Our family had 3 weeks in Morocco and had the most fantastic experience. Apart from 3 nights in hotels we spent all the time staying with local people organised through the Couchsurfing or BeWelcome websites. We were made to feel so welcome and received such generosity it was 'almost' too much in some cases. The 3 nights in hotels felt so sterile and boring by comparison.
After a very noisy flight we arrived in Rabat where we were met by our hosts the El Gadi family at the airport. We were shepherded into their home in Sale near Rabat and to our surprise the parents had given up their own room for us, despite our protestations! And their son also gave up his bed so our two girls could share the room with their daughter. The parents and son slept in the 'salon' or lounge!
Over the course of the next five days we packed in numerous visits to their extended families, probably 60 people or more, and all welcomed us very warmly. They are two of the oldest established families in Sale going back hundreds of years, so we had the privileged of visiting the families 'big houses' in the medina which was interesting and entertaining. The families all meet en-masse in the old houses every Friday, from the youngest to eldest members of the family. Everywhere we went there seemed to be endless rounds of delightful food and mint tea. One of the old houses actually had a prison under it that dated back to the period when white slaves were kept there. The medina itself was the usual hive of activity these places are with all the various artisans and food stores, clothing, shoes etc.
We picked up our hire car on the second day (a Suzuki swift..WOOhoooo...never mind) and within minutes were soooo close to being wiped out by a taxi who seemed to take umbrage at me pulling out in front of him (into traffic..not moving .....?). After an hour or so driving a left hook car became pretty straight forward and I was enjoying mixing it with the fairly pacey and aggressive traffic around Rabat.
The next day our hosts arranged to take us up to Assilah to the north, so we followed them up there and found they'd booked us to stay in a very nice condo type place with a pool and everything. They insisted on paying for that...oh..and the tolls on the motorway. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get them to accept any money, until I managed to get in quick and pay for dinner that evening at a very nice restaurant. Assilah is a pretty little town with a lot of the white and blue buildings...like Sidi Busaid in Tunis. They also had some very good snail stalls...quite nice to warm you up on a cool evening.
Next day we went further north to Tangier Med and past the port where all the Moroccans and other Africans are trying to get onto boats and trucks across to Europe. In the surrounding hills you can see people camped in the forest just waiting for the right opportunity. We drove through the Reef hills to Ceuta which is a Spanish enclave. We didn't bother going in as its a full border crossing and huge queues of people wanting to go there, but also a lot coming out to go to local Moroccan markets where the food is a lot cheaper and better quality. We had lunch a bit further along the coast and then continued on to the town of Tetuoan which has very strong Spanish influence in the architecture and quite a pretty town. While we were there our host ran into a person who had been in the hospital bed next to his mother who had died a few months before. The guy invited all of us to his house on the hills above the city and we had yet another round of meeting his extended family and enjoying some lovely food. We eventually dragged ourselves away and faced the prospect of a very long drive back to Rabat as darkness crept in. It was almost midnight and we were on the last dregs of petrol after that 800km round trip. We slept very well.
Eventually we managed to extricate ourselves from our hosts and make our way toward Fez. On the way our host insisted on helping us find the booze shop which was nice considering they don't drink and are strictly Muslim! Lucky she did, it wasn't easy to find. It was hidden at the back of the large Marjane supermarket with no signs, but turned out to have a reasonable selection. Two bottles of local wine and our host saw us out to the start of the motorway before heading off to work. So kind.
Within 5 miles I got pinged by a policeman with a speed gun (71 in a 60km zone)...damn, 300dirham (~30 euros). After that it was a fairly uneventful drive along the motorway toward Fez until we turned off at Meknes. We didn't go into Meknes but skirted around it on the the way to Volubilisi which is where Moulay Driss had a palace (he brought Islam to Morocco). We didn't go round the ruins as the kids weren't keen but it was a very pretty area and we continued through the back country roads toward Fez past a lovely lake and colourful rolling downs.
We arrived in Fez and eventually found our 'Hotel Dalia' which is located at the bottom of the medina. We were greeted by Abraham and shown our nice room on the 2nd floor that included 3 single beds (2 for us and one for the kids...in theory). As it was late in the day we took an easy approach and decided to eat in the medina. As it turned out not quite so easy as the medina is ENORMOUS, probably a kilometre long at and half a km wide, if not more. Not only that but based on a long downhill slope toward our hotel and the eating places were at the top. Fortunately there was so much of interest in what is probably the most incredible souk I have seen we spent a couple of hours wandering up to the top part where most of the eateries are located. We got distracted by a butcher who had a barbeque going outside and ordered some sandwiches with beef and a few bits of offal and vegetables. Very very good. Not sure if it contained camel...there was a head of a camel hanging outside (fur etc attached). After another couple of hours working our way back to the hotel we fell into a very deep sleep for the night.
Woke up quite early and found my wife had woken up earlier and had gone to the famous tannery to get some early morning pictures when the light is at its best. She arrived back not long after so we let the kids sleep and enjoyed mint tea together and I enjoyed looking at the amazing photos. Very unique to Morocco, very colourful. It wasn't until a couple of days later I went there an experience the associated 'smell' of the tannery. Phew! They use pigeon droppings and urine to help 'soften' the leather and it does whiff!
We spent the next couple of days essentially buried in the medina of Fez. It is so vast and various in terms of what is being produced that it is impossible not to be constantly distracted and amazed. Being based at the bottom end of the medina was ideal as you couldn't go to wrong in finding your way back. It is vast and a labyrinth of small alleys as well as the main arteries so to find some of the riads (hotels) within it could be a challenge. We managed to go well off track at times but were rewarded by finding some really devoted artisans working on things like marquetry and painting doorways (to be moved and installed somewhere). Some of these things would involve 2 months or more of work for a single order! Lovely to see people so devoted and proud of their work where the west wouldn't even consider starting on such endeavour.
We had to make ourselves leave Fez or be 'trapped' there for quite a few more days. We rose early and after chasing the school kids off the car which had become a convenient leaning post and seat we departed. The google maps conveniently took us through an infeasibly narrow set of streets toward the main road. We were thankful it was early otherwise it would have been impossible to navigate through the humanity and livestock transporting the days food and salesware toward the medina. We had a long days drive ahead...some 10 hours toward Merzugha in the Sahara in the far south of Morocco. (it said 6 hrs on the map...pah!) We made our way down the R503 and across to the N8 through Ifrane which is like a town in Switzerland, really! Buildings, streets and trees all exactly as you'd find in some Swiss town. Not far south of there we diverted through a National Park which has Barbary monkeys wandering around, very friendly ones, and supposedly the largest Cedar tree in Morocco (it's dead btw). We emerged from there onto a high plain and were surprised to find remnant patches of snow still on the ground. Of course the kids had to go and have a play in that! The surrounding terrain is all volcanic and very picturesque with outcrops of rocks and a few pines and cedars clinging precariously to them. By this stage we were all hungry so we stopped in Timahdte and selected some lamb ribs from the butcher to have grilled outside. Very nice. Not so nice was seeing a puppy nearby who seemed fine when we arrived, suddenly fall to the ground convulsing and foaming at the mouth. I can only imagine it had eaten something poisonous. By the time we left it looked like it was on its last legs so it was a bit sad for the girls (and us) to witness the reality of nature at work. We eventually joined the N13 and continued south through Midelt and Rich. It was beautiful as we transitioned from high mountain plains down through mountain cedar forests that became more sparse and dry as we neared the semi-desert plains to the south. Just out of Rich we stopped briefly to admire an amazing rock formation and were very quickly accosted by some local Berber children trying to sell some toys platted from river reeds. As we tried to diplomatically leave another boy was running at speed from about quarter of a mile away and arrived breathless. Out of a bag he pulled a Chameleon which he dumped on the ground and it promptly changed from brown to a dappled grey like the road edge. It was trying its best to get away but the boy would worry it back with a long stick. He warned us it would bite. I eventually gave the boys a few Dirham and we left to drive through a pretty gorge toward Errachidia.
We went down through Arfoud to Hasselabied, which borders the Sahara. After some time we managed to connect without host Mohammed who led us to his house nearby. As it turned out we were staying in our own house next door, which is usually rented out to tourists in the high season, so we had the entire place to ourselves, apart from the goats and sheep stationed in the pen out the back. We were invited to meet his extended family and it was nice to give them some of the gifts we'd brought with us. We had some clothes from India that our girls had outgrown and had hardly been worn, and these fitted some of their young girls perfectly and were very well received, along with some Korean sweets and other bits and pieces. Later Mohammed led us through the nearby oasis and palmerie where they locals also grew vegetables and things like peanuts. The girls amused themselves playing with the colourful frogs inhabiting the watercourses, and we saw a desert fox, unfortunately captured by some local youngsters as a way to earn 'picture money. After a few mint teas at Khem Khem cafe we headed back to relax for the evening. Next day we'd arranged to head into the Sahara on camels to spend the night in Berber tents. Boarding the eternally grumpy camels we headed into the sand dunes which were blazing hot by this stage even at around 6pm. After 2 hours or so we arrived at the camp, which was a few basic tents housing some local Berbers and a spare one for ourselves. The girls decided immediately to climb the largest nearby sand dune which must be all of 1500ft high, if not more. Only our eldest managed to get to the top, but she reported an amazing view right across into neighbouring Algeria. It was amusing to watch them on the return 'swimming' down the side of the steep dune. The Berber family based at the camp then produced an amazingly good tagine for the evening meal along with numerous rounds of mint tea (aka Berber whisky). One of their daughters produced a lizard to our girls...an amazing creature that literally swims under the sand. As soon as you put it on the sand it disappears under it faster than you can see almost. We had a reasonably early night with the prospect of getting up early for the sunrise over the desert. I woke early as a result of all the tea, and had to rouse the kids to witness the fantastic unpolluted night sky at about 5am, so many stars that it seemed the whole fabric of the sky was alight. Not long after the sun began to rise and cast a beautiful yellow light across the dunes, offset by the shadows in between..truly magical . After a quick starter of tea and a wander into the dunes for ablutions we reboarded the camels for the return trek. Back at Mohammeds we were treated to a lovely full breakfast of fruit bread and tea.
At this point we contacted our next potential couch host Driss who we understood to be based at Tinghir. It turned out he was in Tinejdad some 40-50km away, but he said he would catch a taxi to Tinghir later that afternoon and meet us there. So we continued to Tinghir and went up into the nearby Todhra Gorge. This was a spectacular place and we wished we had more time to spend there...especially at the fantastic looking eco-hotel Le Festival. It was getting late, so we returned to Tinghir, fighting our way through the throng of buses etc that we doing their best to fit on the best parts of the narrow road that was also under construction. We eventually reached Tinghir again and met up with Driss our couch host. It turned out he was actually based nearer Tinjedad, so a bit of a miscommunication, and we now had to back track 50km or more to Tinjedad. Just outside Tinjedad, Driss suggested a visit to Ksar Lbour which I would absolutely reccomend. A Ksar is a village as opposed to a Kasbah which is more like a castle. This Ksar is absolutely enormous, extending for several hundred meters and multi-storied, very impressive. We then progressed to Tinjedad and enjoyed a grilled chicken lunch while fighting off the swarms of flies. After this we then headed just of out of Tinjedad and turned off onto a small road the P7106 which leads about 40km into the Atlas mountains, and where his home village is located. As we entered the mountains there is a large dam being built and he explained how this would eventually inundate a couple of the smaller villages. We eventually reached his village which was on a smaller road leading from the small road! We parked up and he led us down an alleyway to his mothers house and introduced her to us. She was a woman of around my age (mid fifties) but looked much older...a legacy of the hard physical life the woman lead in these remote Berber villages. They tend to do most of the hard work in the gardens and tending the animals. Despite this she a rather regal manner and welcomed us openly and we were soon sitting down to a tagine and lovely home made bread. To the Berbers of this region all foreigners are Arabs so she was trying to talk to us in her limited Arabic. She like most of the women in the village have tattos on their chins and cheeks, apparently a legacy of distant times when the Arabs would take the Berber women for the harems of Arabia. The markings would denote that they had already been taken, so would be a disincentive for the Arabs to take them. This practice has only recently started to fade out, so memories of this have lingered for many generations. After eating Driss decided to take us for a walk up the river valley which was very beautiful, surrounded by fertile gardens and orchards of olives, almonds, pommegranates etc. We had a scary moment at one point when our eldest daughter was walking along a 10+ foot wall and lost her footing so that she he to jump down to the concrete footing. How she didn't break anything I'm not sure...but apart from bruised heels she was fine after a few tears and being carried for a while until distracted by more interesting things. As we turned back down the valley we walked through the older part of the village destroyed by French bombing and through the gardens and orchards. A relative of Driss then called us up to his house where we enjoyed the obligatory mint tea and cakes sitting on a rather precarious concrete overhang full of serious cracks that looked like the whole edifice would fall into the gorge about 10 metres below at any minute! After that we moved back into the village and stopped at the butcher to collect some goat meat and vegetable for the evening meal tagine. We bought extra for Driss's mother so they could have a nice meal another day. The girls strung the package on a pole between them and marched off back to the house. That evening Driss managed to carry 3 large buckets of hot water down to the shower/toilet so we could have a much needed scoop wash so we managed to fall asleep feeling well clean and contented. Next day Driss arranged for us to have an outdoor tagine on an open fire further up the gorge where there was a lovely water source emanating from the mountain. We drove there while a couple of his friends walked up there carrying the tagine and ingredients, probably a good hour or so. Parking at the side of the road we followed the concrete water course up to the source which was actually about 50 metres along a tunnel. The water was absolutely wonderful and suite. Apparently people come from all over the world for this water due to its healing properties. All around there were lovely herbs growing, I counted at least 5 different types of lavendar and there were gourds that apparently had some healing properties as well. When the other guys arrived and started preparing the tagine Driss took us further up the gorge about 10km to another substantial village. The Berber people here all look very European with light or ginger hair and blue eyes which was very striking. Apparently they have Celtic roots like the Scots and Welsh from somewhere back in distant history. There was a large French fort where many of the Mujahadeen who were fighting the French colonialists were imprisoned. All there names were carved into a large stone in the main prison yard. Looking down to the valley below was a huge splash of green cultivation around the village in contrast to the stark and arid hills surrounding it. After a while we headed back to the water source picking our way through throngs of school children who have to walk several kilometers to the school from the surrounding villages. Back at the water source the other guys had the tagine almost ready and after some tea made from herbs growing around the site...thyme mainly....very intense flavour we enjoyed a beautiful tagine of goad and vegetables. Some of the vegetables were from gardens the guys has cultivated near the water source, broadbeans and peas to supplement the potatoes we'd brought. Fully sated we headed back to Driss's house and after more tea and endless talk of Berber history we fell into a blissful sleep. We were a bit sad to leave the next morning to be honest. We could easily have spent more time there, but we'd arranged with another couch host to be in another city the next day so had to move on.
