Moroccan Madness

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Casablanca


Megan and I had an entertaining journey to the hotel in Casablanca. First of all we arrived in Casablanca airport and the captain said ‘’welcome to Marrakech’’ everyone panicked for a second before he hastily added ‘’oh sorry I meant Casablanca!’’ Then we had to get the train to Casa Port station, but didn’t realize we had to change so we got to the end of the line and thought, hmm… where are we?? So we had to get another train back to Casa Port, the first of which didn’t turn up, so we were stuck at that station for about 45 minutes. Eventually we got to Casa Port and got a completely pointless taxi to the hotel, just round the corner from the station, where Michele and Matilda were eagerly awaiting our arrival. They had flown to Marrakech and got the train from there, apparently having a much easier journey apart from a very hot and stuffy train!


The hostel was very Moroccan, the furniture, the colours, that we got offered mint tea when we arrived. There was a great view of Casablanca and the third biggest mosque in the world, Hassan II, from the roof terrace. We chilled for a bit then went out for dinner, one of the workers in the hostel took us right to the place which was very kind of him. It was called La Scala and was inside an old castle wall. It was a beautiful place, the tables all outside and surrounded by trees and a water feature in the centre. I decided I had had way too much meat in Madrid so went for vegetable tagine, which was yummy and very welcome! And the four of us sat down for a proper catch up, we had so much to tell! We went to bed pretty early that night, all a bit tired out, and had a good sleep apart from being woken up by the Imam at 5am!


In the morning we went for an explore around Casablanca. It was much cooler than we expected, being near the sea, and a bit cloudy. But by no means cold so we were very comfortable! Out of the hostel and left brought us into a real authentic part of Casablanca, market stalls selling cactus fruit and leather handbags, as well as the more usual clothes shops and corner stores. We wanted to find the central market so asked somebody to explain to us how to get there. He was very helpful and we found it eventually! The market was full of vegetables, meat, fish, everything you could want food wise, including live turtles! We walked down the street and brought some Moroccan sweets, like tiny sweet pastries, using a lot of almonds, and tried some sugar cane juice as well, which was yummy!


We noticed the tourist office opposite so went in there to have a look. And we got talked into going on a 3 hour tour of Casablanca in a minivan by the guy who worked there, his name was Boubouche or something like that I can’t remember! The tour started in an hour so we went for some lunch, a chicken and chips place that Michele had read was the best in Casablanca! And it was pretty good! Two other people came with us on the tour, a couple from Tenerife, the man was Spanish and the woman Polish, and they were very nice! Boubouche brought all the girls a bunch of flowers from a stall as we were waiting for the minivan, which was delayed somewhere. And he took us on a walk through the market where we had already been, then we sat down in the tourist office for a while. Eventually the minivan turned up and we were on our way!


The first stop on the tour was a ‘’museum’’, more like a beautiful building dedicated to the last few kings of Morocco, cool courtyards with fountains in the centre; halls of columns, everything in blue and white; intricate tiled walls and light fittings; rounded doorways and potted trees all around. A very peaceful place and we were the only people there. We walked through the town a bit, going past a mosque with it’s tall tower, to the royal palace. We weren’t allowed in but stood in awe of the huge doorway; again the surround was intricately patterned in blue and white, and the courtyard outside for gatherings of the people. Boubouche showed his pass to the security guards and we were allowed up to the door, I think it makes him feel special to be allowed in places as a tour guide that people aren’t usually supposed to go! He was a good tour guide though and told us a lot of things about Morocco, especially about the recent and current royal family. We walked through the Kasbah area, with all the colourful market stalls, and into a place where they make the Moroccan sweets. We saw the huge oven they use, the room itself was like an oven it was so hot, and all the trays of sweets. We got given one to try and then were ushered out again, to the next stop!


This was a garden in the centre of the city, a little bit of tranquility after all the huge buildings and bustling people. There were lots of trees and flowers, people sat on benches relaxing, and an ice cream man from whom Boubouche brought some ice cream for us. We had our photos taken with the kindly ice cream man then got back in the minivan. We drove past an area of the town where rich people live in huge houses, and past a military area where we weren’t allowed to take photos. And stopped near the beach. I have never seen so many people on one beach in my life, it was packed! There were lots of rock pools with children playing and an ‘’island’’ with white houses on just off the coast. And there was a group of young men on the beach, all dressed in blue with plastic bags, picking up the rubbish from the beach.


Next stop was just past a lighthouse, where you could see a great view of the city from across the bay, and a view of mosque Hassan II. The mosque itself was stunning, again decorated with white stone and blue patterns, arches separating the outside from the inner courtyard where the huge minaret rises up, and outside a massive courtyard surrounded by arches. Boubouche used his magic words and got us a peak inside the mosque, just one room for one minute, but as soon as we opened the door a crowd of people came rushing towards it, thinking they could get in. So we were shoved out pretty quickly! From the courtyard is again a great view of the city and the sea.


By this time we thought the tour would be over, but no, we went to the restaurant that we had been in the night before, and up to the roof for a look at the view. We went to a shop selling spices and perfumes and other toiletry products, which of course we felt we had to buy something from. We went to a carpet shop where we got given a huge presentation of carpets that went on forever (although we did get given mint tea so not so bad). I was feeling a bit claustrophobic in that shop so went outside where there were a load of men sitting around. They tried to get me to go into the shop again but once they realised I wasn’t going to buy anything they just started talking to me and were actually really fun to talk to! The girls brought some throws and I think the Spanish couple spent quite a lot, which the woman wasn’t too pleased about oops!


We started walking back towards the hostel and Boubouche wanted to take us for dinner but by this time it was getting late. Suddenly we realised we knew exactly where we were and where the hostel was, so we made our escape! I don’t think the Spanish couple were so lucky, they got dragged to dinner I think! So, two and a half hours after our tour was meant to finish, we made it back to the hostel!


When I was in Milan on the way to the airport I met a man from Casablanca, called Saad, who I wanted to meet up with again when I got to Morocco. So I contacted him and that evening he came to the hostel to meet us. We were sat outside drinking mint tea when he arrived with his two friends, Samir and Soundous, a married couple. They took us for a stroll along the beach front, much busier than it had been in the day, full of people dressed up for a night out! We had a great chat with Saad, who never stops talking, and then Samir and Soundous kindly invited us all back to their house for dinner! The four of us got in their car while Saad went to collect his wife, Kenza.


Their house was lovely, in a huge block in the centre of Casablanca, the living room walls lined in their entirety with long low sofas, which apparently can sleep 6 people! We looked at the wedding photographs of Samir and Soundous, who got married about 2 years ago. They told us the wedding lasted 4 hours and in that time Soundous had five different dresses, for different parts of the ceremony! Samir had two different outfits, one black and one white, but Soundous had two white dresses, one pink, one orange and one gold, and all the accessories, the shoes and everything, change with the dress as well! The photos were amazing! When Saad and Kenza arrived they were telling us about their wedding - Kenza pointing out that theirs was more lavish and expensive than the one we had seen in the photos - she was a great character and we had a lot of fun chatting to them!


Soundous made some pasta, some little quiches and salad, and we all sat around a big round table to eat. By this time it was about midnight, but we were all in high spirits because of the generosity of these lovely people! They told us we had to come back, and that we could sleep at their houses for as long as we wanted. They all drove us back to the hostel and we went to bed exhausted, but what a great day!


Marrakech


Next day we got the train to Marrakech and walked to the hotel from the station. We arrived in the afternoon and it was baking hot so we got straight in the pool in the hotel. It was a much more posh place than the one we stayed in Casablanca. We were all in one apartment; the sofas had been turned into two beds. It was a really nice hotel so we spent the afternoons in the pool and upstairs sunbathing on the roof terrace!


In the evening we headed into the centre of Marrakech, where the market is. And we weren’t disappointed, the market was huge! We walked through the mass of people around a few stalls and found our way to the food tents. At the first one we came to, the people were shouting ‘’Jamie Oliver ate here!’’ so we decided to go for that one! There were long tables completely full of people so it took them a minute to find us a space, but they squeezed us in and I ordered lamb tagine and couscous, absolutely beautiful food! The waiters were friendly and efficient, the food was all laid out on a huge table and you could see it being cooked, everywhere was sound and smoke and smells, it was a rush for the senses!


After eating we went for a walk and got some henna done on our hands and legs - expensive and rubbish as it turned out, but we were pleased at the time! And then we went for a wander around the maze of market stalls. Some were outside but a huge chunk were in covered streets, some parts had two storeys, but everywhere were people and colours and beautiful things. I was nervous about this part because I had been told that some people hate the markets and the hassle you get, but we didn’t find it at all bad. People ask you to look but you just say no or shake your head and they leave you alone. They don’t touch you or follow you or annoy you in any way. Some people we spoke to in the stalls were happy just to talk and they happily let you walk away. I guess there are a lot of tourists and people buying things, they are not so desperate to sell.


Outside the market stalls is a huge square where people, like buskers, go to make some money. There were people with snakes that they drape around your neck, monkeys on chains wearing nappies, men dressed up as women, people drumming and dancing, people doing little performances, and attached to them all is someone on the lookout for people taking photographs - you take a photo, you pay!


The next morning we went to the tourist information office and booked a tour into the Atlas mountains for the next day. It was getting hot already so we spent the afternoon in the pool again. Around 4 pm we headed out to go and see the Saadian tombs, a place where kings are buried. Some tombs were inside buildings with patterned tiles on the walls and rounded doorways, and some outside in the courtyard. All were low stones, horizontal along the ground, but the most important ones were more elaborate styles. The place was peaceful apart from some loud Spanish kids that were there! There were storks there as well, one of which was asleep inside the tomb building, taking no notice of us taking photos of it!


We walked back to the market place, through a part of the palace walls and through a more dirty and somehow more real life part of the city, down a main street where Michele and I stopped to buy some ice cream, and the market at the bottom. Today were more snake charmers and Michele hates snakes so her and I avoided them while Matilda went to get some pictures of them! Megan was feeling too well so we went and sat in a café and got a drink. Megan sat there for about two hours until she felt better, while Matilda and I went for an explore. We saw some snakes and got them drapped around our necks, Matilda pretended to walk off with one while the man was running behind asking for money!


We went to find some food and walked all through the restaurant part, at one point all the tables were empty so we were walking down and there were about twenty men on both sides shouting at us to sit at their restaurants. It was a bit intimidating so we ended up back at the same place, and the waitress recognised us so we were happy to go back there. Again it was packed so it was clearly the best place! Again I ordered lamb and again it was amazing food! We went for a walk around the market again after, to a different section, but I wasn’t feeling too enthusiastic about buying anything so we decided to leave it until the next day, our last night.


A taxi picked us up at 9 am with Ahmed in it, our driver for the day. We headed for the Atlas mountains. Along the way Ahmed told us some things about Morocco, like about how there are three different peoples in Morocco, and we would mostly be seeing Berber people that day. First we stopped at a shop and were taken to the roof for a great view of the mountains. The drive into the mountains was stunning and I couldn’t stop taking pictures out the window, of views, of people walking by, of camels and donkeys, of shops and houses with men sat outside. We stopped as well in a plant nursery and got another lecture about beauty products, got made to try a load so came out stinking like a perfume shop. We drove all along a river, little bridges leading to cafes all along the way, people swimming in the river and sunbathing on the banks.


The end of the road was a little village where we could walk up to a waterfall. The driver insisted we got a guide to take us, and found us Mohammad, who was twenty-nine and had been guiding people up the waterfalls for ten years. He took us across the bridge, up to a few Berber shops, up a steep and stony path to the waterfall. There were people everywhere along the way, selling things or just going for a walk, one interesting thing we saw was the ‘’Berber fridge’’ a bottle full of icy water from the river, with holes in, spinning around and cooling down all the bottles of coca cola and sprite around it. Other bottles (and occasionally oranges) were placed completely in pools of the river to keep them cool. Matilda decided to stay down in the village area to watch the people, while the three of us went up to the waterfall. More and more people were coming along as we were walking, and once we got to the waterfall there was a mass of people sat around it, and a lot of children in it, splashing a shrieking. We ate some lunch up there and dipped our feet, which went numb after five seconds!


Coming back down was even more packed with people and in the end it was more like rock climbing than walking, but we made it and found Matilda sitting like a Berber woman in a headscarf, relaxing on some cushions. Mohammad took us back to the shop but I didn’t want anything so sat outside and watched a man sat on the ground carving a stone sculpture to sell. Back in the village we looked for our driver Ahmed, who apparently went to the mosque for a pray, so we went to a café for a drink. There was a way down to the river from the café so I went to dip my feet a bit.


On the way back to Marrakech we stopped in a Berber market and Matilda and I got picked up by a man who wanted to show us around. It was a proper, bustling food market, and the man showed us the butchers, the ‘’donkey park’’ (i.e. a car park for donkeys), the barber shop and all the stalls in between, selling fruits, nuts, herbs, salt, everything you could want! The man told us that no Berber women are allowed in the market, only Berber men and some women from Marrakech, and of course tourists. So we were then made to buy some jewellery from him - it was nice stuff so we didn’t mind - and found our way back to the taxi. I think Matilda and I felt that in twenty minutes we had been overwhelmed with images and bombarded with life, we were so het up and excited by the time we got in the taxi I think the others wondered what had happened to us! But that trip around the market was possibly the best experience we had of Moroccan life.


Back in Marrakech we took a dip in the pool and went out to the market once more. We ate in a nice restaurant this time, with a great view over the market, and again I ordered an amazing lamb tagine dish, with some Moroccan sweets for afters. We went around the market once more and this time we brought things, I got a few Christmas presents so felt quite pleased with myself! We all brought so much that Michele decided to buy an extra bag to put it all in for the journey home on the plane! Matilda only brought hand luggage so the extra bag was her hold luggage. It was hilarious packing it up with suspicious looking parcels, Matilda was convinced she would be arrested at the airport and put in Moroccan prison!


In the morning I had to leave earlier for the flight back to Madrid, so we said a sad goodbye to each other, and I said a very sad goodbye to Morocco, it was so different to anywhere in Europe, I found it quite refreshing and can’t wait to go back!

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