Tuesday was a pretty calm day after the hectic schedule earlier. Kamal picked us up at 11:00am to go look at the Majorelle Gardens. Originally built and created by the French artist Jacques Marjorelle from 1923, it was bought and restored by Yves St. Laurent in the 1980s. St. Laurent lived there for many years. Today, the villa houses the Berber Museum and the Yves St. Laurent (Art) Museum is nearby.

The garden itself is quite large, and was quite crowded during our visit. In fact, the queue to get into the Berber Museum was long enough that we skipped it. But we had a good time walking around the gardens and seeing the exotic plants and the exterior of the villa.

Lunch was back at the Amanjena, and then we hung out at our suite all afternoon.

The evening activity was to go back to the Medina and walk around sampling snacks and foods. While the Medina is busy during the day, the main square by the entrance becomes a madhouse in the evening. Food stalls all over the place, people hawking fortunes, henna tattoos, toys. Billions of tourists (and locals) enjoying the pleasant evening weather.

I think many people would make a meal: get some appetizers, sample small bits of several entrees and then try all of the deserts. We took a different approach: we started with fresh donuts and worked on from there. Crepes, nuts, some other pastries all found their way into our mouths. We never really looked at any protein or vegetables.

We got back to the hotel around 9, and did some packing. Tomorrow we head to the High Atlas Mountains.

Today started off with a relaxing morning. Our first scheduled activity was not until 1:00pm, so we slept a little later than usual and had a late and large breakfast at the hotel. As the forecast was for nice weather, we were hoping to sit on our patio or even going swimming in the pool. But it was overcast, and although the temperature was comfortable, it was not inviting. So we hung out in the room, I worked on my pictures and the blog, and Sally did some reading.

At 1:00 Kamal picked us up to go meet our driver for a sidecar tour of Marrakech. We had done this kind of activity in Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) back in 2019, during our last trip. That bike was a big, heavy Russian one that seemed oversized in a city buzzing with billions of little motorbikes. This sleeker model fit in pretty well here. Motorbikes are increasingly popular due to the development of very inexpensive imports from China; you can buy an entry-level Docker brand bike with a 1/2 liter engine for about $400. This sidecar bike is the product of a joint venture between a Chinese and French company.

Unfortunately, the sidecar itself only seats one and Sally got that seat. I rode behind Amile, hanging on to a small handle between my legs and also bracing myself by grabbing the luggage rack on the trunk of the sidecar. This left no hands for manipulating my camera, so I periodically let go of the luggage rack and operated the camera with one hand. Which explains why I’ve been deleting most of the pictures I took during this 90 minute ride – they were out of focus, pointed at the ground or sky, blurred from shaking, etc. But I did get a few keepers as we rode around the newer part of Marrakech, through the Palm Grove and then back into a different part of the Medina than we had seen the day before.

I have a long history of difficulty finding hat. Helmets are even worse, as they are by their nature rigid. Whenever I need to use a helmet supplied by someone else, they never have one that fits. By the end of the ride I had a deep dent going across my forehead. And I’m pretty sure the helmet wouldn’t have done any good if I needed it.

We got back to the hotel with about an hour to get ready for our Dinner in the Desert with Dancing. The deal here is you drive about 30 miles east to the Agafay desert. The first 25 miles are on a decent road. The last 5 miles are on an almost-road. The road is two lanes, but there’s only one lane’s worth of pavement. So our driver had to continuously slow down and pull half off the pavement to let oncoming traffic past (they had to do the same). This last 5 miles took almost 30 minutes.

This area is home to a number of recreational activities. You can ride a camel, ride an Quad bike, ride an ATV, stay overnight in a Berber-esque tent, have dinner under the stars with traditional entertainment, etc. All supposed to give you a taste of what Berber life was like, if you were a rich Berber and had an ATV that cost more than your annual income. It is just like all of the other folkloric or native experiences you can see around the world: hula dancers in Hawaii, Bushman cooking dinner in South Africa, a blacksmith working in Colonial WIlliamsburg. I think they all need to be taken for what they are: entertainment that might or might not actually reflect some past reality.

We booked a private dinner with a full suite of entertainment. Upon arriving at the site, we were escorted to our private tent. A woman was sitting out in front, but I have no idea what she was doing – she never spoke to us, and left after a short while. But I did take her picture.

Our waiter, Said, was an engaging young-ish man who said he was going to law school in Marrakech. He entertained us with skills like pouring the tea and trying to teach us a few words of Berber (1).

There was a two piece band, a stringed lute-like instrument, hand cymbals, dance and voice. They sang us in when we arrived, played for us by our tent a couple of times, then came back after the last act for an encore.

As I said earlier, we had a private tent, just the two of us (and Said). A very large table held all of the food that was delivered over a couple of hours.

While we were eating a belly dancer came by to entertain us. She danced just outside the tent; Sally thought that she was very inexperienced – like you could see her trying to remember the next move. I just thought she wasn’t very good. And she danced after it was dark with no added light other than what was spilling out of the tent. So I didn’t even try to take a picture.

The penultimate act was a fire dancer. This guy was the boss. He swung his burning torches at the end of chains around through the darkness, switching torches to create different effects. He danced for a while right in front of the tent, and then we moved down to another seating are that was part of our private compound and he did some more with torches and chains that were even more spectacular. I took a couple of hundred shots, about half of which didn’t come out as it was dark and he was moving very fast (2). But I captured enough to give you an idea of what he did.

Finally the band came back for a couple of numbers. Then, sadly, it was time to go home.

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(1) We failed miserably. We couldn’t remember how to say “thank you” for more than 30 seconds (the answer is tanmert).

(2) This is a vast improvement over what I experienced trying to capture fire dancers with my Olympus gear in Havana almost five years ago. There, the yield was 0% – not a single picture came out.

Even though we had a taste of Marrakech yesterday, today was our day to spend time in the Medina and see both the historical sites and life in the Medina. So back we went with Kamal and started walking.

Our first stop was the Bahai Palace. Typically, palaces in Morocco have been for the King – the current King has palaces in each of the major cities. This palace, which dates to the mid-19th century, was built by the Grand Visier (1) of the then-king and later passed onto his son, who inherited his rank. The palace is very ornate, with many rooms on a single level, gardens, courtyards, and guest rooms. It also has three bedrooms for his three wives, and a dormitory for a couple of dozen concubines which he and his guests enjoyed.

The palace was very crowded with tourists and it was difficult to get a clear picture of anything other than the detailed ceilings.

In the same way that we were told the Mellah (Jewish quarter) was adjacent to the King’s palace in Fes, it was near the Bahai Palace here. Marrakech has a well-preserved synagogue and Jewish museum, which we visited. The Slat al-Azama, or Lazama, Synagogue was established by the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. The current building is not believed to be the original one. The synagogue still functions today.

As we moved through the Medina, we continued to come across more damage from the earthquake.

As many of you know, I’ve been on a number of photography workshops, where a bunch of geeks like me walk around and take pictures – often of a scene suggested by the instructor. I found this scene, where people were using the old-fashioned pencil and paper to capture the scene, also in a workshop. The man in the center of the group, blue shirt and sunglasses, was apparently the instructor.

A day’s sightseeing is never complete without at least one Sponsored Visit. We went to a carpet store, ostensively to learn how carpets are made in different regions across Morocco. The sales guy put on quite a performance. The interesting thing is that we knew that he was ultimately trying to sell us stuff, and he knew that we knew, and we knew that he knew that we knew. But I found his enthusiasm engaging.

And finally, a few more images of people at work in the Medina.

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(1) This role put him in charge of the government on a day to day basis, similar to a prime minister.

Take the train from Casablanca heading south

Blowing smoke rings from the corners of my m-m-m-m-mouth

Wouldn’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express

They’re taking me to Marrakesh

Graham Nash

Got up this morning at 3:30am, which translates to 10:30pm the night before back home to our only partially jet-lag-adjusted bodies. That’s because Kamal was picking us up at 4:30 (2) catch our 6:30am flight to Marrakech. Apparently we needed to be at the small airport in Fes two hours before departure to board a plane which seated 150 people. As it turned out, we were in the departure lounge by 5:00am – 30 minutes after leaving the hotel.

Anyway, the 50 minute, half-empty flight boarded in about 10 minutes and we landed in Marrakech on time. The plan was to check in at the hotel, have breakfast, then go into the city for a morning look-around while we waited for our room to be ready at the normal time in the afternoon. As it turned out, the Amanjena hotel was happy to give us a full breakfast the day of arrival, and also give us our room right after breakfast since they were also half empty. And because they were half empty, they also upgraded the room.

Where our hotel and room in Fes, while very nice were also cramped and dark, the Amanjena hotel is ridiculously spacious and light. Our upgraded room does have a small pool, although the one in the picture is one of many decorative pools around the hotel grounds. The apparent length of the pool is not some camera trick of perspective, it’s really long.

So rather than rush into town we took our time and unpacked. We’ll be here for four nights and this room, unlike so many (expensive) rooms we’ve stayed at in our travels, has plenty of closet and drawer space. We each have a six drawer dresser and a closet.

Around 10:30 we left to go take a first look at Marrakech. Everything about Marrakech is bigger and newer-looking than Fes. For instance, while the Medina in Fes is small enough to walk around in a couple of hours, the wall surrounding the Medina here is about 12 miles long.

One of the first things we were curious about, probably like most of you, was the extent of damage from the earthquake. While the earthquake was clearly a disaster further south in the mountains, here in Marrakech you had to look to find damage. Not that there wasn’t any, but it was limited. As we were driving outside the Medina we saw the repair work going on to the wall; much of it is cosmetic and already done, with only a few sections that needed rebuilding from scratch. Inside, one 700-year old minaret was destroyed; while it will probably be rebuilt, the new one won’t be 700 years old. The tallest minaret in the Medina suffered some cracking near the top and is currently braced while the repairs are planned. There’s plenty of damage throughout the Medina, but most of it is relatively minor. Kamal said that only five people died in the city. A terrible thing, but not what the media back home was suggesting.

The Medina has a very large central plaza filled with vendors, snake charmers, musicians and tourists. Lots of tourists. Unlike Fes, where the Medina’s souks were patronized by tourists and locals, the Marrakech is all about tourism.

Once you move into the streets of the Medina, you notice three things. The first is tourists. They are the dominant factor in the parts were were in (3). Second is traffic – there are motorbikes and handcarts continuously moving through the narrow streets. In fact, there are way more motorbikes throughout Marrakech than there were in Fes. Third, the shopping streets, although narrow by Western standards, are significantly wider than those in Fes.

We came back to the hotel, and spent the afternoon hanging by the pool that came with our upgraded room. We ordered room service for lunch, napped, read and I even swam a bit. Pretty sweet.

Dinner was at the hotel. They have two restaurants – one which is Moroccan & Italian, and the other Japanese. We went for Italian food and enjoyed it.

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(1) Nash’s spelling from the mid-1960s doesn’t match what they use here.

(2) That’s a negotiation from his opening bid of 4:00am.

(3) We are, of course, tourists. So we are with our kind.

TL;DR – I took a walk. Then we drove out to a Roman ruin, saw some stuff along the way, drove through a small city and had lunch. Returned to hotel. Ordered room service for dinner and took another walk.

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Unfortunately, not Rome, Italy. Rather, we drove out to visit Volubilis, the ruins of an ancient Roman city about 85 km from Fes near the city of Miknes. But before breakfast, I went out for a walk to see the early morning Medina activity near our hotel, the Riad Fes.

It might seem mundane to some, but one of the things I enjoy about travel is walking about in cities to see what the people there look like, what they do, and how the real city – not the tourist sites – look. What I saw this morning was moms taking their kids to school, (mostly) men sitting at cafes. The main streets, which allow cars, near the Medina were uncrowded.

The drive out started on a highway, but soon devolved to a windy mountain road with some rough pavement and occasional potholes.

Along the way, we passed endless olive orchards and bare fields which have been harvested and are waiting for the spring. We also made the obligatory stop to look at a pretty view; there was stuff to buy there. I’m not sure this one was sponsored.

We’ve seen many Roman ruins in our travels; they extend (as far as where we have been) from Great Britain to Israel. I’d have to say that Volubilis is one of the finest and most extensive we’ve seen. The exception might be the Forum and Coliseum in Rome; the former is actually almost too big, complex and crowded to appreciate, while the latter is truly awesome.

Just as during our Fes Medina walking tour, our guide Kamal outsourced this part of the trip to a sub, whose name I can not recall. But he was very knowledgeable, very nice, spoke excellent English and was very considerate of us. He definitely made a potentially boring history and archeology lesson more enjoyable than it would have otherwise been.

One of the things he explained was about the floor mosaic in the picture above. This entire city was buried for hundreds of years, and many of the details were well preserved, like the floor mosaic from some rich guy’s house. You’ll notice that a section in the upper right is missing. You’ll also notice a pair of legs coming out of the missing section. Archeologist believe that the missing part showed people engaged in activity that was deemed inappropriate by the Christians who took over the city in the third or fourth century, so they censured it.

The last picture from today shows some parts of a mansion that was located near the center of the city. We know the owner was both rich and important (clockwise from top): note the pool with individual seating areas, the view from the entry patio framing the basilica, and the view from an inner courtyard with pool also framing the basilica.

Today we went out with our guide, Kamal. Kamal met us at the airport yesterday with our driver, and he will be with us throughout our trip. This has advantages and disadvantages. When we were in Southeast Asia four years ago, we had a different guide in every city. So we had to get to know him/her, and vice versa. We will know Kamal very well by the end of this trip, for better or worse. It also means that we won’t get multiple viewpoints, as we did in Vietnam. As you could imagine, our guides in Hanoi and Saigon had a very different perspective on the current government.

Anyway, today was the Fes City Tour. Along the way we came across many other groups on the Fes City Tour, most of whom were quite large (one was a couple like us). What all the groups shared, whether large or small, was exhaustion at the end of the day and a limited ability to remember exactly what we saw. Fortunately, we have pictures.

Our first stop was the old Jewish quarter, or mellah. Interesting thing about the mellah: in each city they were usually adjacent to the King’s palace; reputedly because (a) the Jews were rich merchants, (b) the King counted on the smart Jews for advice, and (c) the King needed to protect them. I’m not sure I believe any of these. Second interesting thing: the only difference we could see was the outside balconies, as opposed to the inner courtyards of Muslim homes – the Jews didn’t mind their woman being seen in public, while the Muslims didn’t much like that. Other than that, it looked like many other streets in Fes. Only about 2,500 Jews still live in all of Morocco. If we saw any, they looked the same as everyone else.

From there, we made our first sponsored stop (1) of the day: a mosaic factory. The gentleman who showed us around was quite enthusiastic about the whole thing, including why we would be smart to buy some of his product. I have to admit, the stuff was really very nice looking. And the manufacturing process, which starts with baking the wet clay in molds set in the sun through to hand painting designs on some of the finished products, was very interesting.

From there we embarked on a long and tiring walk through the Medina, looking at the souqs, or street markets. This is a warren of small, often crowded streets with hundreds of tiny stores (and a few bigger ones) that sell everything from fresh produce and meat to fine silver and jewelry. But mostly they are just like the street markets you see around the world. Given the extremely small size of the streets, there are no cars here. Goods are transported by hand carts or donkeys.

At this point we stopped for lunch. The restaurant was nice enough, although the food – which included some choices with no garlic – was not great. Interestingly, every table was filled with tourists, in groups big and small (2).

Our last (4) sponsored stop was at a leather factory. Our guide warned us repeatedly that the smell would be bad, and I would say it wasn’t good, but I’ve smelled much worse. After climbing an uncountable number of flights to the top floor, we could look out over the yard where the camel skins were being prepared and dyed. Again, it was interesting. But I really didn’t want to buy a leather jacket or ottoman.

At this point we were pretty exhausted, so we made a quick stop at an overlook for a photo of the city (3) and then headed back to the hotel.

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(1) I generally find these sponsored stops distasteful at best, and a time waste at worst. The stops we made today were at least interesting on their own, although I’m sure our guide would get a commission if we bought anything.

(2) I’m sure lunch was also sponsored.

(3) The picture is not worth the electrons to include here.

(4) We also had a sponsored stop at a very high-end antique store with many Jewish artifacts. We didn’t buy anything there, either.

Well folks, we made it. Remember my complaint about having to get to the airport early to board the plane way before departure time? For the first time in my life, they closed the doors 20 minutes before scheduled departure and pulled away to taxi out! Good thing we were at the gate 45 minutes before the scheduled time!

Anyway, I did my usual thing of taking a sleeping pill while we were taxiing out (which is like driving on the LIE – stop and go traffic all the way) and fell asleep about 30 minutes into the flight, even though I was watching the Steve McQueen classic “Bullitt”. I woke up as the crew was collecting breakfast, which is just about perfect.

In the Casablanca airport, we were met by an escort who helped us with our luggage, navigating customs and passport control, and finding our guide and driver. Then we settled in for the 3-1/2 hour drive to Fez, with a stop along the way in Rabat.

Rabat is the capital of Morocco, and the residence of the King. We didn’t spend much time there; we walked around the Medina for a while. Rabat

Then off to Fez. Our hotel, the Riad Fez, is very nice with one exception: the hotel is made from five old adjoining houses in the Medina, and you need to takes stairs and steps to get anywhere. Our room is up two short flights (they carried our bags up), but you also need to go up and down single steps to move around the hotel from the lobby, to the courtyard, to the restaurant, to the concierge desk, etc. There’s a very nice rooftop bar, which is four flights up. Getting up is a hike, getting down after a couple of drinks could be fatal (2).

While Sally took a rest in the room, I went out for a stroll around the Medina. I asked the concierge where I should go, and she was very concerned that I was going without our guide. Our guide also gave clear advice (not): “it’s very safe, but be very careful”.

In any event, she gave me a map and marked some streets I should visit. I should mention at this point that our driver had dropped us off, with our luggage and our guide, about a five minute walk from the hotel. It’s just impossible to drive anything but a motorbike down these little streets. So after making three turns on my walk, I lost track of her directions. Fortunately, Google Maps works perfectly here – I simply put her turn-around point in, and wandered to my heart’s content.

We ended the day with dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. We were the first ones in at 7:00pm, and wondered whether it was empty because it wasn’t that good. But by 8:00 it was mostly filled, and there was a musician performing (see the picture at the top of this post). Very nice!

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(1) The old walled portion of a city in Morocco is called the Medina.

(2) There is an elevator which is Out of Service.

(3) Our guide told us that cats are considered a symbol of good luck, while dogs are most definitely not. There are lots of cats here, and they terrify the dogs.

Well, Uber showed up and shepherded us through the traffic – through the Bronx, across the bridge, down the Van Wyck Expwy. We made it through check in, made it through security (1). We found a place to eat with tables and chairs, and had a snack.

Now we’re ensconced in the “primeclass lounge” (2). It’s actually pretty nice. Comfy seats, charging outlets, and a pretty good selection of food. Sally had a fruit plate and baklava, which was better than the pretzel from the restaurant. Our flight is still on time (8:40pm), and our boarding passes say we can board at 7:30 – which seems ridiculous. Why sit on the airplane for over an hour before they even close the doors?

If you don’t hear from me again tonight, that means that we boarded and departed reasonably on time. Unless all communications in and out of JFK are disrupted, and we are isolated here.

Next stop Morocco.

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(1) I got patted down at security. We don’t know why. And I had to take both of our iPads out of my backpack and have all of that stuff go through the scanners again. But all in all, not terribly painful.

(2) All lower case, as you can see above. Very e.e. cummings.

We started planning this trip in the winter of 2020, to be taken that fall. Then COVID happened, and the trip didn’t. So we’re finally going in the fall of 2023, almost 3.5 years later. I’m pretty sure we never planned a trip this far in advance. Although to be fair, the trip we’re taking now has a different itinerary than we were working on in early 2020.

Yesterday I got an email from Royal Air Morocco (RAM) saying it was time to check in online. Which I did, of course. Somewhere in that process, they advised us to get to the airport three hours before departure. Sally and I had been counting back from our 8:40pm departure assuming two hours; with this new advice, we need to leave for the airport in the morning!

Thinking perhaps this was a response to the ongoing war in Israel, I checked a few other travel related sites that were not airline affiliated. Several of them were also recommending three hours for international flights (two hours domestic), and the posts were not from the last couple of weeks. When did three hours become a thing? We need to leave about two hours to get to the airport given the vagaries of traffic, so we need to leave our house five hours prior to departure for a flight that is less than 7 hours (including taxi time at both ends). Seems like a bad deal!

Oh, and since we’ll be using a car service (1), we need to allow for additional time to locate a driver and get them to our house. At least we’ll have plenty of time in the airport to have a relaxing dinner.

As if there’s anywhere in the airport to have a relaxing dinner. I found a website that promised:

Travelers with an appetite will be pleased to know that Terminal 1 at JFK Airport houses a wide selection of excellent restaurants. Our list highlights the top eateries … for visitors seeking a bite to eat, from full-course sit-down dinners to quick and simple snacks.

The list of 15 establishments used phrases like “quick bite”, “things you can pack in your carry on” and “grab and go”. None of these sound particularly relaxing.

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(1) The few times I’ve tried to use a car service since we moved earlier this year, Uber had nothing to offer me. Lyft did deliver. Checking a few minutes ago showed both seeming to have opportunities. We’ll see when it’s time to leave.

We leave tomorrow, so it’s time to gather all of the stuff we need and make sure it fits in my bags. I’m seriously out of practice, since our last extended trip and our last trip out of the country was four years ago. Can you believe I almost forgot to bring electric plug adaptors? Sheesh … they used to be pre-packed in my bag, ready to go.

When you’re moving around during a trip, as we will be, you often have to deal with different climates. Add to that the uncertainty in the weather forecasts, which seem to change from day to day.

The weather in Morocco this time of year is mostly in the 70s during the day, and 50s at night. The current forecast that I can see suggests some days will be in the 80s. We will also be in the mountains and desert for a few days, where it can get colder at night. So we have a 40 degree range to accommodate – 40s to 80s – while hoping to see mostly 50s to 70s.

The common wisdom says the way to approach this problem is by having layered clothing, all of which can go together. So on those cool evenings, you put all of your clothes on – t-shirt, shirt, sweater, light jacket – and hope it’s enough. When it’s warm, just a t-shirt or short sleeved polo will suffice.

As for the carry-on, I’m actually carrying on less stuff than usual. Because I’ve stripped down my camera kit, it fits in the small black camera bag, plus a few additional items in the backpack. The backpack also contains the stuff you can’t really check: batteries, papers, cash, meds, etc.

I spent this morning going over the collection of stuff laying in and around my suitcase and backpack, comparing it to my checklist. I found quite a number of items on the checklist that I hadn’t pulled out yet. I also remembered a number of items (like the aforementioned adaptors) that were neither on the list or laying on the floor. And we’re collecting a short of list things that I’ll run to the store to get later on.

That leaves plenty of time tomorrow to obsessively go over the list again.