Morocco 2: Volubilis and Meknes, a day trip

We were greeted by our driver in the morning.  On this day we were driven to the Roman ruins of Volubulis and the former capital city of Meknes.

I took time in the car throughout the day to ask our driver some questions about Morocco.  He later was our driver to the airport.  I noticed that it was mostly the older generation that wore traditional clothes and that the young, especially the men, dressed like the west and he agreed that this was the trend in the younger generation.  Schools run from 8 am til 6 pm, and summers are off.  People are getting married into their 30s nowadays, unlike it used to be.  The king has palaces in most cities for when he visits.  The morrocans look fondly upon the French, who came to protect the sultan and build infrastructure.  They don't think the same for Spain, who came with ill intentions.  Tourists and Moroccans with accents from other regions are given different prices in the markets.



It was about a forty five minute drive to Volubilis.  He dropped us off and we were met by the local cat greeter.



We wandered the ruins for a good long time.

A mosaic of Hercules

Next, he drove us up the mountain a short ways to get a good view of the nearby town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun.



Our last stop of the day was to a former capitol city, Meknes.  When we arrived, we ate lunch on the top floor balcony restaurant that the driver recommended.  I asked the driver whether they made djellaba for the summertime.  He knew of a shop, so he had me follow a guy to the store.  Now, I had to make a decision at the time.  I could either follow this guy into the shop, and then have to pay him for his trouble, or just go my own way.  I was kind of curious, so I let it play out.

In the store, we were met with a man that explained how he made something unique to Meknes, called damascene.  I confirmed this after the fact by looking it up online.  He would make many tiny cuts into metal, heat it up, and then afterwards, hammered silver strands into it.  I asked him if he handmade everything in the store and said that he was teaching his son.  When he stood up and was walking us around the store, other customers came in, someone else sat down, and did the same demonstration.



In any case, I found some items that I really liked, including the summertime djellaba, and haggled to the best of my ability at the time.  He agreed to my price, but asked for a small tip, which was fine with me.  Then, he encouraged me to come upstairs with him, which revealed a massive store of carpets.  I said no thanks.

The store was right across the street from Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail.  I knew that it had been closed for renovation for the past two years, but thought it had just reopened.  It had not.  The fellow who guided us there, then guided us to the entrance to the market area and we parted ways with a small tip.

Lahdim square is a fairly open space, with a few cluttered stalls on one side.  Perhaps it is more filled at other times.  We wandered past the stalls, into the building, and encountered a butcher's market that had very graphic displays.  We quickly turned out a side exit and entered a flea market type area, selling very commercial goods.



Miles saw a dinky slinky for sale.  He asked if he could buy it.  I said that it was only worth up to one dollar.  I told him to start haggling at fifty cents.  They said one dollar.  He said, "Ok!"  I think he needs more practice haggling.



We turned down a side passage and I let a man walk in front of me.  He must have thought this was kind because he told me that if I made a left, I would go down the an artisan's street.  Down this street we saw people doing all sorts of welding and the like.  We came upon another damascene store, this one about 1/100 the size.  He gave me a similar demonstration as the other.  I had more interest in this craft in particular after I had been told that it was only made in this one particular city.



We decided to randomly walk around the streets.  After walking down some empty streets, we inadvertently found our way inside a complex with narrow, winding paths.  It was a ton of fun navigating this indoor maze.  After a while we found our way back to the driver and went home.

Morocco 1: The Fes Medina

Last month I came up with the idea of taking a quick trip since Stephanie will be heading back to work soon.  The flight back and forth to Morocco were very cheap, and it was off season, so I figured that it would be a good time to try visiting the country.

I had a few reservations about Morocco.  It is a country where the tap water isn't safe to drink for foreigners, along with warnings against salad and street food.  As someone with stomach problems, another issue was with their toilets.  Toilet paper is not commonly flushed in Morocco, instead being placed in a bin nearby.  Despite all of this, there is so much of Morocco that is new and interesting, that I wanted to at least try once.  I picked two of the biggest cities, where the most amenities were likely to be available, and picked higher end establishments.  Being that it is the off season, and in Morocco, the prices were not too bad at all.

I did just a little bit of reading about what to expect, and I'm glad I did.  Things like shake hands and eat with your right hand didn't prove to be too useful, nor did warnings about showing the soles of your shoes.  Others, however, did.  I read about the "guides" around the medina market are looking for money and will bring you into shops for pressured sales.  I read about the tannery and that everyone offering to point you towards the tannery will then ask for money for it.  I also looked into the best way to haggle and what that experience would be like and what price I should go for.

Our hotel arranged for a taxi driver to wait for us at the airport, which went incredibly smoothly.  I considered renting a car but decided against it when people spoke how rough it was to drive at night.  It turns out that I would have been eaten alive driving here.  It is a chaos that obviously works for them, but driving in New York City or the back roads in Scotland look like cake in comparison.

We drove past rows of olive trees and I was surprised at the amount of green landscape.  I asked the driver about his clothing, and he told me it was called a djellaba.  I knew at that moment that I had to have one.  We arrived near the hotel and the taxi driver guided us through the alleyways to our traditional hotel, which they call a riad.

The hotel insides were beautiful.  We sat down and filled out information and were heavily encouraged to use a guide for the medina, as people get lost and scammed by people like with the tannery mentioned above.  I politely declined.  I have a gps, and I like to explore by myself if at all possible.  The room was very nice and I was delighted to learn that the toilet flushed paper.  Matter of fact, all toilets that weren't holes in the ground did so.  Crisis averted, for now.

The first night we ate a fabulous four course meal at the hotel, looked out the roof terrace, and relaxed. The next morning I enjoyed the 8:00 AM sunrise.



Today, it was time to explore.  Right nearby was Dar Batha.  We learned here that entrance fees in Morocco are often the equivalent of $2 for adults and either less than half price or free for kids.  The roman ruins on the following day was the exception to this at $7 for adults.

We were the only visitors.  The artifacts on display weren't too interesting to me, but the architecture was fabulous.  Unfortunately, on this first day I tried out a different setting on my camera than usual, and it resulted in ruining a majority of the pictures, so I apologize in advance.



The medina was right nearby, and we entered through the blue gate, saying "la shookrun" to the guides there.  This phrase, meaning, "no thank you," became a staple on the trip.  I learned about fifteen phrases and words in Arabic, which is what I try to do on these trips.  It helps with communication and people tend to be impressed fairly easily when one tries.  I tested out the phrases with our taxi driver and he corrected one to the more common use.



The woman at our hotel explained that there were two main streets of the medina, running parallel to each other.  We started down one and then hopped over to the other via a rainbow colored street adorned with artwork being sold on both sides.



I had forgotten my camera belt, so we were on the lookout for belts.  We stopped at the first store that sold them.  The guy said 80 dirham($8) for the leather belt.  I said 60.  He said 70, and I said fine.  $7 for a belt seemed reasonable.  Within minutes we saw belts marked much lower.  I would have to up my haggling skill.

There was only one temple courtyard that non muslims were allowed, Mederssa El Bouanania.  It was not nearly as nice as the others, but at least it was something!



There were two others with exquisite architecture, Zaouia de Moulay Idriss and the Mosque and University Karaouiyne, but we had to take pictures at the entrance.



We also made a short stop at the Nejjarine Fondouk, a small museum, whose rooftop had excellent views.



Although the market was chaotic, people were very nice if you said, "no thank you" and with the occasional glance at the gps, I had no problem navigating us to the far end, to see the temples, and loop us back around.

There were different styles in different areas.  Some were what you'd expect, on the main street.  Deeper into the medina and into the center were hogher end shops with wooden decor.  Some areas had electronics, some food, some ceramics, leather, and clothes.



One jacket caught my eye and just a few moments later the shopkeeper was on me.  I tried on the one I liked, but it didn't fit.  He showed me others that did fit.  Then I asked about the djellaba.  He gave me the price for both and I was able to get it down by 30%, to a place I was happy with.  I got my djellaba, warmer style, made supposedly with wool.  I say supposedly, because I have no way of knowing what is real and what is not.  What is a salesman talking up his good versus reality.  I was also surprised that most of the shopkeepers had basic English skills, or at least had someone on hand that did.  The people in Morocco learn Arabic and french in school, with an elective of a third language possible(which I learned by asking our driver the next day).

This was something I did NOT expect to see in the medina...

On our way out of the medina, we stopped at a restaurant and ate lunch.  The portions were huge, the quality excellent, and the price low.  I tried the pastilla, which is chicken cooked into a pastry that tasted a bit like a donut.  It was a super odd combination and I still can't decide if it worked.

We returned to the hotel, I equipped my belt and camera bag, and we made our way out in the opposite direction of the medina, toward the mellah, the old jewish quarter.

First, we stopped at a very nice garden park, followed by walking down some very interesting alleyway streets that led us to the mellah.  We saw another large gate that appeared to have a large market behind it.  Many strangers, and even a child, accosted us asking to show us the synagogues.



We went on our own to the synagogue I had planned for us to go to.  It was tiny.  We went down the steps to see a water pool of purification and then took narrow steps up and up to the rooftop that overlooked the Jewish cemetery in the distance.  We saw a dog perched on the nearby roof.



After returning to the bottom floor, we walked to that very cemetery.  A policeman stood in front, along with the guard/ticket seller.  The policeman was very nice and tried to engage with Miles.  Miles was not having it, as he was burnt out from the crowds and encroachment all day.

The cemetery was filled with beautiful, white arched graves.  There was an elderly american couplr walking around and they asked us if we were alone or with a tour.  After I answered, the woman said that the man had been afraid to go away from the bus for even this hour.


We found a small orange tree grove overlooking the side of town and looked at colorful caterpillars for a while before going across the street to our final quick stop, the gates of the Royal Palace.



Then we walked home.