Morocco 2012

Today I leave for Morocco with my two friends Zoe and Lynley for a 15 day tour. Below shows a map of our tour.

The trip over was great. I had a good sleep on the second leg and only watched a couple of movies. We arrived in London and bumped into Zoë whilst we were booking our luggage in to British Midland. We decided to celebrate this adventure with a glass of champagne. At about 9 in the morning we had our first drink.!!!!

 Our first night we went to the big square and had dinner. “ Chicken tajine with olives and lemons. It was delicious!

The picture below shows us sitting at the restaurant above the markets. We walked through the markets but were harassed by all the vendors wanting us to eat and their table. It was appealing, so we found a restaurant.

The next day after breakfast ( typical Moroccan breakfast consisting of a glass of orange juice, bread, butter and apricot jam followed by a coffee)  we headed to the souks  and we spent the day spending our money.

The souks went on and on. I can’t understand how they make their money with so much competition.  I am glad I didn’t take every durum I had and I probably would have spent it.  There was leather products, pottery, jewellery, spices, dried fruits etc. it just went on and on. The people are friendly but we noticed the men getting angry when we didn’t buy.

  We visited the Ben Youssef Madrassa. Founded in the 14^th century , this religious school was rebuilt in Andalusion style by the Saadians in the 16^th century.

Below is a picture within the walls.

                                             Lynley in the Souks

Day 1

At about 6pm we went down to the foyer to meet our guide and the rest of the people joining our trip.

Our guide is a Moroccan from the Atlas Mountain region and is just gorgeous. We have nine of us all up – all girls.!!! – Two Americans, one Canadian, one English and the rest of us are Australian. Of course we are the three elderly ladies and the rest of them are in there twenties.  They are great fun and we have all fitted in well.

That night we had a typical Moroccan feast consisting of soup, tajine and fruit.

                                                 Ibraham showing the Tajine

Day 2

We had a long drive to Casablanca to see the Hassan II Mosque.

This is one of the few mosque that non muslins are allowed in and is the third largest(Meca and Medina being the other two both in Saudi Arabia) holding 25000 people and took only 6 years to build. It was built from 1987 to 1993 and had 2500 workers and 10000 crafts men. It was truly magnificent.

We then drove a couple of hours to Rabat. Rabat is a very large town and being a Sunday it was filled with lots of people and plenty of cars. It was real mayhem.

After dinner we walked through the old part. The shop keepers were all closing up after their long day of trading. I have only seen as much rubbish once before and that was in Ghent after a night of the festival.

Day 3

We were escorted through the town of Rabat by a local guide. He was full of knowledge and was very passionate about his town.

We were shown the real Rabat and we all fell in love with it.

Morocco has their own King and he married a commoner and they have two children. He is much loved by his people. We were shown over the grounds of the palace.

                                      Roman Ruins – every country seem to have some

Rabat city

Lynley and I over looking the port of Rabat

We then drove to Meknes where I decided not to be a tourist but stayed in our room and had a few drinks.

Day 4

We left Meknes early to visit the Roman of Volubilis. These were very impressive Roman ruins. It is a listed UNESCO site and dates back to AD40. Below are a few of my favourite shots of Volubilis.

A Stork with his nest on a Roman column

Zoe looking at some very impressive Mosaic Flooring

The Tour Group

We then headed high up in the Rif mountains to Chefchaouen. What a fabulous place. Settle in between two mountain peaks is the village. It boasts beautiful blue door and white walled medina and was originally a Berber post. We went for a walk around on our own and took some lovely photos of the area.

Our First sighting of Chefchaouen                                      

Its all very Blue

Shopping!!!

The Wash House

It is still quite primitive in the mountains. They go to these wash houses to do their washing. There is a natural spring that flows all year.

We went for a walk around the village and this is our descent.