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On the way towards Fez, we stopped to see some Roman Ruins in a place called Volubilis. Currently trying to get funds from Unesco World Heritage Sites, they are seeking to expand their recovery, which so far seems to be a small area of what lies there.
We saw many colums and what used to be large homes, containing many rooms, including saunas! The Romans knew what they were doing when it comes to plumbling! Also, many mosaics have been recovered, some almost completely intact, and retaining their colors, due to the natural stones used instead of painted stones.
Arriving in Fez, and finally enjoying a two night stay after a bunch of travelling, we all decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner. Typical Moroccan food includes Tagine, which is sort of like a crock pot slow cooking process, but done in a special container and then cooked in a clay oven. Tagine can be made with veg, lamb, beef, meatballs, and may or may not include couscous and a 45 spice sauce, which is not spicy-hot, just very aromatic. Also popular and kebabs (skewers), and mint tea using green tea and fresh mint leaves, and very refreshing because most of Morocco is very dry like Arizona.
The next day we met our guide to venture into the largest souk, nearly 10,000 streets! The whole experience was a feast for the senses! From towers of colorful spices, to meats hanging upside down, to gold and silver chairs rented out for weddings, everything can be found here. We made many stops to visit local craftsmen, including pottery and mosaics, carpet weavers, traditional Moroccan clothing, and metal workers. Everything, and I mean everything is made by hand in Morocco, we have only seen one factory and it was to make cement. Our guide's name is Hakima, one of only 2 female guides that work in Fez. As our group is 12 and 11 of us are women, we had a few questions for her.
Being in a Muslim country, we are asked to respect the culture and cover at least shoulders and knees at all times. She was the first one to tell us that we were visitors in their country, and we also need to be respected for who we are. However, if you want to avoid extra attention, it is wise to cover up, and when you do see a tank top, it does look out of place and you are glad it isn't you looking like that. I have also been covering up the curls, as men don't even hesitate to come up and smell your hair!
The sellers in the souk are usually male and very nice (of course) trying to get you to buy something you may not need. We found that if we pointed at something or said 'i like that' we would be instantly trapped for many minutes trying to weasel back out of the situation! I has suggested we have a code, so we came up with 'L.T' for like that, 'H.T.' for hate that, and 'N.B.' for not bad. This method has been working well, since most shop sellers speak not only Arabic and Arabic dialects, but English, French, and also often Spanish! Some of the girls have also been using it for describing the local men!
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Alex
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And you're off!
Alright Gina! Nice start to the blog. I hope you can continue this throughout the trip. And your tour is 11 girls and 1 guy? That guy is either really lucky or really cursed! Time will tell...