Romans to Modern Times, October 28

We drive to Volubilis to see the Roman ruins. This city was active from 45-285 AD. The population was 20,000. They exported olives and wheat to Rome and also supplied the gladiator fighting lions. There are no more lions in Morocco.

There are many beautiful mosaics still in good condition.

 

This was the grand way or actually it was a mall with shops all along the street.

Below photo shows the butcher shop as you can see by the head of the cow on the pillar.

 

Amphora for the wine shop

 

Shell for the seafood shop

The poultry market

 

In Meknes we visit a granary used when the king, Moulay Ismail, who ruled from 1672-1727, made Meknes the capital of Morocco.

Moulay Ismail stabled his 12,000 horses here. He also had 500 wives and over 800 children.

Below the photos show the mosque of Moulay Ishmail, which is also his mausoleum, as he is buried here.

Our final dinner was held in the Moroccan restaurant in our hotel, Palais Jamail, and was followed by the entertainment of a belly dancer. Bob says the dinner and dancing were excellent. I became ill and had to go to bed. Fortunately I had medicine and was fine after 24 hours.

 

Most of us headed home the next morning, although our trip home took several days (as planned) as we took the coach back from Fes to Casablanca staying there for one night, flew to Madrid for one night, then on to Los Angeles via Miami. Others were not so fortunate. A horrible hurricane named Sandy moved up the East Coast and hit NYC as our tour ended causing cancellation of all flights into several airports affecting many in our group as well as seriously flooding the home of two people in our group. Several are stranded in Casa for several days and others arranged alternate flights to get home.

Our Tour Director, Andrew Simon, was outstanding as was his local colleague, Mohammed Salmi, from Meknes, Morocco. The National Geographic expert, Jeffrey Taylor, had been a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, as mentioned, and has taken two serious lengthy trips exploring Morocco, so is very knowledgeable about the country. We enjoyed the different insights of all three of these leaders. In each city we had local guides and they were all very good and spoke English very well. It was also a good mix of people in the group, 19 women and 7 men, ranging in age from early 20's to 87 plus our three leaders, all men.

We learned a tremendous amount about the country of Morocco, the people, the culture and the beautiful handcrafts and artifacts. Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States of America after we gained our independence from Great Britain in the 18th century, so our ties go way back. We were sorry to learn that Morocco has an illiteracy rate of 45%. The country has made strides under the current King, Mohammed VI, but it has a ways to go. It seems to be way ahead of the other North Africa countries and has remained somewhat stable. We hope that Morocco will continue to progress. The Moroccans often say, inshallah, meaning "God willing", and that is an appropriate comment here.

We were also glad that we were able to visit Portugal and Spain along with Morocco as their histories and cultures have been intertwined for centuries. Our Tauck tour of the Iberian peninsula was as equally excellent as the National Geographic Tour of Morocco. Our Tauck leader, Patricia Hunting, was terrific. I am sorry that I did not get the blog written for the first tour as I was just learning how to create a blog, had limited use of wifi and had limited time. We also enjoyed our week in between the two tours sightseeing and relaxing on our own, a necessary respite, as well as connecting with our Toronto friends both in Madrid and Barcelona. Interestingly we made special friends on each of the two tours with couples from Australia. That may be a future destination! We feel very fortunate to have been able to make this journey and we are grateful to our daughter Caroline who kept our home fires burning and covered our local commitments. As always, we are glad to be home!

 

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From the movies to the Dades Gorge, October 24

After we check out from the lovely Berber Palace, we visit the Kasbah in Ouarzazate. This looks like a modern city with wide streets, street lights, and mostly sand colored buildings. The Kasbah was owned by an important Berber leader, Thami El Glaoui. Berbers are the indigenous people of Morocco. The Arabs came in the 700s. This cannon changed the history of Morocco.

Beautiful carved ceiling

Bob hikes the Dades Gorge.

Liz views it from up high.

Musicians welcome us back to the Xaluca hotel in Boumaine Dades where we had lunch. Now we will spend the night before heading to the eastern Sahara.

 

We have learned to like the mint tea, often offered to us upon returning from our daily trek!

 

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Fabulous Fes, October 27

Our guide today is MoMo (diminutive of Mohammed often used for the youngest son). He shows us an old synagogue and tells us about the Jews in Fes. At one time they lived happily along side the Muslims.

When Israel was established, most of the Jews left Morocco to move there.

The door slides to the side and we see a very old Torah.

It is raining slightly, but there is a break, so we hurry to go see the beautiful bronze doors of the palace.

 

Then we go into the medina, through some very narrow and dark alleys, ending up in the grocery section.

 

 

 

Someone said these are Irish strawberries. I do not know if that is true. But the fruit below are pomegranates which we are served quite often for dessert, sometimes just the seeds and sometimes the fruit is quartered and you miss pick out the seeds.

A cart of sheepskins goes by. This is the day after the Feast Day when the sheep were slaughtered. We see a pile of sheepskins by the street.

 

We visit a 14th century school.

 

 

On through the market where there is a plentiful supply of dried fruit. If the women market here, they bargain each day anew for their groceries.

 

Now we visit a 12 th century school.

 

A typical building has five elements: marble floors, carved cedar ceilings, carved plaster, Arabic writing and tile.

 

Now we go to a former private very sumptuous home. It is magnificent. We are served mint tea. Then we are shown wonderful Berber carpets and given the opportunity to purchase one...or more. They are very desirable, but we have no room for one.

This rug costs about $6000. It is beautiful and reversible.

We walk through a lovely square in the medina. Things are quiet today.

Many craftsmen have taken the day off as it is a holiday weekend with the Feast Day on Friday.

Next we visit the tannery and the leather shop where we do make a purchase.

The cat has just jumped from one row of vats to another. There are cats and kittens everywhere.

On the distant hillside we see hundreds of satellite dishes.

Lunch is served in a gorgeous restaurant, previously a private home.

 

After lunch we some of us visit the ceramics shop, others return to the medina and some go to the hotel.

Back at the hotel we have a wrap up session. Then some of us gather in the bar for camaraderie before going to dinner.

 

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