Christmas in Morocco

The last two weeks of the year, I was able to welcome my mom back to Spain for her second time this school year.  The stay in Spain was short-lived however, as we left for a six day journey to Morocco, both of our first times to Africa, and my first time in a muslim country.

In the Marrakech medina, probably lost already

Thanks to a wonderful new friend who drove us to Sevilla, we easily hopped a plane to Marrakech, the first stop on our trip.  Unfortunately we got off to a rocky start when we mistakenly insulted a couple of gentlemen who had helped us with our luggage to the Riad when instead of paying 20 dirham, I was actually giving him 20 cents of a dirham (a word of advice: if unfamiliar with a country's currency, it would serve well to do a quick google/wikipedia research to avoid such embarrassing, uncomfortable, and downright heart-racing misunderstandings.  Also, Moroccans don't kid about that sort of stuff, so don't laugh as if they are... it wont help matters.)  After hashing everything out, we took the next day and a half to explore the medina in Marrakech and enjoy two sunsets in the El Fna Plaza watching the food stands be assembled from piles of iron rods in carts and then listening to the call to prayer sound while the sky burned red and beautiful.  We never had the opportunity to venture outside the medina, but this hardly bothered us, and it gave us a head start to some of the major shopping we did on our trip - shoes, lamps, keychains, dates (not men, fruit).

Sunset in El Fna plaza, Marrakech

Our days were cut short as we were timid about the possibility of getting lost in the medina and not being able to find our way back to the Riad - as night fell so did the blinds of many of the hundreds of stands we used as mental breadcrumbs.  But we were also just as content relaxing back in the Riad and finishing off whatever goodies we had purchased earlier that day, going to bed early and sleeping in past the first (and sometimes second too) call.

With our baggage heavier, we made our way (first class no less, at a whopping 29 euros each) to Fez via an 8 hour train ride.  Mom and I were placed in different compartments which actually allowed each of us to meet our share of interesting and helpful people on our way, including Brits restoring Riads, Canadian gas businessmen on a 6 month journey through Africa and Asia,  young Moroccan women returning home from their studies in France, and even a man who worked with UNESCO and offered to unite us with his friend and guide for our day in Fez.

Tanneries in Fez - don't forget your mint sprigs!

The weather predictions weren't positive for our time in Fez, and upon our arrival we were greeted with heavy wind and rain and our driver was kind enough to let us stay in the taxi until it let up enough to get through to our Riad.  Fortunately, the weather didn't persist, and the next day the sky only fell when were were inside and out of the elements.  We did in fact meet up with Hammid, our recommended guide, and he gave us tour of the medina he calls home.  We saw the universities, the rugs made by widows, the herbalist, and the stinky tanneries that haven't changed in hundreds of years.  Although we thought we had him for the entirety of the day, he left us after a little over 3 hours, probably because we weren't emptying out our bank accounts on any rugs or bottles of perfume, despite his insistence that we aught not to be pressured into buying anything.  It works out for the best, as he directed us back to the main gate of the medina where we indulged in a delicious Moroccan meal with a scenic view of the medina.  We were also proud of ourselves as we made our way to and from the train station by ourselves via taxi (1 euro taxi rides - I like Morocco!) to buy our tickets to Tanger for the next day (didn't want to end up in different compartments again).

After carb-loading at breakfast (what is now a Moroccan tradition for Mom and I due to the large and delish breakfasts at the Riads) we carb-loaded our bags for our afternoon train ride, but made sure to include the massive amounts of cheap and equally delicious mandarines, as well as some dates (again fruit, not men) and baklava.  We took our last stroll through the medina, going each way we could without turning more than once (not wanting to risk getting terribly lost when needing to get to a train that afternoon).

We enjoyed a much shorter train ride to Tanger, watching a surprisingly green country roll past our window.  Shepherds and their flocks of goats, sheep, and cows were abound in the countryside, as well as random roosters running along the fronts of houses and neighborhoods, all finished off by a seaside sunset reflected in still tide pools.  The journey was made even more rewarding when a cab was able to take us all the way to our hotel doorstep when we reached a dark Tanger (no more kind men having to take our luggage via homemade wheelbarrow from the outside of the medina).

Example of the best food you've ever tasted: Chicken with
almonds and prunes, couscous with caramelized onions and
veggies, and finally, sugary hot mint tea.

Christmas morning we woke up and happened to be staying in probably the one cheap hotel that had a Christmas tree in the foyer (Charlie Brown could have worked wonders on it).  We were a bit medinad-out and decided to do our strolling outside the medina in Tanger, only journeying inside to find the (closed) American Legation Museum (the only American historical landmark on foreign soil, as Morocco was actually the first country to recognize the US as a independent nation after the revolutionary war, mostly to get back at the Brits for something else).  Ironically, we got more lost outside the medina than we probably would have staying it, due to my ineptitude, lack of decent map, and the fact that nobody we asked seemed to know their way around either (locals included).  Starvation getting the best of us, we were convinced to sit down at a plaza side restaurant and we never looked back, especially as we ate like queens and stuffed our guts with other tasty food that wasn't served in a tajine (as good as they were, we didn't especially want one more tajine either).

Aside from the winding passageways and narrow alleys of the ancient medinas, much of the architecture was actually vaguely reminiscent of that in Andalucia.  The tombs in Marrakech, the tiles decorating the Fez fountains, and the minarets that towered above everything all have their ancient counterparts still in southern Spain.  The Reconquista could only demolish so much, and who'd even want to - it's all so pretty anyway.  I can only imagine how Morocco would strike someone who wasn't already exposed to the Alhambra in Granada, La Giralda or the Alcazar in Sevilla, or the Mesquita in Córdoba.

We left the next day via ferry, which was running more late than the ride actually lasted, a mere 35 minutes.  This was the easiest part of the day, as we got stuck in Tarifa longer than we wanted because they only ran 2 buses out on Sundays (to a busy port which runs ferries every 2 hours - ah, back in Spain) and even got a bad cab ride back to the apartment.  A hard ending (and beginning) to an otherwise beautiful trip filled with kind, warm, and generous people, amazing food, and unforgettable sights.  And I'm only more pleased that my mom was along for the adventure!

See more pictures of the entire trip here.