Volubilis, Moulay Idriss, and Meknes

Thursday, April 25

Today was our side trip outside of Fes.  Thankfully, it turned out to be a straightforward siteseeing day.  Ibrahim picked us up early to take us out to see the Roman ruins of Volubilis, followed by a visit to the mountain-side town of Moulay Idriss, and then Meknes.

Lake Barrage Sidi Chahed - an artificial lake (created by a dam) on the way to Volubilis

Volubilis

The Romans obviously had an appreciation for breathtaking landscapes

The House of Orpheus

Moulay Idriss.  I didn't have any great shots from Moulay Idriss so I borrowed this one from online.  (Credit: The Guardian)

You will almost inevitably do a lot of shopping while you're in Morocco.  However, if you can resist, hold off until you have been calibrated to the appropriate prices for things.  We found that the best prices were actually to be found in Essaouira, our final stop.

Everything you see tends to be sold nearly everywhere you go.  This includes ceramics, scents, spices, leather goods, jewelry, rugs, and woodwork.  The only two exceptions we found were the Damascene metalwork in Meknes, and the brass/copper metalwork in Marrakesh.  So if you see something you like

Damascene is a type of metalcraft made by hammering thin threads of silver (or other soft metal) into a harder contrasting metal - in this case, blackened iron.  The result is quite striking and the only place where we found a lot of it was in Meknes.  One store in Essaouira had several pieces.  This was Dante's favorite craft and when we couldn't find any in Marrakesh, he regretted not getting more while we were in Meknes.  Ibrahim had told us it was not found anywhere else in Morocco and it turned out to be true.   It actually makes sense when you realize that Damascene is not originally a Moroccan craft.  For whatever reason, Damascene craftsmen just happened to be in Meknes.

Damascene (Credit: Someone else's blog)

Lunch at a terraced restaurant that Ibrahim recommended - YUM!

Where are we?

Beef - it's what's for dinner

Cats waiting in line at the butcher shop

Moulay Ismail Mausoleum

Traditional Moroccan doorways in the Moulay Ismail Mausoleum

Moulay Ismail Mausoleum

Fes - Day 2, The Long Con

Wednesday, April 24

As we parted ways with Mohammed the day before, we had agreed to meet with him the next morning for additional "touring" through the Medina.  In truth, we were half hoping he wouldn't show up since the day before didn't seem to be on the up and up.  But Mohammed figured he had us on the hook.  Sure enough, as soon as we walked out, he found us.  We just didn't have the heart to tell him to go away at the time, but thought maybe he could at least lead us to a couple of places we wanted to see.  Ed had identified a couple of historic sites in his Lonely Planet guidebook that seemed to be the major attractions in Fes - the Nejjarine Museum of Wood Arts and Crafts and the Bou Inania Madrasa.  Taking us to those places seemed like a simple enough request, right?

At the time, we didn't know unlicensed guiding was illegal, thus even if Mohammed wanted to show us the real places, he couldn't.  But like I said, we didn't know that at the time.  To make a long story short, Mohammed took us just about everywhere *but* those places.  He took us to some random madrasa and a large riad claiming that it was where we wanted to go.  Meanwhile, we thought we were seeing famous UNESCO World Heritage sites.  (With no tourists.  Zero.  Zilch.  Zip.  Nada.)

At the riad, Ed took out his guidebook and had a puzzled look on his face.  He showed Mohammed the photo that was in his book.  Mohammed nodded his head vigorously and said, "Yes, this is museum!"  We looked around at the empty riad with scaffolding all around us.  To put it mildly, it was very unimpressive.  Suddenly the absence of tourists became rather conspicuous.  Travel note:  if you visit touristy places, you should expect to see...tourists.

Sometime in the afternoon, Ed started to become really suspicious.  He was looking into his guidebook and he saw very little evidence that we were visiting the places that we were supposed to be visiting.  Finally, Dante and I looked at the photo as well.  This was the first time I had seen the photo of the Nejjarine.  The photo we saw was of a building with impressive arches and intricately carved wood panels.  Ed was right - it was quite obvious from the photo that the building we were standing in, with its simple plain ceramic walls was NOT the Nejjarine.

By now, it was late in the afternoon and Mohammed ran out of excuses.  So as Ed pressed him about taking us to the places we wanted to go, Mohammed became belligerent and started raising his voice, "Why you do not trust me!  I am not an animal!  I am not a donkey!  I take you to where you say you want to go!".  Things were a little heated and we walked on in uncomfortable silence.  Gradually, Mohammed led us towards the outside of the walls of the Medina and back to the larger streets where he hailed a cab.  We quickly each gave him 200 dirhams each and said goodbye to him.  $69 USD was way more than he deserved considering the whole thing was a con, but we did get to see quite a bit of the Medina, and it was a good amount of exercise.  So as far as cons go, it wasn't a complete waste of time and money.

This is Mohammed.  If you see this man in Fes, ignore him!

Fes bakery

Narrow alleyways!

Fabric weavers

Wood carver

We thought we were in a world famous madrasa.  It wasn't. 

Using the Lonely Planet guidebook, we took the cab to the Bab Bou Jaloud - the Blue Door - where we finally made our way to the *real* Bou Inania Madrasa and the Nejjarine Museum.  As we stepped through the Bab Bou Jaloud we saw a steady stream of tourists - the first we had seen since we arrived - and we knew we were finally in the right place.

The path to Bou Inania and Nejjarine

Finally, the real thing.  Bou Inania Madrasa

The Nejjarine Museum of Wood Arts and Crafts

Dante And The Quest For Ras El Hanout

As Mohammed led us through the Medina during the day, we stopped by a local souk (marketplace) where Dante was looking for a Moroccan spice called "ras el hanout" for a friend back home.  Ras el hanout is actually a blend of different spices and it can be slightly different depending on where you buy it, but they all should contain at least 30 different spices.  

A spice merchant quoted Dante a price of 500 dirhams for 250 grams.  Dante bargained it down a bit and ended up getting the 250 grams for about 300 dirhams.  250 grams is a LOT of spice.  It never really occurred to any of us that the spice merchant might not be selling us real ras el hanout.  But as we were walking down the alley towards the Bou Inania, Dante spotted a spice merchant that had a copy of a Lonely Planet guidebook page posted outside his store that recommended a spice shop as selling genuine ras el hanout at a price of 100 dirhams for 200 grams.  In retrospect, we don't really know if the page he posted was in reference to *his* spiceshop.  We also didn't know if it was really from a Lonely Planet guide since Ed's book didn't have that page at all!  

The difference in price was obviously quite upsetting for Dante, and that was when he started wondering if he even got real ras el hanout.  So he pulled out his bag of spice and showed it to the merchant, who shook his head and pointed to his bucket of unground ras el hanout and then took out a scoop of ground ras el hanout.  The color was different with a slight brownish green color and a rich complex scent, in comparison to Dante's first purchase of a reddish color spice that this merchant claimed was just one or two spices - cayenne and curry perhaps.  So Dante ended up buying another 200 grams.  He wasn't happy about the first purchase, but he felt at last that he was getting genuine ras el hanout.  Or so he thought...to be continued in Marrakesh.

*************

Later that night, we returned to the cafe across the street to eat dinner and watch as Bayern Munich destroyed Real Madrid.  At first we thought there were quite a few fans of German football, as quite a few people were cheering the night before for Borussia Dortmund, and then on this night, quite a few were cheering for Bayern Munich.  We then realized, it was simply Madrid fans cheering for Dortmund, followed by Barcelona fans cheering for Bayern.  "The enemy of my enemy...".  We were just happy to be in a country where we were surrounded by passionate soccer fans.

Chicken bastilla

Fes - Day 1

Tuesday, April 23

After we left the Ibis Hotel, we found a cab driver to take us to the Dar Tazi where we checked in without further incidence.  Our cab driver was a friendly guy named Ibrahim, who Dante noted resembled Borat.  He had a decent grasp of English, so we decided to hire him to take us on a short car tour around the city later that afternoon and a day trip out to Volubilis, Meknes, and Moulay Idriss on Thursday.

The Dar Tazi is a nice guesthouse that is situated right at the edge of the Fes el Bali, also known as the Medina of Fes, one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.  The location of the Dar Tazi is great with easy access to just about everything you would want to see, and it has a rooftop terrace with panoramic views of the city.  

Dropping of our bags, we decided to head out into the streets to get ourselves oriented.  Within one block, we walked past a cafe with a dozen Moroccan men sitting around small tables.  A couple of them sitting at a table started frantically waved at us, and quickly said in broken English, "No, no, wrong direction!  Nothing over there but buses and taxis."  Our big mistake here was hesitating.  As soon as you look confused, they realize that you are new in town.  The reaction is not unlike sharks smelling blood in the water.    

One of them motioned to another guy across the street who ran across the street and introduced himself as Mohammed.  His English was excellent and he explained to us that what we wanted to see was in the other direction, and he started leading us towards an alleyway opening that we saw when we exited the Dar Tazi.  We hesitated in following, but Mohammed kept reassuring us, "I show you verrry verrry nice views!  You trust me, I show you Medina!  I do not want your money.  I just want to practice  English with you."  He quickly flashed his ID in his wallet to prove to us that he was a university student, but who knows what the ID actually said?  I could have flashed my ID and said I was CIA and it would be equally likely to be valid.

Before you think we are totally naive, we had already read a little about being conned in Morocco.  So we were aware, but you don't realize the full extent of it until you actually go there and see for yourself.  Basically, what it comes down to is this: if you are approached by someone else offering to help you or take you somewhere, there is an approximately 90% chance you are being hustled.  The risk of being taken by con artists decreases considerably as you get outside the cities or the touristy areas.  But if you're in a place like Fes, watch yourself.  We were never in any obvious physical danger.  But these con artists don't take no for answer and you have learn to be mean.  If they won't leave you, threaten to go find the police.  As long as you're wishy washy about your response, they will persist in trying to sway you to use their "services".  

In Fes, there are legally licensed tour guides located near the sites of cultural and historical significance.  The numerous unlicensed tour guides are everywhere though and they will quickly try to scoop up unsuspecting tourists before they get close to those sites and take them away...somewhere else.  The reason is that if they are caught, they will be taken to jail.  But they know where the police are and so they always steer tourists away from those areas.  If you are ever being lead around and you do not see any tourists, that should be your big red flag.  Do not ever follow an unlicensed guide (like we did).   

If you approach someone else to ask for help, your chances are better but there is still a significant chance you will be conned.  I'm a fairly seasoned traveler, but there are few places I have experienced where the people are as aggressive as Morocco.  If you are going there, put on a very thick skin and be VERY slow to trust anyone.  If strangers ever tell you anything in the way of information, like where to go eat or where to go shop - take it with a huge grain of salt.  It is more likely to be a lie than helpful information.  Money is the only goal and short of mugging you, there are no ethics when it comes to trying to get it from you. One person even tried to guilt me when I ignored him, by shouting after me, "I'm Muslim, I'm not terrorist!!"  Man, that one really pissed me off.

We decided to trust Mohammed for a little while (poor decision), so we followed him into the alleyway (another poor decision).  Five minutes later, we had no idea where we were.  The Fes el Bali is essentially one giant labyrinth of small alleyways.  Unless you live there, it is extremely disorienting to walk through there.  Still, as we would later find out, it is okay to get lost because it's really not that big and eventually, you end up somewhere outside the walls where you can find your way back to wherever you need to go, or you just call a cab.  But, at the time, we felt we had no choice but to follow Mohammed (yet another poor decision).

Mohammed then took us for lunch at some local dive hole-in-the-wall "restaurant", where it was a fixed menu.  There was actually no menu at all.  You sat down and were served fried fish, bread, and a tomato based soup - harira.  He assured us that the food was "very cheap, unlike tourist trap places" and that it was genuine Moroccan food.  In retrospect, I suppose it was genuine Moroccan food the way a street vendor's hot dog would be genuine American food.  Don't get me wrong - a hot dog can be delicious, but is that really what you would take a foreign guest to go eat?  As a self-admitted Portland food snob, I'd hope not.  So Mohammed wasn't really lying in that sense.  But then again, I may be telling you this to lessen the sting of being taken for a ride.

So we sat down to eat without checking a menu or asking about prices (did I mention we made a string of poor decisions?).  The store owner then brought us a bill - 120 dirhams per person.  Almost $14 USD each.  It was a decent enough meal and a large quantity.  But it was pretty much what the 8 other guys in the small hole-in-the-wall were eating.  We later used a little common sense to realize that there was no way any of the local Moroccans were paying $14 USD for lunch.  At the end of our trip, we had an amazing dinner in Essaouira where we ordered almost everything on the menu and we paid 120 dirhams TOTAL.  (Go to that entry - Essaouira Day 2 - if you want to know where that was.)

Mohammed then proceeded to take us to a tannery, where I bought a belt for 300 dirhams (rip-off), and then to a ceramic factory.  The goal was to get us to buy something and of course, Mohammed would get a cut of the money.  Even though the practice is illegal, it seems to be something that the whole city knows about.  And no one we came across bothered to warn us.  

The tannery

The ceramics factory

At 4:00, Ibrahim came to pick us up and take us on a tour of the city.  We first visited the Marinid Tombs, located on the top of a hill that overlooks the entire city.  After that, we were dropped off near the Royal Palace (which tourists cannot enter) and visited the nearby Jewish quarter with its cemetery.  Ibrahim pretty much just dropped us off and allowed us to wander by ourselves.  We agreed to meet  him at his car an hour later.

As we grew a little more comfortable with Ibrahim, we told him about our encounter with Mohammed, the university student who was studying English.  He simply chuckled in response, "Yes, you will find many many people 'studying English' here.  Maybe he is.  Maybe he isn't.  Then, maybe his name also not Mohammed."  It was a good (and not very subtle) point.

Ibrahim himself claimed to have studied biochemistry at the university but then since there aren't too many jobs for biochemists in Morocco, decided to become a cab driver.  We weren't too sure who or what to believe at this point.  But Ibrahim was able to talk fairly in depth about genetics and DNA, so for the time being Ibrahim was placed in the "trust quarantine".  In Morocco, trust is a precious commodity, and for tourists, it is perhaps more valuable than Moroccan silver.

After a pretty full day, we ended up in a cafe across the street from Dar Tazi, to watch Barcelona get stunned by Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League semifinal match.  Since we were not in the US, this game was a VERY big deal in Morocco and the cafe we were in was packed to the brim.  Given Morocco's close proximity to Spain, soccer fans there seemed to fall into one of two camps.  They were either Real Madrid fans or FC Barcelona fans.

Morocco

It's cliched I know, but time really does fly.  My good buddies (and reliable travel companions) Dante, Ed, and I have been back from our Morocco trip for a few weeks now, and I've only just found the time to sit down to write about the trip.  It's hard to believe that before Morocco, my last trip abroad (Cambodia) was more than two years ago.

When we decided we were going to travel *somewhere*, we first narrowed down the list with two criteria.  It had to be someplace none of us had been.  And the weather had to be great.  We got the list down to Indonesia, Turkey, and Morocco.  We crossed off Indonesia because we had already been to SE Asia several years ago (though I still plan to go someday).  Turkey sounded great with its great melting pot of European, Asian, and the Middle Eastern influences.  But Dante was told that it wouldn't be very warm in April/May yet.  

So we were left with Morocco, which somehow just felt right.  I think that this trip was particularly exciting for me.  A large part of my childhood was spent in Saudi Arabia where my father worked as an engineer and I have many fond memories.  I suspect that no matter where I live, I will always feel a special connection to Middle Eastern culture.

If you are ever looking for a good deal for tickets, try my travel agent Kathie Tong at Daiichi International. Her work # is (503) 646-1118 and her e-mail is kathie@dai-ichi-travel.com. For trips to Asia, she can get especially good deals on flights. Often even better than what you can find online. For our Morocco trip, her price wasn't significantly cheaper than online, but she minimized our layover times far more than any flight itinerary we were able to find.

Our total trip would be 11 days not including the travel time, so we had to plan a somewhat tight schedule.  The overall goal was to visit 3 cities in Morocco: Fes, Marrakech, and Essaouira.  In the map below, you can see all our major stops and the side trips that we had on our trip.  Yep, all this is possible in 11 days.  

View Morocco Trip in a larger map

There are several major airports in Morocco that one can choose to fly into and out of.  Casablanca offered the most flights and the best prices so that's what we chose.  In spite of the romantic imagery one might have because of the city's name and the classic Hollywood film of the same name, there is very little to see there of cultural or historical significance.  Most recommendations that we heard or read said that we should minimize the time we had in Casablanca.  If you had a little time there though, the Hassan II Mosque with its ocean backdrop is supposed to be a nice visit.  Considering what happened a few hours later, our time would have probably been well spent if we had stayed overnight in Casablanca.

Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca, Morocco

Monday, April 22, ~9:30 PM

After a 20 hour flight from Portland with layovers in Atlanta and Paris, we finally arrived in Casablanca.  None of us had gotten much sleep on the flight, but all in all, we still felt pretty good.  Our original plans had us staying in Casablanca for a night and then in the morning, catching a train to Fes.  But because we still felt good and we wanted to maximize our time in Fes, we decided to take a train straight to Fes that same night.  Our plan was to sleep on the train and arrive early well-rested and start our explorations right away.  You know what they say about the best laid plans. 

First class cabin on the train

Trains in Morocco are decent quality and are a very cheap way to get around Morocco, but their coverage is still fairly limited.  It covers the major cities - Marrakesh, Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Tangiers, and many smaller cities that are along those routes.  There's a website for the trains but 1) it is in French, and 2) you can't reserve a ticket online.  Tickets are either first class or coach class.  I recommend getting first class, since it is cheap and you get a semi-private compartment (if the train is not crowded) with seats wide enough to lie down on.  Our price was 60 Moroccan dirhams - about $6.98.  The conversion rate is 1 USD=8.59 MAD.

Now as you can see in the map above, the distance from Casablanca to Fes is about a 3.5 hours car ride.  So we counted on the train taking at least 4 hours.  It took a little less than 4 with our arrival in Fes at about 2 AM.  Fes is the second biggest city in Morocco with a population of 1 million, but nonetheless at 2 AM, it's like any other small town - quiet.  

We stood outside the train station pondering what we should do for the next 4-6 hours while we waited for everyone else to wake up.  4-6 hours seems like a short amount of time except when you have nowhere to go and no bed to sleep on.  We briefly considered camping out in the train station but in a fit of poor decision making (the first few days were full of poor decisions), we hailed a cab who took us to our riad (a guesthouse/B&B), the Palais de Fes Dar Tazi, thinking we might just hang out in the neighborhood for a few hours.  

Fes Train Station

As we arrived at our guesthouse, we started to realize our decision was not very well thought out.  The street was empty except for a few young guys playing soccer on the street.  We arrived with our luggage in hand, but nowhere to go since the Dar Tazi was definitely closed for the night, with no one awake to open the doors.  We started walking down the street to just get oriented with the neighborhood, but suddenly heard shouting coming from somewhere above us.  A cafe owner happened to be awake and was trying to get our attention.  He shook his hand and said "Non, non, c'est dangereux!" - easy enough to understand even for non-French speakers.  

As we turned around to head back to the Dar Tazi, he shouted something to one of the soccer players.  who then ran over to the front door of the Dar Tazi and began ringing the doorbell.  But after a minute of no response and a quick discussion amongst ourselves, we decided to go back to the train station.  As we arrived back at the station, we spotted an Ibis Hotel next to the station and decided to get a room.    As it turns out, we were much more tired than we thought.  We woke up the next morning at 10 AM.  The scene outside had completely changed.  Whereas the night before, the city appeared abandoned, the next morning, there were people just about everywhere.

Banff Mountain Film Festival

Thanks to my friend Mike for an excellent recommendation - the Banff Mountain Film Festival.  This past weekend, they passed through Hood River and I went to check it out.  It's a series of short films by independent filmmakers that through various film styles show their love and passion for the outdoors.  My favorite (which also happened to win the People's Choice Award at Banff) was the one that chronicled the epic journey of Australian Tim Cope as he follows (on horseback) the trail of Genghis Khan and his horde from Mongolia to Hungary.  The segment I saw was only a short portion of the entire film.    I really enjoyed it and hoping they eventually release it on a USA region DVD.

Ian Usher

Several years ago, I remember reading a news story about an Englishman in Perth (too bad it wasn't New York) who had just had a divorce.  He was fairly depressed about his life and decided to do something about it by getting a fresh start.  A REALLY fresh start.  He put his life up for auction on E-bay.  He auctioned his house and everything in it from the car all the way down to the silverware.  He even offered to introduce the winning bidder to all his friends.  He would simply walk away with the clothes on his back.  Well, it worked and he got $305,000 (I'm guessing US$?).  Very interesting story in and of itself.   But I always did wonder what became of him.

A few days ago, I caught a news story that reported on what Mr. Ian Usher has been up to.  In short, he decided to take off and go traveling for as long as the money would last.  He also wanted to set a goal for himself each week of his travels - usually some kind of new experience.  After two years, when the money was almost gone, he bought himself an island off the coast of Panama.  I'm sure everyone has had the escape-to-your-own-tropical-island fantasy, but Ian has actually made it into a reality.  BTW, buying your own private island is not anywhere close to being as expensive as I thought it would be - Google it.  This is a truly inspiring story.  I have often fantasized about such embarking on a similar adventure.  My two month journey to Cambodia last year gave me a taste of what it might be like.  I would probably be a bit more practical by maintaining a home base somewhere and I would also want to be a bit more financially secure.  But considering his age (48) and how much money he had to start with, it's not entirely unfeasible.  Plus, there's a few more things I want to accomplish before I cast aside all responsibilities, but when all is said and done, is there a good reason I shouldn't do something like this?  After all, do I want to live my life according to a standardized script?  This is something I need to dwell on some more.

He's also written a blog that describes his attempt to fulfill 100 goals in 100 weeks.  I admire the hell out of him for being able to turn everything in his life around in a matter of 2 years.  Here is a man who was living a life that had lost all meaning.  He had nothing left to lose but his material possessions.  And so he cut them loose.  In doing so, he freed himself from everything that tied him to that life of quiet desperation.  All it took was the courage to turn his life upside down and inside out.  Cheers to Mr. Usher.  I'll be looking out for your Disney movie when it comes out (yes, I do see the irony).

Spring Forward

Time flies - it's cliched because it's true.  It's hard to believe it's been nearly a year since I've written in this thing.  I've survived yet another Oregon winter and now the temps have started climbing back into the 50's once again.   To be honest though I can't complain - this has been the sunniest and warmest winter I've ever seen here.  The arrival of last week's Daylight Savings Time served as a reminder that I can actually expect a warm day here and there in the coming weeks.  With the additional hour of daylight, I'm finding the time and energy once again to getting back to such things as blogging.  Lots of stuff I'd like to write about my favorite topics of medicine, food, soccer, flyfishing, music, and photography.  This post is a reminder to myself to get it going again.  More soon...