We went to Morocco for our first international trip together. Matt, Karen and Steve traveled together - son, wife and father. Steve planned every stage of the travel and accommodations. We took a bus to NYC. From there we flew Air Maroc directly to Casablanca. We chose to visit 3 cities while we were there for two weeks. The first 5 days we acclimated in Casablanca. During that time I booked our train to Fes. The idea of traveling to Africa and a Muslim country was intimidating. We went in December just after a Muslim terrorist attack in Paris. Anyway, I remember waking up the first morning and hearing the Muslim call to worship. We were not in Kansas anymore.
The whole city filled with this strange sound in the dark stillness of the night. I felt like I'd landed on another planet overnight. Nothing so grabs your attention in a city that I've visited as the call to worship in a Muslim country. It was challenging enough to our sensibilities to have the Arab tunic and headdress for men and the abaya that women wear. Of course the written and spoken language was challenging enough to manage, but the totality of being immersed added both excitement and trepidation.
Sites
Insights
Traveling was pain free in Morocco. We took cabs and they were cheap. We took trains and they were functional and relatively on time. We hired a driver to do a two day trip to the Sahara desert. Casablanca is characterized as a huge cosmopolitan port city. There are wide open spaces. Fes and Marrakech are much more crowded, especially the medina. This was the first market and first medina we visited. We met our first water sellers and wandered around the tourist area.
Delights
Bright lights
We visited the old medina in Fes. This could have been the biblical era for the architecture. The streets were very narrow like an alley. The kitchen stoves are fueled by gas - either propane or butane. The tanks had to be hauled in thru the alleys on a donkey. A guy from our riad met us with a cart to carry our luggage. A riad is a traditional 3 story family house. The entrance is thru a huge traditional door that usually has a smaller embedded door. The basement has the kitchen and some sleeping quarters. The second floor has bedrooms and the third floor is a rooftop terrace. The riad we stayed in was decorated in the historical design. There is an atrium which is standard in the architecture of the riad. The atrium brings light in thru the roof all the way to the basement. The second floor has a beautifully carved wooden balcony. Our balcony had a nice dining room table where we ate breakfast and dinner. The rooftop terrace was just like an outdoor patio. The rest of the house is not well ventilated so it's nice to have access to fresh air. The single door to the whole riad (a fire hazard) was a very secure double door. Each of the rooms had its' own shower. The door to each room was the full height of the room and an inset small door. The entire riad would easily sleep 15 people. We rented the entire thing for $50 a night including breakfast. For an extra $10 we got dinner for 3.