Casablanca et Fès!

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Hello everyone! I am sorry it has taken me so long to type up my adventures from Spring Break...once I got back from traveling I was quite sick and took a few days to go to the doctor and recuperate! The next thing I knew, classes had started again, and now my grandparents are here visiting the city of lights! I thank you all for your patience....enjoy the adventures!

Casablanca

We safely arrived in Casablanca and the flight was uneventful. We would learn later that we were one of the last flights to leave Paris before the volcanic ash cloud closed airports all over Europe, so we were very lucky we got to come at all! We were met at the airport by the ISA Meknès director, who was to be our guide for the day. We stepped out of the airport into very warm weather, much different than we had just left in Paris! However, we soon climbed onto the air-conditioned bus to head to the Mosque.

On the way to the mosque, we took a photo stop by a fountain with many pigeons, and Gabriel greased the palms of a couple men in some sort of supposedly traditional garb with bells so that we could take photos.





The mosque was breathtaking. It is the 3rd largest in the world, and it has the highest minaret. We took a tour in French, where I learned interesting things about Islam that I had not known before.




















Our next stop was lunch, where we had salad with nuts, kebabs of chicken or beef, fries, and veggies. I was so hungry I forgot to take pictures before I started eating!








The meat was exquisitely spiced, with a wonderful dipping sauce. While we ate, the skies opened up. This cooled things down considerably, although I had been enjoying the heat, since Paris had decided to remain quite chilly.

We then went back to our bus for a 3-5 hour ride to Fès, where we would be spending the first night. We listened to some Moroccan music on the bus and it was interesting.

I was surprised by how much French is used here. I knew people spoke it, but most signs are in both French and arabic which I appreciate since I can’t even begin to read arabic!

From the window, I saw many little farms in the mountains. The houses seem barely able to hold together, and only once in a while did I see a car. I wondered how far a town was, and it really made me appreciate how lucky I am to live where I do and to have the opportunities I do.

Fès

Our hotel was pretty nice, but the wiring in the room was strange...I couldn’t charge batteries for my camera unless I also had lights on! Dinner was buffet style and pretty good. After dinner I went with some people to the hotel bar and tried a Moroccan beer, which was okay, and got to know some of the people I would be exploring this new country with.

Breakfast the next morning was a buffet, similar to what we have had in hotels in France, but with the special addition of Moroccan pancakes, which are absolutely amazing with a bit of honey. We started our day on the bus, and our tour guide first took us to an old Moroccan palace. The façade was built by Jewish craftsmen as a thank you to the king for giving them a home when they were exiled from Spain in 1492. The doors are brass, not gold, but shined with lemon juice so they appear so.


















Next, we went to the medina. It is one of, if not the biggest in the world, and no maps exist of it. It is a dizzying maze of narrow alleyways.












If we had not had a guide, I think I might have been lost forever. No alleyway has a name, no building a number. Those who live inside have to learn the way by landmarks! There are shops of all kinds of meat, fruit, and vegetables. Flies buzz around while mangy cats and dogs wander the streets. There is leather, brass goods, beautiful clothing, knives, cassette tapes, and almost anything you could think of.
















































It is dirty and crowded, though we went on a Friday, which is the Sabbath day in Islam, so many of the shops were closed and it was significantly less busy than if we had gone on another day of the week! The medina is certainly not a place for the claustrophobic! There is a huge university where thousands come to learn and pray, which was founded by a woman named Fatima. It (and the medina itself) have been there since 789.








We were given “roses” to show we were in the market for a spouse, though I don’t believe anyone found one! The roses aren’t like those I’ve seen in the states, and they smelled absolutely amazing! I did a half-decent job of pressing one in my journal.

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