Day 5 to 6 Meknes and the King

[Discalimer: I know I came back from Morocco like ages ago, but I know you want to know more about our adventures there ;) and by the way, I'm cooking almost nothing lately, so... :P]

Leaving Fès, I decide to enter fully in Moroccan life: I bought a newspaper! We consulted our guide on which newspaper we should buy: not too much on the side of the king, not too Muslim, not too rightish... I know: we are crazy! We always look for the local counterpart of Manifesto or Liberation!!! And in French, of course, as neither of us could read Arab...
I anyway ended up with the wrong one (I'm capable of forgetting the title of a newspaper in 10 meters walk), on the side of the king, whom, by the way, is a very cool and good looking person, so it was kind of ok!
And we discover, just 4 minutes before to take the train to Meknes that the king would be there, in Meknes, for the agricultural forum during the same days we would be there! How exiting!!! On paper... Because at the end we just had two glimpses of his car and nothing else...
Back to our trip!
By the time we arrive in Meknes I have the biggest flu of last year: hate Moroccan thermal excursion! So I don't remember much from the city...
I reckon it as something beautiful, with no too many tourists and all festive for the king...
I think there were some amazing monuments, as usually, but I was sniffing my nose constantly...
There is one thing I remember vividly: the Riad we went to!
Riad Feloussia, and Lionel and Sonia, its owners!
The Riad has only 2 bedrooms, one more beautiful then the other! the restoration of the Riad was undertaken by the owners altogether with Moroccan architects and carpenters, using traditional materials and trying to preserve the original feeling of the place! The bathroom in our room was bigger then our sitting room at home!!!
They even have a terrace looking on the main square: a treat you'll want to enjoy even under the midday sun!
Uh, something I remember: not far from Meknes lays Volubilis, a Roman archaeological site! Very nice... Very hot and sunny, but very nice!



Uh, something else: Christians prisons! Creepy!!!



Ah, and of course we got lost, somewhere, looking for an exit, but fooling ourselves inside a labyrinth of streets and covered alleys... We really felt inside a scenario of Prince of Persia! (actually I was constantly saying it... ;D)

We ate both on the street (in Meknes they have the best bread we ever tried in Morocco), in restaurants (Le Collier de la Colombe, where we had as a dessert a Pastilla au lait which was AMAZING!!!) and at the Riad.



At the Riad we had the pleasure to eat camel tajine (actually dromedary): kudos Zora, the Moroccan girl who cooked it!!!

For more pictures, here!

Day 3 to 4 Up and down Fès

First we went down, then up, by another street, and then down again, to the bottom, and then, too tired to go up again, we took a petit taxi to go up... And like this for 3 days. And we didn't get tired of it... I would go up and down in Fès for ever!
Even on a busy Sunday evening, pushed by everybody, shove by (stinky) donkeys and (rude) porters.
Because in Fès they push! All the time! And after 2 days you stop too to say "pardon" (French pronunciation, remember!)!



That's strange, because in Paris and Milan they push you all the time, but I don't stop to say "Scusa" or "Pardon" and I get always pissed by rude people all the time. Especially in Paris, in the underground: gosh, they are SO rude...
But in Fès no, they are not rude (except porters), they simply do not have the same concept of physical space we have: they are not afraid to touch a stranger in the street, they are not afraid of physical contact, they are not afraid of people. They smile, they chat, they walk around, for leisure or going to work or school, always smiling.



And if you had the enormous fortune to live in Fès, well, you would smile too!
We left our hearts in Fès! It is the most beautiful city we have been in Morocco, where we had our first understanding of Moroccan life, our first real touch of what life is there.
It's very difficult to describe it, but it's the most fascinating city I ever been too. You cannot see it or understanding in 1 or 2 days. Even 3 are not enough. It's tiny, but mesmerizing.



And our personal advice is to save money, eating in the street, to be able to go and eat to Le Palais de Fès, on their terraces! The food is amazing, but the view is what is important... That view... It will never leave my mind... Ever... Le Palais de Fès does not have sign outside his door. Once you arrive down down and you arrive at R'Cif, and it looks like you are going out of the Medina but you are not, you arrive on a main street (don't bother to look for singpost: there aren't), follow it, and soon you'll find on your right a cinema. There is a little square before the cinema. From the center of the square, cinema on your right, main street behind you, you'll see a door, surrounded by green ceramics. That's the entrance to the restaurant. Then you go up and up and up...


And be brave and go down until you find a part of the city tourist less, le quartier Andalous, on the eastern border of the Medina, and you can see real Morocco... And you eat a lot of nice, simple and tasty stuff, for nothing, as usual!!!
So tasty I couldn't wait to take a bite of the potato puff before to take the picture!!! :P



P.S. There is a way to enjoy Fès without the pushing: take a walk around 8am! Unforgettable!!!



For the whole set of pictures, here!

Day 2 Rain going to Fès

We took the bus at 6.45 am and leave Marrakech on a cold but sunny morning.
We have in front of us 8 hours of bus ride, in the mountains. Fun!
As soon as we leave Marrakech and we begin to go up, the weather changes and it becomes grey, rainy and cold!



We freeze in the bus, we freeze during the 3 stops we are allowed to go out of the bus to eat!



First stop in the middle of the mountains, for breakfast: mint tea and some kind of patisserie. And, on the contrary of what you can think about looking at those pictures, the best thing was not the pastry in the back of the tea, but the rounded mega biscuit, that we called polentone: made mainly of butter and semolina, it's delicious!



Back in to the bus, next stop in Kenifra for lunch (no picture, too cold!).
You have to know that on our first draft of our tour we wanted to make a night in Kenifra, just to cut in two the long journey to Fès. When we went to consult the lady of the Moroccan tourist office in Milan, she asked us why on earth we would like to stop there, as it was a city (more village) with nothing to see. My answer was (with a dreaming tone!): Because we want to watch real moroccan life goes by... She gave me one of the strangest look I've ever seen!
On second thought we decided we couldn't waste 1 entire day there, so we ended up doing the whole trip at once.
And, honestly, I do not know if it was the rain or the mud caused by the rain, but thank god we decided not to stop!!! Let's say we didn't have the best impression of the city and the tourist office lady was absolutely right!
Then the road again, the rain again and at last, Fès!
I do not want to spoil you all the wonderful thing we saw and we did in Fès. Allow just to say that if one day we really decide to go to live in Morocco, Fès will be our first choice, above ALL.
I give just a bite for now! Mind: it was sunset!




And then we ate our first Moroccan sandwich, made of marinated meat (with onion, garlic, coriander and other spices difficult to sort out), grilled in front of you, and actually in front of the butcher too, and filling the wonderful Moroccan bread (you can see it in the back) all together with a spicy sauce! Delicious!!! Shall i tell you how much was it? I dunno, because maybe you won't believe me... We ate in the street, walking, and we bought from a stall where there was all moroccan people... And I think we pay it anyway more then Moroccan do, but it was 2 euros for 2 big sandwiches... Nothing!



For the whole set of pictures, here!

Day 1 Marrrakesh, a first bite

We left home on a Friday night, heading to my parents home, in Varese, where we left the cat and we slept few hours before leaving for the airport (Malpensa is much nearer to my parents house then to our home in Milan) at 4.30 am on a Saturday.
3 hours flight with EasyJet from Milan to Marrakech, just the time to chat with a nice Moroccan woman living in Italy and traveling to her parent's house in Beni-Mellal, half way between Marrakech and Fès, as we will discover the day after...
We land in Marrakech the early morning of a wonderful sunny saturday (Morocco is two hours behind Italy) and we catch the bus heading to the city.
It's a short ride, 20 minutes at most, to arrive to the souther part of the famous Place Jemaa El Fna, which we do not explore then, but we begin to look for our riad: a little treat we indulge ourselves, as it will be the most expensive of all our trip.
The riad is on the map of the Guide Vert Michelin, but we soon discover, in the wrong location. Really in the wrong location!
But mind: we are still naive, we do not yet know how to act with "helpful" Moroccans...
And you have to know that Medinas, the Moroccan old city centers, are a labyrinth of noisy, narrow and cul-de-sac streets, with few exits and you get easily lost. And there isn't street names... And when there are street names, they are in Arab alphabet...
We were approached in the street by an old lady (you can normally trust women in Morocco, but they rarely speak to strangers) whom speaks only arab. She's trying to help us, we understand. So when she turn to a young guy explaining him (we suppose, as the conversation is in Arab) we are trying to find Riad An Nur, we gladly think that in the end, what all the travel guides tell you, is not really true: people in Morocco are genuine helping strangers in the street...
And of course we were WRONG. The young guy put us in the hands of another young guy who tells us to follow him. We of course follow him. But after 20 minutes going endlessly around the labyrinth, with no clear aim and we the feeling that he's just trying to making us feel even more lost, we decide we do not need is "help" anymore and we prefer to call the riad for specific directions.
But this guy is still following us, saying he know where to bring us, he knows where the riad is, he's helping us...
We kindly tell him, please, don't worry, we call the riad and they'll come to pick us up, thanks for your help... Nothing. He doesn't go away. And I tell you that the situation is beginning not only to piss us off, but to worry us...
We call the riad and the gentleman on the phone tell us to wait for him in front of the "bureau de tabac" (tobacconist). Only we do not find a bureau the tabac, because the guy that was trying to "help" us listened to everything, he's ahead of us and (supposedly) saying to everyone to give us wrong direction. We asked to the bureau de tabac if it was one, but they told us, no, sorry, we are not... But they were!
After looking around for 20 minutes, always followed by the guy, we finally find the riad gentlemen, Faissal whom get rid of the strange guy in a sec...
From that day we learned that never, under any circumstance, you should trust anyone who's approaching you in the street in Morocco. They seem nice, they smile at you, but all they want from you is money for nothing. They do not care about you, they do not care you are lost. They are just after your money, as a tip or a percentage on a selling or a room, in a way or another they just want your money. Sure they are not just trying to help.
Anyway, after this weird start, we enter the riad, and WOW!



First of all, there is silence.
Then it's fresh, calm, clean...
It's a paradise, with a luxurious garden, wonderful suites, shadowy patios and sunny roof top...
And then,suddenly, we are affected by what we called "The Riad syndrome": you don't want to go out any more. You just want to stay there, lying on the bed, or on the sofa, or on the terrace, taking a refreshing shower, or a nap, or just reading... You want the riad be your home. Forever.

But deep deep inside you, you know you cannot...

And so you go out of the door and boom: another world, another dimension! Noise, children loudly playing in the street, mopeds with their noisy horns, people trying to get you in their shop... But you begin to adjust and you like the outside too, because at the end you know you have a refuge...
Anyway, we forced ourself to go out because we had to eat and to buy the ticket for next day bus to Fès.
So we go to the bus station. And suddenly, again, people asking us, in any language "where do you have to go?" And I'm almost starting to answer, but then I think why someone should care? And so we decide to ignore them: we knew, from the travel guides, it was better to travel with CTM, because all the others companies have very poor services. We find the CTM ticket counter and we buy our tickets for the day after 7 am bus to Fès: 8 hours of bus riding...
Then we head to Place Jemaa El Fna to eat.
We survey some stalks (constantly harassed by everybody, trying to convince us to eat at their place) and we chose one full of Moroccan people.
We have our first tajine de poulet au citron (Chicken with confit lemon Tajine) and grilled meat, with bread.
Bread was the most amazing discover of Morocco: the best we've ever tried! And you know why? Simple: is cooked in a wood oven. But I have time to tell you all about it!
Finally we can head back to our paradise!
A paradise with a kitchen, where, for not too many dirham (at least not compare to Europe, but a lot compare to the Morocco), you can have your dinner, cooked expressly for you by the riad cook (whom is normally the woman housekeeping the whole facility too). Moroccan cuisine, of corse! Salads, tajine, fruit salad, mint tea.

A luxury we'll experience again during our trip!



Next, Day 2 Rain going to Fès

P.S. Let's say I wasn't SO inspired when I wrote this entry! ;) I hope to be less boring and more catchy with the following! :)

Morocco, the land where time stops...

Morocco...
That's where I've been in the last two weeks... And that's where I would love to live the rest of my life!
Morocco...
A beautiful country, made of sand, sea, ocean and imperial cities...
Morocco...
The land where time really stops! At first we thought it was our watch, but soon realized that the whole country is inside a time capsules, where hours seem days, days seem weeks, weeks seem months...
For the first week I kept asking what time it was, and then suddenly saying: "That cannot be true! It cannot be still SO early!"... Then, little by little, the watch wasn't an issue any more: our day was scanned by the prayer callings coming from the minarets and filling the cities with their melodic verses... It wasn't any more a matter of what time it was: we were living fully (and, honestly, still are) in the Moroccan way...

Our trip was fairly classic for a two week first exploration of Morocco. We toured the imperial cities and did a short escaped towards the desert.
Moroccan currency is dirham. It's better you change you foreign money at the airport: the rates are very good (at least for euro) and there is no commission. Don't do the grumpy tourist that try to pay everything in US dollars and get pissed if robbed! ;)
Credit cards are accepted only in few places and they normally add a commission of 5%. On the other hand there is plenty of cash dispensers.
We travelled in public transports, train, buses and taxis.
We stayed mainly in awesome riad, the traditional Moroccan house: a cube with no outside wall windows, but windows facing the inner court where there was a large open area, with a fountain or a garden, with lots of light. It normally comes with a huge terrace on the roof. We booked all of them before to go (and I strongly recommend it!).
We used two travel guides: an old Routard, from 2000, and a newer Guide Vert Michelin, 2007. Both weren't up to the task, honestly. Maybe we should have used the Lonely Planet instead, but we wanted to keep it French, for once...
As none of us can speak Arab (or should I say Moroccan?), we spoke French all the time. It's not that Moroccan people doesn't know any other foreign language, they do, but French is more natural for them. And French is anyway the second language of Morocco. French is essential if you want to go to Morocco by yourself.
We didn't bought a carpet but if you want to, we strongly recommend you to look up the prices for Moroccan carpets in your country, so at least you know against which price you should haggle. Because Morocco is the land of haggling too! 99% of what is sold doesn't have a price tag, and Moroccan just love to haggle! A lady on the train told us that they haggle for tomatoes and carrots too!!!

In the next weeks I will publish an accurate account of our trip, full of pictures and stories...

Do not expect too much food! Not because we didn't have it, but because after the second tajine, looking all the same, you stop taking pictures...
Moroccan food is very very good, but, unluckily, it doesn't excel in variety: tajine, tajine, grilled meat, tajine, fried fish, tajine again and then, on friday, couscous and then tajine again... And then, of course, their wonderful patisserie! But I don't want to spoil the fun of reading the next posts!

Stay tuned for:
Day 1 Marrrakesh, a first bite
Day 2 Rain going to Fès
Day 3 to 4 Up and down Fès
Day 5 to 6 Meknes and the King
Day 7 to 9 Salè and Rabat, the old and the new
Day 10 The hot train and the harassing city
Day 11 The (almost) desert
Day 12 to 14 Too much harass, too much heat and too much almond milk