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Wednesday, October 29th, Salé, Morocco
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Arriving in Morocco,
all of our senses accosted by a cacophony of strange
sounds, smells, sights and tastes, the reality of having
left the western Mediterranean couldn't be more
palpable. The Marina Bouregreg is situated in Salé,
just across the Bou Regreg river from Rabat, Morocco's
capital. The marina complex is newly opened in April
2008. It is a well protected enclave outside the
walls of the impoverished old city. A short walk
across the river takes you to the more prosperous city
of Rabat. In between downpours, we have had a
chance to explore both Salé and Rabat, as well as
venture inland for a two day trip to Fès.
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Morocco is officially a
constitutional monarchy but in reality the king holds
absolute power. The country is overwhelmingly poor
and relies mainly on agriculture, although tourism
contributes increasingly to the country's economic
activity. The high birth rate means that half the
population is under 20. Lack of jobs drive a large
number of young adults to immigrate in search of better
opportunity and the money they send home is also an
important element of the economy. The population
is 98% Muslim. The original Berber population was
converted to Islam in the 7th century as Arab armies
marched across northern Africa, spreading the new faith
of the Prophet Mohammed. Arab settlement soon
followed and today most Moroccans have a mixture of Arab
and Berber heritage.
Although the feel of
the country is very Middle Eastern, the similarity, I
suspect, does not go much further than the religion.
I am certain that hidden among the narrow alleyways of
the medina (old city) and underneath the headscarves of
the women and the pointed hoods of the men's
djellaba (robes) there
lies a very diverse cultural identity that will be
difficult to uncover during our short stay here.
People are friendly, but the most common second language
here is French, which makes it very difficult for us to
strike up conversations. We did get friendly with
a local on the train ride to Fès, but it turns out he
was just trying to get us hooked up with a tour guide so
he could get a kick back. I can't believe we fell
for that one! Other than Fès, we haven't felt
haggled or harassed at all. Locals do tend to
invite you into their shops as you walk by, but not
nearly as aggressively as in our Middle Eastern travels,
including Israel. It helps that we aren't in a big
tourist area.
Arriving at midnight,
we were grateful to hear the quick reply from the
marina's pilot service on the VHF radio. They met
us outside the protective seawall and led us through the
narrow, shallow opening into the river.
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Dodging floating nets
and the river bottom, we were first obliged to stop at the
customs building to clear into the country.
Officials came for our passports and boat documents, and
boarded the boat for a quick look around, but didn't ask
for cigarettes or whiskey, as we had been warned to
expect. This marina is said to be the King's pet
project, so perhaps the officials are kept under tighter
control than in other small ports of call.
We had been in touch
with Cenou, who we hadn't seen since
Beirut, in June.
They had already been here for three weeks.
Although there wasn't enough room for us to have our own
berth at the end of one of the piers, they welcomed us
to tie up to them. After a rude awakening at 1am
when we arrived, we enjoyed catching up with them over
the next couple of days. The four girls were
inseparable and it was wonderful to see them resume
their friendships so easily. Luckily, we had a lot
of catching up to do as it rained nonstop for the next
two days. Day three brought us some sunshine so we
walked into Rabat to visit the kasbah
(old fortified city) and souq
(market) and have our first Moroccan meal at a
restaurant.
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Moroccan cuisine is
reason enough to come for a visit. Couscous
is a far cry from the boxed variety you get in the US.
It is a fine, grain-sized, hand-rolled pasta, lightly
steamed with an aromatic broth and served with a variety
of vegetables and/or meat or fish. Different
cities boast their regional specialty couscous. It
is traditionally made at home on Fridays but can be
ordered in most restaurants any day of the week.
Tajine is
another traditional dish and comes in many varieties.
It is basically a stew that is cooked in a traditional
conical earthenware pot that keeps the meat unusually
moist and tender. We've tried a chicken with
almonds and onion variety, a slightly spicy meatball and
rich tomato sauce topped with an egg, but my favorite
was the beef with dried prunes and almonds in a
saffron-onion sauce. I still need to try the
pastilla, a
sweet and sour chicken pastry dish. The girls
favorite is the harira
or Moroccan soup made with tomatoes, onions, saffron,
cilantro and chickpeas. Restaurants are a little
difficult to find here in Salé so unfortunately we will
be missing out on many more wonderful local
dishes but we will try to experiment as often as we can.
We had more of a chance
to experiment on our trip to Fès. We stayed at a
newly opened guest house in the middle of the city
called
Dar Attajalli. It has been beautifully
restored with intricate mosaic floors and walls, carved
and painted plaster reliefs and intricately appointed
enormous wooden doors.
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Breakfast was included
in the price of the rooms, but we were on our own for
lunch and dinner. We found numerous, mostly
touristy restaurants at the Bab Bou Jeloud
or Blue Gate,
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but they all served up
delicious and authentic Moroccan cuisine at an
astonishingly cheap price. A set menu with starter
(Moroccan soup or salad), entree of
couscous or
tajine,
and dessert, was about 70 dirham or 7 euros. Of
course, you can find much more elaborate food and
settings for a meal in Fès, but we stuck with the simple
fare.
Fès boasts 350 mosques
and is touted as the spiritual capital of Morocco.
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The labyrinthine medina
is intimidating, exciting and overwhelming as you walk
through the narrow streets, gazing in shop windows,
trying to avoid the donkeys carrying huge loads of
sawdust or delivering large propane bottles to the
numerous cooking stalls in the old city. Camel
heads hang from the front of the butcher's shops.
Cats and dogs roam the muddy streets. Passing
through the neighborhood of the tanneries, your nose is
accosted by the smell of rotting animal flesh.
Every few hundred yards you pass by a doorway which
opens into a mosque, colorfully tiled with mosaic floors
and walls. The mosques in Morocco, unlike most of
the Middle East, are off limits to those not of the
Muslim faith, so those brief glimpses were all we got.
We enjoyed our tour of
the city, despite being swindled into the guide by the
man we met on the train. He didn't do anything
wrong except lie to us about his intentions. He
claimed to be going home to his family after visiting
Rabat in order to get a visa to travel to Spain.
His wife "works at the Tourism Board" and knows all the
best guides. By the time we actually hooked up
with his guide, we had figured it out, but it was too
late to find another so we went with it. He
charged us what our hotel said was the going rate and we
enjoyed most of the tour. It fell apart when he
sat us in the carpet co-op for lunch after we
specifically told him we didn't want to go there.
Of course, who has a better excuse than us for not
buying carpets or ceramics?
We particularly enjoyed
our visit to the ceramic factory
Art Naji
where we saw all the steps in the production of the
beautiful mosaic pieces you see all over Morocco.
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I
would have liked to have bought something and promised
the director that I would order it off the website when
we get back home!
The girls enjoyed seeing the women at work weaving
carpets on the huge looms and even put a few stitches in
themselves.
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We
escaped the carpet store free and clear as well, and Joe
is patting himself on the back for not having to find
space or add weight to Zia with any new acquisitions.
Little does he know of my intentions once we hit the
souq back here in Rabat!
Next Entry
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Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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