Part 2 - Marrakesh

As night time approached, we went to the market square - Djemma el Fna - Fig 1.







Fig 1 - the famous market square Djemma el Fna.








It was just packed with people with all sorts of activities taking place. There were snake charmers - Fig 2 and 3,






Fig 2 - snake charmers.



















Fig 3 - snake charmers.












little monkeys on ropes; all sorts of games to play - Fig 4;






Fig 4 - trying to get a small ring on a bottle top using a fishing line - it is nearly impossible to do!








and all types of different foods to eat - including snails, sheeps head - Fig 5,







Fig 5 - people sitting around waiting for their sheeps head to be served!







a 'chocolate' like cake and wonderful tea made out of many different spices - Fig 6 and 7.







Fig 6 - some of the many spices used to make the tea drink.











Fig 7 - Barry sampling some of the tea.







and wonderful fresh juice to buy - Fig 8.










Fig 8 - Aviva drinking some of the red grapefruit drink - really yum!










And, ofcourse, there was 'Coca Cola' - Fig 9.











Fig 9 - Coca Cola is everywhere!











A was really a world of variety and wonderment.

Fig 10 - Beghir being made - a type of fried pancake.







In the morning we were treated to a true Moroccan breakfast. We started off by having a mixture of orange and grapefruit drink. Then there were a number of different breads. One type, called Beghir - Fig 10, was like a fried pancake.

Fig 11 - a bubbly pikelet (top) and a fried flat bread (bottom).










Another type was like a bubbly pikelet - Fig 11, and a third was like fried flat bread - Fig 11. There was also French toast made out of thick cake like bread. All these were served with either honey (a favorite of Morocco), fig or strawberry jam, and tea and coffee. At some breakfasts, later on in our trip, we had a semi soft-boiled egg with cumin seeds on it; the egg was absolutely delicious!

Fig 12 - the domed, ornate entrance to the Marrakesh Medina, with the Moroccan flags either side.







The entrance to the Marrakesh Medina - Fig 12.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the souk in the Medina. The pathways are quite narrow and getting lost is relatively easy to do!

Part 3 - to Ouarzazate and the northern Sahara.

The next day we set off in an south easterly direction toward Ouarzazate, over the High Atlas Mountains - Fig 1.

Fig 1 - the road tracking across the High Atlas Mountains.







with a stop at Alt Benhaddou - Fig 2 and 3 - one of the great Kasbahs left in Morocco (a Kasbah has four lookout - one at each corner - which were used as the forts of the various tribes that lived in or invaded Morocco. The great Kasbah at Alt Benhaddou was used to film 'The Gladiator', 'Laurence of Arabia' etc., and is quite imposing.

Fig 2 - the great Kasbah of Alt Benhaddou

Fig 3 - the enormous expanse visible from the top of the Kasbah.

We stayed overnight at Dar Daif. As night was falling we drank mint tea and ate almond biscuits in the serene setting sun outside our room. Dinner was accompanyed by a man playing a lute - a mixture between as oud and a banjo - Fig 4 - who sang simple Moroccan songs that were really catchy. It was just wonderful.

Fig 4 - a Moroccan man playing the 'oud'/banjo.











We began our dinner with a red grapefruit drink with dates and olives or Zitoun. Then we had Harira soup - Fig 5 - chickpea and mutton soup - yum!

Fig 5 - Harira soup.








Then we had couscous tagine with chicken - Fig 6, and then a mixture of fresh fruit and Mouhallabiya - a milk pudding. It was a really delightful meal. Alcoholic beverages are not really permitted in Morocco although some restaurants serve them under their 'secret menu'!

Fig 6 - couscous with chicken.








We passed valleys with palm tree groves producing dates

Fig 7 - lots and lots of dates!







on our way to the Todra gorges. Some of the gorges were up to 600 feet high - it was really impressive - Fig 8 and 9.

Fig 8 - very high gorges.

Fig 9 - the gorges are used in the summer for rock climbing.












Then on to Efroud where a four wheel vehicle drove us far into the desert. It took approximately one hour. Towards evening we ended in a place called Zagora where we jumped onto camels. Actually, they were dromedaries - Fig 10: they have one hump where camels have two humps.

Fig 10 - Aviva, James and I set trail on our Dromedaries.







These dromedaries took us further into the dessert where we saw the sun setting - a most beautiful sight! The desert (the north part of the Sahara desert) is a desolate place with only a very occasional tufts of grass; the occasional Berber tent and its folks - Fig 11

Fig 11 - a Berber man in his tribal dress, dispensing water for us.













and unending sand dunes - Fig 12.

Fig 12 - the unending sand dunes of the Sahara desert.

Fig 13 - the sun setting on the Sahara desert.










It was really quite strange - some of the Berber tents have solar panels now!

Fig 14 - the 'three musketeers' on the top of endless sand dunes.







We came back from our dromedary ride at night time and we slept in a Berber tent at Auberge Dunes d'Or. It was really quite warm in the desert but it got a little but chilly at about 4.00am. Thank goodness we were under Berber blankets - Fig 15 - they are SO warm!

Fig 15 - Barry under a Berber blanket.

Fig 16 - our little fire could be seen for kilometers in the empty desert.







When the outside fire went out and we were alone in the desert, it was totally dark except for the bright stars - just wonderful! Zagora is about 30 kilometers from the Algerian border, and at present, Morocco has a very poor relationship indeed with Algeria.

Early the next morning, we settrack in the 4 WD once again across the nothingness Fig 17 - the Sahara desert, and went back to Erfoud and our car once again.

Fig 17 - the complete 'nothingness' which makes up the bulk of the Sahara desert.

Part 4 - from the desert to and including Fes.

We travelled quite far in a northerly direction that day, crossing the Atlas Mountains into cool forests full of Cedar wood to a 'Swiss' village at Ifrane that really looked like a Swiss village - Fig 1.

Fig 1 - the 'Swiss' village.









Like Lucarno in Switzerland, the lion - Fig 2 - is representative of this 'Swiss' town!

Fig 2 - the lion of Lucarno in Morocco.










And then onto Fes where we stayed at a Riad called Dar Attajalli - this Riad like the other we had stayed at was extremely comfortable.

And for breakfast, we had a whole range of Moroccan cheeses - Fig 3.

Fig 3 - three different types of Moroccan cheese - two soft and one hard.







And a srange sort of starter - Fig 4, that consisted of avocado, a mixture of watermelon and strawberries and a milky cream mixture!

Fig 4 - avocado and watermelon-strawberry mixture.












In Fes we had a guide who took us to the Kings palace where, because the King was in Fes, we were allowed to take photos of certain places outside the palace only - Fig 5.

Fig 5 - Aviva and I standing outside the Kings palace.








We were taken to an old Islamic school - the Medersa with its intricate and ancient carvings and ceramic work - Fig 6 and 7.

Fig 6 - inside the Medersa of Fes with its intricately sculptured archways behind.

Fig 7 - the very careful sculpture in plaster.




We went to the pottery works where people do intricate designs by hand; the tannery where men still ply the ancient art by treading on the skins with their bare feet and making all types of colors for the leather - by really ancient methods. The skins are initially put in a lime solution to rid them of all fatty tissue - Fig 8

Fig 8 - large vats of lime solution used to de-fat the animal skins.

Fig 9 - the various colors used to color the leather.

Fig 10 - the skins are in these vats for many weeks.







and then colored - Fig 9, and the color is then fixed - Fig 10 - all a time consuming method!

And food - there was food galore!

Fig 11 - note the green stamps on the meat.









The green stamps on the meat - Fig 11, indicate that the meat is of 1st quality - the best possible to buy!

Fig 12 - just a reminder where the meat comes from!!












The camel's head - Fig 12, by the side of the meat indicates that the meat comes from camels - it is not mutton!

Fig 13 - our guide pointing out the finer points of making a Tagine.










Our guide pointed out the way to cook a Tagine properly: cook the fruit separately and add it just before serving - Fig 13. Also with a chicken Tagine, squeeze lemon juice over the chicken and leave it for about a day! This simple process changes the taste of the Tagine significantly.

Fig 14 - heaps and heaps of dried fruit.









and then, of course -

Fig 15 - a 'Dentist' surgery.











Who can resist a 'Dentist' surgery - Fig 15?

And the great Medina of Fes is layed out like a post card - Fig 16.

Fig 16 - the sprawling city and Medina of Fes.







At night, we ate amongst other things, beef meat balls in a mixture of Moroccan spices - Fig 17. It was truly yum!

Fig 17 - the yummy mixture of beef meat balls with Moroccan spices.

Part 5 - from Fes to Rabat and back to Marrakesh.

We caught a train the next day to go in a westerly direction to Rabat – the political capital of Morocco – on the sea shore. We were met in Rabat by one of Aviva’s friends who used to work at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne when Aviva was there. Alexandra or ‘Alex’ originally comes from Paris where she met Ismail, a Moroccan man working for Connex. He was sent out to Australia and Alex came with him. I met Alex through Aviva and she is a really nice lady as is her husband. She took us to her house, which is a very fine house in a very fine area of Rabat. They have one son called Ilias - Fig 1.

Fig 1 - James,Barry,Aviva,Alex,Ismail holding Ilias.







They looked after us really, really well!

We visited the Hassan Tower and the ‘Mohammed V’ Mausoleum (grandfather to the current King) - Fig 2.

Fig 2 - the 'Mohammed V’ Mausoleum.









And, of course, a visit to the ‘Souk’ within the walled Medina - Fig 3.

Fig 3 - the Souk in the walled Medina.








On the Saturday an annual festival called ‘Aid el Adha’ was held. In this festival, every family that is able takes a sheep - Fig 4.

Fig 4 - a person carrying home a sheep.












The sheep is slaughtered in the morning and the heads are cooked on the street corners - Fig 5

Fig 5 - the smoke arising out of the cooking of the sheeps heads.






while the sheep’s meat is left for a day or so to mature. All of the morning the towns in Morocco are full of butchers with their sharp knives, going from house to house slaughtering the sheep. Each family is supposed to keep one-third of the meat, give a third to their neighbors and a third to the poor who cannot afford to slaughter a sheep. Ismail took us to the sea shore where you could see a red wash coming from all the blood that had flowed through the drains in town.

We waited for the train at Rabat station, and whilst we were waiting we just had to take a photo - Fig 6!

Fig 6 - Barry, Aviva and James.







After Rabat we went by train to Casablanca (also on the coast) and then inland in a southerly direction to Marrakesh again for one night before we went back to wintery, blustery London!

Fig 7 - clear, sunny Marrakesh!







It was so warm in Marrakesh - Fig 7 – and so cold in London.

I hope that you have enjoyed my foody travelogue of Morocco!