Farewell to Morocco

We are coming full-circle to where we started on this tour - Casablanca.  It's a 3-4 hour bus ride from Marrakesh to Casablanca, the biggest city in Morocco. and its economic and business center.  It is located on the Atlantic coast and is Morocco's main port.  It has a population of almost 4 million and its most important financial center.

Most Americans associate Casablanca with the movie by the same name.  The movie Casablanca (film) was a 1942 classic starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.  The movie was shot entirely at the Warner Brothers studio in Burbank, California.  It won Best Picture that year.

According to my Trip Leader, Aziz, the story of the movie was based in Tangier, a city closer to Europe and have a stronger French and European influence.  However, Casablanca sounds more catchy and the movie was therefore called as such.

In the movie some of the scenes happened in Rick's Cafe.  Of course it was a fictional cafe.  Today in Casablanca, there is an actual Rick's Cafe, built by an enterprising American to cash in on its popularity.

Rick's Cafe in Casablanca

We arrived in Casablanca around lunch time and had an excellent lunch at a restaurant within walking distance from the Hassan II Mosque.  This is largest mosque in Morocco and the second largest in Africa It has the 2nd tallest minaret in the world.  It is an impressive building, both inside and outside.  It stands conspicuously big, next to the Atlantic Ocean.  

Inside

The main hall

One of the few entrances

Outside the mosque

The Walkway

Hassan II Mosque

In the late afternoon we checked into our final hotel for the trip.  It was a modern western-style hotel right in downtown Casablanca.  Aziz took us on a tour of the market, where we met some fish-mongers.  The restaurants around the market will cook the fish that you buy at the market.  Some of us walked further to the medina and walked around this busy place.  

Fishmonger at the market

Outside the walls of the medina

One of the entrances to the medina

The group gathered for the last time in the lobby of the hotel.  Some have very early flights.  Some are spending an extra day.  It was a nice ending to a beautiful trip.  I learned some much - the places, the lives of the Moroccans, the food, the culture, etc.  Such a wonderful 16 days!

Marrakesh

As our bus 8pulled into Marrakesh in the late afternoon we were told that we have to disembarked and bring our backpacks with us.  Our big luggage will be transported to the hotel by porters.  We walked through a few busy streets before we came to a humongous square.  This is the Jemaa-el-Fnaa square.  It's fairly busy during the day but at night it's transformed into hub of activity:  food vendors, performers, people just hanging out, restaurants, etc.  You walked across the square to find the right entrance to an alley that will lead you to your riad (hotel).  It's the main square used by tourists and locals and is part of Marakkesh's medina quarters.

Porters taking our luggage to the Riad

The Square is already quite busy during the day

You have to find the right entrance to your alley

Walking through narrow alleys

At the opposite edge of the square are a series of shops and restaurants.  Hidden among these are the entrance to the souk, comprising an almost unrecognizable and ununiform set of alleys that will lead you to where you want to go.  It took most of us at least 3 trips before we have the direction to our riad memorized.  Past the inconspicuous doors lies a beautiful lobby and a beautiful hotel.

The name of our Riad

Beautiful Lobby

An Inconspicuous Entrance

We were served a beautiful and delicious lunch

We will be in Marrakesh for 3 nights, which means we have plenty of time to explore the city on our own.  Our Trip Leader, Aziz, following lunch, took us on a tour of the square and medina.  We'll be wondering the area on our own for much of the 3 days and it's good to start recognizing some familiar shop or restaurant.  Breakfast was provided every morning at the hotel but lunch is usually on our own.  This gives us the flexibility to try some of the restaurants around the square.  We have dinner either at the riad or a local restaurant.  The dinners are of nice quality, served with optional wine.

In the morning we were given a tour of the Bahia Palace, with its traditional Islamic architecture and 150 rooms.  Then we were taken to the Le Jardin Secret, an opulent 400-year-old palatial estate featuringopulent architecture and immaculately-tended gardens.

Bahia Palace

Bahia Palace Courtyard

Beautiful Islamic architecture

We had a horse-drawn carriage ride in the late afternoon on the first day.  It was interesting exploring areas outside the square on a carriage.

Horse carriage rides are popular, just like in Central Park, NY

However, the thing I like most about Marrakesh is walking around the square and the narrow alleys.  That's what I did the next 3 days.  The variety of things being sold and the range of different types of food just boggles me.  At night the square turned into a giant block party.  Young Europeans flew in for the weekend and patronized the restaurants and shops.

A few stands sell snails

Minaret

Beautiful sign of the city

A store selling clothes

All types of shoes here

Selling stuff in the middle of the Square

A Cafe where you can hang out

The Sahara Desert

On the surface it sounds like there is nothing in the Sahara Desert.  On this trip we were exposed to many things that we'd have never experienced if we traveled on our own.  OAT has many tours in Morocco, sometimes even multiple trips a week.  It has a local team that plan the itinerary so that we can experience what real life is in Morocco and meeting the locals.

One of the misunderstanding of the desert is that there is no water.  However, the inhabitants here know where to look for water.  The first farmer we visit has a lush farm grown with water that he pumped from underground.  How does he find water?  By using two sticks and watching it vibrate.  I am not 100% sure it works but according to him, that's how he finds water.

A lush field

Our farmer next to his well

A date palm

Water being pumped to his well

After visiting the farm we were taken to the desert to watch the sun set.

Footprints in the sand

Part of the group

Sunset in the desert

The next morning we were treated to an hour-long camel ride in the desert.  I have been on a camel before - on the Silk Road in China in 2014.  We have to cover most of our face or head because of the blowing sand.  It was a wonderful experience riding a camel in the desert.

On a camel

Camelradie

A silhouette of a camel caravan

Saying good-bye and thank you to my camel

Riding a camel in June 2014, near Dunhuang in China

According to Wikipedia, 94% of the camels are single-humped.  The two-humped Bactrian camel makes up only 6%.  Although I don't remember whether the camel in China had 1 or 2 humps, I was told they have 2 humps.  I can't tell from the photograph either.

Next we were treated to some native Moroccan music, performed by darker skin Moroccans.  These Moroccans have darker skin and we were told they migrated north from countries south of Morocco, like Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, etc.  They were mostly percussion instruments combined with a few string instruments.

Entrance to the local musicians' venue

Singing and Dancing

Music in the family

Location of where we were

We next set out into the desert to look for a Bedouin family.  By definition, a bedouin is a nomadic person.  Where they move to in the desert depends on where they can find water to feed their animals and grow crops.  When that area dries up they move to find another place where they can find water.  The family we found is known to our guide.  The bedouin family is compensated for sharing their lives and stories with us.

The father

Wife and children

The courtyard

Sleeping Quarters

Mud House

"Living Room"

We are now driving through the Atlas Mountains, heading towards the town of Quarzazate.  This area is popular with movie studios because of their unique landscape.  Some of the movies that were filmed here include the Indiana Jones movies, Gladiator, and Games of Thrones.  

Vendor selling souvenirs

Local Landscape

We next stopped at a village to meet a local family, who showed how their daily lives is like, including cooking Moroccan food.

Making bread, with Aziz, our guide in the background

Donkeys are a popular mode of transportation 

A beautiful and tasty Tajine and Couscous

The local women demonstrating how they prepare the dish

Showing us how he makes bricks from mud

We stopped at the Imik Simik Women’s Association for Rural Development, an organization to help the women further their education and employment opportunities.  The Grand Circle Foundation, the philanthropy army of OAT, sponsors this organization.

We finally arrived at Quazazate, a small town in the Atlas Mountains, before finally heading to Marrakech.  After checking into the beautiful Dar Kamar hotel, our guide Aziz, asked if we wanted to try going to a Hammam.  I had no idea what it is!  I thought it was a public bath, where you can clean up and soak in warm water, like an onsen.  However, when we entered the hammam we were told to strip down to our underwears.  Then one of the hammam male employees doused me with water and using a coarse sponge, scrubbed me strongly.  He showed me the dead skins that were scrubbed from my body.  After scrubbing almost my entire body I rinsed myself with clean water.  I felt fully cleansed!

Navigating the narrows streets to the hotel

Entrance to the citadel to get into the hotel

The Imik Simik Women's Association Building

The next morning we'll be traveling across the High Atlas Mountains towards the exciting city of Marrakesh.  

Views of the High Atlas Mountains

High Atlas Mountains

Where we are, before leaving for Marrakesh