Casablanca

We had heard that there was really very little reason to visit Casablanca, which is Morocco's largest city. However, the impressive Hassan II Mosque, which is one of the few in Morocco that non-Muslims can visit, drew us to make a brief stop in the city.

First, we will say that the reports were correct. There is little reason for tourists to visit Casablanca, except if that is your point of entry. Even the famous Rick's Cafe from the movie Casablanca, is nothing more than a creation for tourists (the movie was filmed in Hollywood). We happened to walk by the cafe in our wanderings, but had no interest in entering. In addition, we found the food scene in Casablanca to be decidedly uninteresting for such a large city. Fortunately, the Hassan II Mosque did live up to our expectations.

The mosque, which sits on a promotory over the Atlantic Ocean, was built in only six years (1987-1993) involving thousands of workers and artisans. It is one of the largest mosques in the world, having the second largest minaret at 210 meters (689 feet) and allowing 105,000 people to pray together (25,000 inside and another 85,000 in the giant courtyard).

The mosque is absolutely beautiful, with colorful fountains around the outside, and huge metal doors that rise like garage doors allowing the mosque to be cooled by the sea breezes (the roof also can be opened for the same purpose). 

The prayer hall is spectacular with impressive granite, plaster, marble and wood work. With the exception of some of the marble, and 56 large, glass chandeliers, all of the materials came from Morocco. Even the basement ablution rooms are lovely. Our guide's explanations were detailed and fascinating.

It is hard to recommend a visit to a city solely for a single sight, but the Hassan II Mosque was almost worth the time we spent in Casablanca.

More soon.

Jeff and Shana

Essaouira

We left Ait Ben Haddou for a long drive (almost six hours) west to Essaouira. Once again, I was glad not to be driving as we enjoyed the trip in our comfortable van. Essaouira is an old port city that is now a fishing village/beach resort. 

The medina of Essaouira is surrounded by very impressive walls, which were built in the 16th century when the Portuguese fortified the city to control Atlantic trade routes. The views were fabulous:

Now, in addition to tourism, fishing is the main part of the city's economy. For some reason, all of the fishing boats are a uniform color of blue.

Of course, being in a fishing village meant that we ate a lot of good fish including, to my great appreciation, fresh oysters right from the ocean at stands in the port.

The beach in Essaouira is beautiful, and at low tide extremely wide, reminding us a bit of the beach at home in San Sebastian This being Morocco, you can find anything on the beach from kids playing football (soccer) to camels. Yes, you can take a camel ride on the beach in Essaouira (we did not), while watching surfers. Nor did we attempt to kite surf, which is what the people next to the camel below are learning to do. Essaouira is well known for its winds.

One night, we had dinner at a very nice restaurant accross from the beach so we could watch the sunset. The food was really good, and we were especially happy to have a bottle of local wine for one of the few times on the trip as most places do not serve alcohol.

We really enjoyed our few days relaxing near the beach before jumping back into the craziness of Morocco in Casablana.

More soon.

Jeff and Shana

Ait Ben Haddou

We left Marrakech to visit Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known to many from its featured role in many movies, including both Gladiator films (“Are you not entertained?”). We decided not to rent a car in Morocco, but to use a car service instead, which has been the right decision. The mountain roads are windy and not entirely well-maintained. Plus, the Moroccans drive like Italians and there are a lot of scooters and vehicles of all types on the roads. Letting someone else do the driving was a relief and the cost was not exorbitant.

It was a 3.5 hour drive to Ait Ben Haddou, and the driver knew the best places to stop for good, cheap food. Also, to our surprise, he had a Wi-Fi hot spot for our use, which was nice, but we made sure to also enjoy the views of the Atlas Mountains. We stayed overnight at a lovely riad (large traditional house) with a fabulous view from the rooftop.

Aït Ben Haddou is a historic ksar (fortified village) that was established in the 11th century along the caravan trade route between the Sahara and Marrakech. It is considered an iconic example of Moroccan clay architecture, most of which dates to the 17th century. having been rebuilt after various damaging events, including the recent 2023 earthquake.

Spending the night allowed us to enjoy an early morning tour without the hordes of tourists who daytrip from Marrakech. It also meant we were woken up by the early call to prayer as the local mosque was directly behind our riad. While we’ve heard the call to prayer in various places, it is usually more distant. This was startlingly close, but we fell back to sleep quickly.

We had the only female guide and, in some ways, she was more interesting than the site, having been born in the village. She took us to her family home, which her aunt maintains, as the entire family has moved to the new village across the river. Very few people still live within Ait Ben Haddou which reminded us of Civita Di Bagnoregio, Italy and Saint-Emilion, France – places that are well-preserved for their historic value with few residents, but are highly touristed and known for their scene worthy backdrops or wine.

Walking up, down, and around the village with Chatima was like stepping back in time. The largest homes are called kasbahs (fortified homes) and were made with the harsh elements in mind. We climbed all the way to the top, where it was windy and where you could see the start of the Sahara Desert.

For all its history and scenery, ultimately, we’re not sure it was worth the long trip out to Ait Ben Haddou. Like many places, it didn’t quite live up to the hype. Still, we learned a lot and made the most of the opportunity.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

Marrakech

Before our hot-air balloon adventure (see previous post), we had four days in Marrakech. Firstly, we have to say that Marrakech is a bit crazy. Between the drivers on the roads (cars, scooters, buses and horse-drawn carriages (!)), and the people driving scooters and tuk-tuks down the narrow lanes of the Medina, you have to be constantly alert while walking (although the sidewalks are better than Vietnam). Second, while we had mostly good weather (with the exception of some rain a couple of evenings), we cannot imagine being in Marrakech during the summer when the temperature can get as high as 52 degrees Celsius (125.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

We visited a number of sites within the city, some on a half day tour that provided a good amount  of historical information, and some on our own. 

First, the most important mosque in Marrakech, the Kutubiyya Mosque.

A mosque was originally built on this site in 1040 by the Almoravid dynasty. However, when the Almohad dynasty conquered Marrakech in 1147, they destroyed the previous mosque on the basis of the (probably false) claim that it was not properly alligned with Mecca. Unfortunately, as with almost every mosque in Morocco, only Muslims are allowed in the building, so we had to be satisfied from the views outside.

The Saadian Tombs is a historic royal necropolis dating to the late 16th century. Amazingly, after falling out of use in the late 18th century, they were "lost" until "rediscovered" in 1917. Today they provide a fantastic example of Islamic architecture.

Another great example of Islamic architecture is the famous Ben Youssef Madrassa. This famous university was built beginning in 1564-65, and became the largest center of learning in the Maghreb.

Yet another great example of Islamic architecture is the Dar al Bacha, a palace that now houses an art museum. The limited art offered was interesting, but the building itself is beautiful, including columns and fountains.

The other tour we took while in Marrakech was to the Atlas Mountains outside the city. While our tour in Marrakech taught us a lot about the history of Morocco, on this tour we learned a lot about its present.

While showing us the natural beauty of the valleys of the mountains, our tour guide explained a great deal about the difficult relations between the Arab rulers and the Amazigh people of Morocco. The Amazigh people are commonly known as Berbers, but this is a slur based on what the Romans called them because they could not understand their language (the same as calling European tribes barbarians because their languages sounded like "bar-bar-bar" to the Romans). 

The Amazigh people have lived in Morocco for over 5000 years and, like many indigenous people, they have not been treated well by the colonizing Arabs who arrived in the mid-7th century. Unlike European colonizers, the Arabs did not ethnically cleanse the Amazigh people, but they do receive much less from the state than the Arabs and generally live in poverty. They have been forced to adopt Islam, and the state has spent prodigiously to build Mosques in even the smallest villages, while not spending on things such as schools and hospitals. Ironically, the Amazigh officially represent 56% of Morocco's population, while our guide put the number significantly higher, but Morocco is essentially an absolute monarchy run by a king whose dynasty extends back to the 17th century.

All of that being said, the Atlas Mountains are absolutely beautiful, especially right now due to the high levels of rain and snow received this winter.

As part of our tour, we stopped at a traditional shop that makes products ranging from food, to lotions, to make-up from argan oil. In the shop, we were able to see part of the process of making some of the products, as well as try them.

We also stopped for some traditional tea next to a river that is very high this year because for the first time in seven years, there was significant snow in the mountains.

We were able to appreciate the high level of water because we had visited the Water Museum in Marrakech the day before, which gave us a great background in both the use of water in Morocco along with the traditional methods used by the Amazigh to obtain and use water, which we observed in the mountains. The building housing the museum is also very beautiful.

Perhaps the highlight of our Atlas tour was a traditional Moroccan lunch at an Amazigh house in a very small village. The tagine was fantastic, and Shana particularly liked the dessert of oranges with lemon juice and cinnamon.

We definitely did a lot during our time in Marrakech. Fortunately, we would soon get a break in the beach town of Essouira, but more about that soon.

Ciao,

Jeff and Shana

Morocco: Our First Hot Air Balloon Ride

Greetings from Morocco, where we are on a 3-week journey through a large part of the country, which will be fuel for many future posts. This is our second Muslim-majority country, and we already have seen many differences between here and Malaysia. We have little knowledge about Morocco’s history and are learning a lot along the way.

Rather than our usual “introductory” post, we are starting with something special – our first hot air balloon ride. When we were in Cappadocia, Turkey in 1994, we had just finished law school and didn’t have the money for such an adventure. We booked a balloon excursion in 2004 while in Stockholm, but the weather didn’t cooperate and it was cancelled. It turns out that Marrakech, where we started this trip, is one of the best places in the world for hot air ballooning. So, after wanting to float for more than 20 years, we finally did so this week.

We were glad the weather cooperated and that we didn’t book the 6 am pick-up, opting for 7 am, as the morning was gray and cloudy obscuring the sunrise. The balloon site was about 35 minutes north of the city and coffee/tea and croissants were available upon arrival. The company flew 12 balloons twice that morning and had quite a professional operation.

We climbed aboard our balloon and met our pilot, Elias, who was super friendly and kindly answered all our questions, in between firing and steering the balloon.

There were 16 total passengers in the basket, and it was exciting to see all the other balloons.

We slowly started ascending skyward. Considering the hazy morning, we didn’t know what to expect. We entered the cloud cover, no longer able to see the ground, and then rose above the clouds where the sun was shining brightly. The quiet beauty took our breath and fear away. It was extraordinary, especially seeing the other balloons emerging out of the clouds. We even saw the shadow of our balloon below.

We enjoyed the views as we rotated 360 degrees and as we drifted toward the snow-covered Atlas Mountains.

The landing process was interesting. The ground below is mostly farm and grazing land, so the landowners prefer the balloons avoid their crops. A farmer was grazing his sheep and goats as we came in and Elias had to work with the changing winds to try to land close to the road and in an uncultivated spot, which he achieved, and we didn’t even feel the landing. As we were on the second and last ride, we were able to watch them pack everything up before heading back for a full breakfast.

We highly recommend taking a float if you get the opportunity. Albuquerque, NM is the best spot in the US. We truly enjoyed the experience.

More from Morocco soon,

Shana & Jeff