Advertisement
I considered it an omen. The moon was in cresent just past new and right below it almost close enough to be touching was the brightest light in the night sky and one of the only ones strong enough to burn through the surronding light pollution. It was definitely a plantet probably Venus as the evening star. Much the same way the ancient Maya used certain alignments of Venus (the celestial embodiment of one of the Hero Twins from the Popul Vuh) as a sign of the right time to make war on their neighbors or enemies I'd be taking this cosmic alignment as a heavenly blessing on my upcoming travels.
That was the night before I left and flew from Seattle to New York and then on to Casablanca. Having to pick up my fifty pound pack in JFK get it to a different terminal and recheck it for the Royal Air Maroc flight was a pain especially since I had to go through security again. Which is always fun because I just love waiting in incredibly long lines but with a five hour layover it wasn't really a concern.
I got into Casa in
the morning after flying all night. After taking the train into the city I found a place to stay and hit streets. There really wasn't all that much that I wanted to see other than the huge Hasan II mosque which is one of the very few mosques open to non-muslims. It cost something like half a billion dollars and took ten years or so to build. The minuret is something like 210m almost 700ft high and must have great views out over the city. The main inside space is gigantic and can accomadate thousands. The ceilings are at least 100ft (30m) high and while the interior lighting is modest; as far as my camera was concerned taking a picture of the ceiling was the eqivalent of taking a picture of a black hole. The intricate plaster work and tile mosaics were impressive. After seeing the mosque I spent the rest of the day wandering around, dodging traffic and playing chicken at a distinct disadvantage. I checked out the main square, the palace, the ministry of justice and the clocktower all of which were built in the distinctive Moroccan style. I didn't really have the funds to check out Casa's
nightlife (maybe some other time) so the next day I took the train to Fes.
I got to Fes in the afternoon and got a room at the Hostel. I spent the rest of the day walking around the ville nouville with some other travelers that I met at the hostel. We stopped at one of the cafes and I tried some of the strong black Moroccan coffee which is served with three rectangular bricks of sugar and it wasn't bad. The next day I checked out the medina which is a mind boggling maze of over 9000 tiny streets housing 350,000 people. I walked around the medina all day and saw the different quarters and neighborhoods (Berber, Andalusian, Jewish etc.) I looked through a lot of different shops from leather to woodwork to carpets to pottery to everything else and was subjected to about a million different sales pitches. I ended up buying a small two piece Mahogany sphere/bowl with a wood grained pattern that looked like flames. I was planning on checking out where they make the famous blue Fassi pottery but didn't have enough time that day, maybe on the way back south after Meknes
and Volubilis.
Yesterday I decided to head north to Chefchoaen and see some of the Rif. I got a bus from Fes in the afternoon and got to Choaen about 9pm. I was already tired by the time I had to change buses for the last 70K. That last 70K was some of the windiest road I've ever seen. Right up there with the ride from San Pedro to Xela, Palenque to Ocosingo, Puerto Escondido to Oaxaca (7hrs 70 miles as the crow flies) and El Tuito to Aquiles Serdan (3hrs 20 road miles). I spent the entire time falling asleep, waking up and falling asleep again. The bus driver must have raced cars in a previous life because he drove that beat up bus like a formula one car, spending most of the time on the wrong side of the road and only bothering to move over when there was oncoming traffic. It rained on and off yesterday and I suspect today will be more of the same as the sky is a beautiful overcast grey and the summits of the mountains are all obscured in the clouds. If the weather clears I may try hiking the
high local peak in the area or just chill out and go with the flow.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 13; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0226s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb