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Published: January 13th 2009
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Riad Due, Marrakech
A Riad is a traditional Moroccan house or palace. This one was converted into a hotel. All Riads have an inner courtyard and an overhead terrace rooftop. Before arriving in Morocco, I never expected to find such a diverse culture truly warm in hospitality, ever so historically rich in the ancient (both artistically and spiritually), and with an aggressive livelihood struggle surrounded by larger than life minarets, mosques, kasbahs and the timeless splendour of architectural mastery.
In my own experience, once you are engaged in the company of any Moroccan, either of Berber origin, Arab, Jewish, or one who is simply proud to discuss with you their Marrekshi or Fez background while exchanging their views on life, you truly begin to understand that there is a very caring and humane side to Moroccan culture. Of course, this is aside from the aggressive bartering, haggling, and ripping off tourists like myself on a visit! The price of merchandise or taxi services started 300% above the norm due to my accent. Merchants thought I was Moroccan, but, when I couldn't reply back in Arabic, I was automatically seen as a cash cow (meanwhile, if only they knew my circumstances)!
Interestingly, there are many Moroccans who live harmoniously with a brotherly and sisterly form of respect. They assist one another with random acts of kindness such as giving food,
Jardins de la Ménara / The Menara Gardens
Built in the 12th century (c. 1130) by the Almohad ruler Abd al-Mu'min. It was created as his cottage retreat. The basin water is channeled from the Atlas Mountains and the area is surrounded by Olive groves. particularly to the poor, or simply making way for elderly people on the street. Yet, there are some who are vocal en Français about their contemplations and reflect openly on the meaning of their existence in an ever increasingly marginalized North African Islamic world. There still remains a slight tinge of disdain for past colonial influence.
Nestled south of Europe and merely divided by the Strait of Gilbraltar between Spain and Morocco, a vast disparity of infrastructure is apparent between the two continents. Understandably, Morocco is considered to be a nation living in poverty and strife when compared to Western standards. However, the Islamic influence and cultural diversity overcomes this observation of imbalance in material wealth, and it masks the need for perfection in systems, processes and fast service, elements that we in North America would expect in our standards of living. For instance, the Moroccan way is one that involves taking your time, walking in stride, conversing or simply people watching while sipping a cup of mint tea and eating freshly baked Moroccan pastries or cookies. Dinner too is a conversationally rich and slow paced affair, with Harira soup and Khoubz as the standard starter. Khoubz is a
El Bahia Palace / Palais de la Bahia
The name of this palace translates as the Palace of the Brilliant. Built in the 19th Century, the palace has over 150 rooms and is still used by the Royal Family. freshly baked flat bread with a hard shelled texture yet soft and spongy on the inside, perfect for scooping up your Lamb Tajine - it's also available on every street corner baked fresh on a daily basis. Better yet is the experience of obtaining retail services with an in-depth conversation about details of your family and your personal background. Every merchant from the corner store to the pâtisserie gets to know you to the point where you are made to feel "right at home." Albeit, at times it can be somewhat aggressive and probing when compared to North American conventional discussion, but it never is meant to be intrusive. It's just the Moroccan way.
For myself, the refined manifestation of Moroccan cultural achievement was inextricably presented and artistically voiced in the form of myriad ancient ceremonial practices, festivals, sights, sounds and smells. The influence of Sufi, Berber, and Arab music, the assortment of cuisine and use of Argan and Olive oils, the exotic spices, the Zellij decorative tiles, the endless walls inscribed with ancient Islamic verses laid in stucco, the many Sidi (Saints) tombs, the row upon row of Mosques like those found in Fez, and of course, the
hidden Riads which are exquisitely decorated gave me only a fraction of the richness that I could find in such a short visit. When you stay in a highly fortified walled city called a Medina, you easily forget that you live in the 20th century, since Fez and Marrakech indeed exist as they did centuries ago, and still stand today as living museums of a medieval time period immersed in the now.
So much of the Abrahamic religion is represented in this ever historic region, including a once flourishing Jewish and Christian pluralism within the Islamic enclave. I found it difficult to believe that we termed "the West" place so much emphasis on our disparity of views with an Islamic world when there is so much to learn about co-existing with one another like Moroccans do. Of course, their history is not flawless, but it is a historical example of Moroccan pluralism.
Aside from my observations of culture, the places we made visit to were Marrakech (the Sufi city, red in colour because of the soil used to create the buildings and the great protective wall surrounding the city), Fez (once the capital of Morocco, it still retains
the scholastic and artistic barometer of the nation, it's educational capacity rivaled with that of the Al-Azhar University of Cairo in ancient times), the Atlas Mountains (Jbel Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa is a tranquil site far away from the madness of the Marrakech Medina), Moulay Idriss (the city of Prophet Mohammed's great grandson who originally founded Fez, escaped the Umayyads in Damascus from persecution, and created the Arab dynasty of Morocco), Volubilis (the ancient site of larger than life Roman Ruins) and Casablanca, the port city of the Atlantic Ocean serving up freshly caught seafood (mmmm...yummy in my tummy). Interestingly, Morocco was ruled by many empires of the Muslim world, including the Fatimids, plus the French, Portuguese, and Spanish have all made their marks in country and notably in the city of Casablanca.
Unbeknown to many in North America, Morocco is also known for it's wine. The city of Volubilis and Meknés where the Romans once had their most extreme trading post in North Africa is still an area known for cultivation of grapes from the same fields used thousands of years ago.
Similarly, the Moroccan artistic trade exemplifies century old methods of production still
used today to make hand made textiles, cotton, woolen rugs, djellaba designs (hooded outer robe with sleeves), copper plates, decorative lamps, and leather tanning. The traditional guild in Morocco doesn't need to create labels for each product saying "made in X." Rather, it's the simplicity of craftsmanship and hand made etiquette of artisan inspired products which is the brand.
All your senses are involved while walking the narrow streets of the medina. The foul odours of the Chouara tannery can be smelled outside the confines of the walled area at Fez, combined with loud tapping sounds of hand beaten copper plate designs heard nearby in another pocket. A few steps away and you smell the soap making spice infused scent that emerges from another nearby zone, and then stumble upon a new winding street that gets you lost in the medina but amazed at all the freshly baked bread, pastries, and hand picked produce that you have to indulge in.
Overall, Morocco was absorbed very quickly. With so much cultural and spiritual inspiration, I could only wish to stay longer in that vacuum of time so I could better describe the mystical essence which presides over the ancient
imperial cities of Fez and Marrakech. You have to make a longer visit to take in this beautiful country and absorb the vast array of culture into your spirit. Nonetheless, I've taken a piece of each imperial city, medina, and memory of the people I met with me. Next time, I'll be doing it the Moroccan way: One day, one hour, one minute, and one moment at a time.
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