, winding our way through the packed market streets, for what seemed an inordinately long period.  We had been told that we must stick together as a group: with so many other people around it was hard not to get separated for periods, so it took quite considerable concentration to keep an eye ahead to the group member immediately in front of me.  We didn’t linger in any section, so we didn’t actually get to look at any of the products on sale.  I guess I did get an impression of the extent of what was on offer (EVERYTHING: from food – clothing – handicrafts – knick knacks – wood and building supplies…) but I certainly didn’t get an appreciation of anything, and it wasn’t a very fun or very satisfying way to experience a bustling market.  

From Meknes, we travelled on the next day to Fes.  Again, we were introduced to a local guide (the guides in Morocco are registered to operate in particular cities, therefore local guides are employed at each place – our tour leader’s role seemed to be more about keeping us all in line, rather than providing guiding expertise).  The tour in Fes took us:

·         Up the hill to get a good vantage perspective over the city.  It seemed to sprawl for miles, and what was most evident was the number of satellite dishes dotting the roofs!  - I think there were a fair number of mosque minarets as well. 

·         We were taken on a walking tour into the medina of Old Fes (the oldest walled part of the city), into the narrow streets and souks (markets).  Our guide pointed out a number of the ‘important / historic /  notable buildings – however over discussions the next day it was evident that none of our group were clear on exactly where we went, what we saw, or what was what!  I think this is partly due to the somewhat random nature that the tour seemed to take (the guide would tell us what we were about to see – before we got there – but then sometimes we would go somewhere else instead).  This wasn’t 100% his fault, as there was an issue with many buildings being closed due to rubbish (see below).

·         We had lunch in beautiful Riad: we stepped through a small non-descript door into a huge space: a central courtyard had been enclosed with a tent-like ceiling from which was hanging an ornate metal and glass light fitting, the walls were decorated with tiles and carved plaster detailing, and the seating was on velveteen couches, with masses of cushions.  I really got to like this style of seating, but the problem was that it really did encourage the tendency to recline – and it was very difficult to resist the urge to take a nap after a big meal.

·         The other feature of our tour of Fes was that they managed to fit in FOUR ‘demonstrations of the local handicrafts’ (i.e. shop visits).  We saw ceramics, carpets, leather (the tannery covered a huge area), and fabrics / scarves.  While some of what we saw was interesting, the sales spiel was a bit awkward, as none of our group were particularly interested in buying, and we all agreed that 4 stops in a day-tour was over the top.

·         The carpet salesmen did give me an opportunity to revise my original opinion that Moroccan salesmen were less ‘brazen’ with their innuendo than Turkish men…  we were shown a very nice woollen carpet, which was unfortunately spoiled by the mental image that it was for ‘jiggy-jig’ (much amusement from the Moroccan men ensued around this, and the conversation could only go downhill from there!...)

·         Bizarrely, one of the most interesting sights in Fes that day was the rubbish! (Let me explain…) Early in the day, we drove past a long parade of people marching down the street.  Our guide determined that these were local shop keepers from the medina who were angry that the rubbish had not been collected from the streets, and were marching to city hall (or whatever the Moroccan equivalent is) to demand action from their politicians.  As we toured around the city during the day we did see big piles of rubbish, and also encountered groups of people demonstrating (chanting, yelling), also many of the shops had been closed.  Our tour guides were very apologetic (they seemed embarrassed by this event – even though we assured them it wasn’t their fault). 

What was interesting to me; is that I had the pre-conceived idea that Morocco WOULD be dirty, and that piles of rubbish WOULD just be left on the streets.  Instead, these people were really angry that their city had been allowed to deteriorate into this state.

Our second day in Fes was a ‘free day’ – to do what we liked.  Carrie, Katie, Ken and I embraced the opportunity to spend a morning embracing the virtues of the hotel pool and sun (the others embraced the sun… I stuck to the shady side).  Our hotel was situated right within the medina, next to one of the main gates to the souks, and yet it was very tranquil with birds chirping, and the external noises seemed far away – It reminded me a little of Kathmandu: where I would escape the chaos of the outside world to the calm havens of cafes set in beautiful garden settings).

Shortly after midday the four of us ventured outside and into the market streets.  Although it was a bit hot we had a pleasant few hours: the streets had been cleaned, there were relatively few people out and about, we got a few offers for guides and salesmen trying to get us to look at their wares – but all were friendly.  After a few hours browsing, we managed to navigate to ‘Café Clock’ (a very well-known café within the medina – which was fortunate, as we had to ask for directions four times!)  The menu at Café Clock was the most interesting that I encountered in Morocco: rather than the standardised menu options of tagine, couscous or grilled meats, they had: peppers stuffed with rice and soft cheese, falafel with tabouleh salad, lamb burger with mint and tzatziki, and (the famous) camel burger!  (Ken had the camel burger – it was very tasty: and in hindsight I think camels make for better eating than modes of transport – or at least, more comfortable!!)

I found this quote on the Trip Advisor website (reviewing Café Clock), and I think it sums up my feelings about how to handle travel in the city: “While I absolutely love exploring the old city, having a place like the Clock to retreat to after a day of sensory overload was often appreciated”.