Blogs from Morocco, Africa - page 193

Our second destination was Fes, one of the biggest cities in Morocco. We took a train there, which was a ride of seven or so hours from Casablanca and not very expensive. We were able to get a good look at Morocco, and I must say I am impressed with how beautiful it is. Long flat vistas of green, dotted by picturesque towns and grazing herd animals, watched by young boys or men with sticks. Where there were hills, they were similarly smooth and green, and despite the complete lack of clouds in the sky for our entire visit the land was always lush with vegetation and life. Despite the beauty of the countryside, we did have one incident along the way. About four hours into the train ride, we heard a loud crack, which everyone ... read more

After breakfast this morning, I caught a shared taxi to azrou. According to my LP book, once a week, in azrou, there is a big souk, where all the locals come to haggle over their berber carpets. The once a week is a tuesday, and, as today happened to be a tuesday, off i went. azrou is on the road to fez, and it took us about an hour and a half in the taxi. I think i perhaps got there a little late in the day - altho was there before 11- as the souk seemed to consist of a covered market like the sort youd find in provincial towns the world over, a fez bits and bobs of shops selling local products - where i tried out my haggling skills and bought some cushion ... read more

Everyone in our room seemed to be checking out today, so were all up fairly early. Breakfast was a bit lame and made us glad it was our last one. We then dumped our bags in the luggage room and checked out. From the hostel we went into a department store looking for a few things; toilet roll, socks and lense cleaner. All the things Morroco might not have. Although we didn't find anything of what we wanted we did manage to go to the top of the building looking for toilets; all eight floors! After not finding what we wanted we moved on to a second supermarket on La Ramblas. Here we got a little tipple before moving to a new veggie restaurant for lunch. We opted for a vegetarian restaurant from our guidebook which ... read more

We were looking forward to a long layover in Essaouira, a place that had been given a universal thumbs-up from everyone we'd talked to about Morocco. Essaouira has morphed from its original incarnation as a picturesque fishing town into a hippie hangout (Jimi Hendrix made a fabled visit here in the 60s), an enclave for Moroccan and European artists (picking up annual cultural, music and film festivals along the way), a windsurfing mecca, and then, inevitably, a hot real estate market for European expats and vacationers. Along the way it's developed a tolerant attitude towards foreign influences and mores, and a very comfortable infrastructure that lulls the visitor into sticking around and spending lots of money, which is pretty much what we did. We decided that, unlike most other Moroccan cities we've visited, we really wanted ... read more

So we have all heard of Casablanca. Humphry Bogart running a bar in French Morocco and hanging out with the ex-pats. Its a sultry image, a stylish and cosmopolitan enclave in Africa. In reality, Casablanca is nothing like its Hollywood image. But then again, what is? Real-life Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco, although not its capital (Rabat) and as such it is a busy and sprawling city with an affluent centre that gradually extends out into more residential and communal areas. Apart from the modern nightclubs and restaurants that line the coast, it is true that Casablanca is not a stunning city. It is not red like Marrakesh, or blue like the village in the north that is featured on all the postcards. It is a working city more than a tourist centre, and ... read more