Morocco Trip Report: Part Four
In Marrakesh, we initially stayed at the hotel right next to Café Panoramique -- arguably the best viewpoint for the Djmaa El Fnaa. The room was spacious and quiet but sterile; breakfast was mediocre but overlooks the square. After a couple of nights, we moved to Riad Omar around the corner. The room there was small and quite dark, but it was cleaner, cheaper and more comfortable for us all with four separate single beds. The breakfast on the rooftop was excellent, second only to Riad Attarine in Fez. Still, we were looking to give my brother Nick a true Riad experience as we had in Fez, so spent a couple of hours that day looking for another Riad. Blundering along somewhat blindly along the lanes north of the square, I knocked on a fancy looking door and was greeted by a lady who breathlessly informed me that the entire cast of “Sex and the City” were staying at her Riad and were sleeping at the moment, having worked through the night until 5 in the morning. Having informed her of my budget she told me that I was unlikely to find anything at that price north of the square, but had a friend called Phillipe who owned a few Riads and might be able to help. She took me outside and pointed in a general direction as to where I might find him, but after ten minutes walking I realized there was no way I was going to find him or the Riad. Luckily a local kid came to my help and guided me down a winding narrow street, taking numerous turns until we came to a place called Riad Bibtia. The place seemed strangely empty and a tad run-down but the layout, furniture and tiles seemed to have an authentic Moroccan feel, plus the managers seemed helpful and the view from the rooftop spectacular. I promptly booked four nights for my brother and three for us. It was a difficult place to get back to: we got lost finding Riad Bibtia the first three or four times and took it in turns to lead the way back for practice.
That evening, after dinner on the square, we decided to try a ride on a caleche (horse and cart). Since there seemed to be a queue of about fifty caleches, we started at the front and were quoted an outrageous price for a 45 minute ride. As we worked our way to the back, the price got lower and eventually someone with excellent English and good manners persuaded us. The ride turned out to be surprisingly smooth and enjoyable despite the traffic, and we got a good tour around the western perimeter.
Next morning after an excellent breakfast at Riad Bibtia, I made the 20 minute bus journey from Djmaa El Fnaa to the airport to meet my brother, Nick, arriving from London. The Marrakesh airport is spectacularly new and modern, making Los Angeles airport look mediaeval by comparison. The bus was clean and efficient too, and it wasn’t until we reached the outskirts of the airport that my brother probably started to feel the first pangs of culture shock. Since we’d been ten days in Morocco and used to eating in budget places without a/c, we had to adjust our expectations upwards for a couple of days until we got in sync; lunch was an expensive Italian restaurant on the square.
Carmen arranged for dinner to be made and served at the Riad that evening. After listening to the call to prayer on the rooftop around 5:35, we went for a walk on the square to get some orange juice, spicy tea and watch the action. At 7p.m. Riad Bibtia served us traditional, very delicious Moroccan food including couscous (“Moroccan pasta” some people call it, or perhaps better might be “chicken of the desert”) and chicken marinated in a rich sauce with apricots.
The next day on our walk round the medina, we happened upon the shooting of a scene for “Sex and the City II”, and saw the famous foursome shoot several takes of a scene where they dash off to buy a watch in a souk. The heavily staged backdrop and supporting actors in the scene were clearly from Saudia Arabia or some Middle Eastern country however, not Morocco. The supporting film crew told everybody to be quiet just before each scene and as we pulled back into a market stall to watch, I asked the owner of the stall what he thought. He told me he didn’t like the film being shot in Marrakesh because it was to do with sex, however he was being paid $100 a day by the film crew, presumably because of loss in revenue from closing the street to motorized traffic.
Back to Meknes via Moulay Idriss
A couple of days later we boarded the train for a looong seven hour ride back to Meknes. As we approached Meknes, we were in an open carriage and I could see the conductor arguing with someone. The man he was arguing with was very animated and excited, gesticulating wildly. The conductor went away for a few minutes and returned with reinforcements and the situation became physical when they tried to put him in handcuffs. The man then somehow managed to pull the emergency chord and jump off the train before it ground to a halt. There were lots of villagers nearby who came to watch, and people in the train poked their heads out as several officials chased down and apprehended the man, at one point accidently pulling his trousers and flip flops off as he struggled against them. By the time they hauled him back on the train, ten minutes had passed. We were only a few minutes from Meknes station, where they escorted him to a police van.
We got off also and negotiated a Grandes taxi to take us to Moulay Idris, a thirty minute drive away from Meknes. Moulay Idris is another World Heritage site and until recently non-muslims were not permitted to spend the night. It turned out to be a beautiful town in the hills, with white houses, steep streets in the style of an Alpujarran village, like those we had seen recently in southern Spain. Apparently, the locals say that five pilgrimages to the town of Moulay Idriss to visit his mausoleum is equivalent to one haj in Mecca. Moulay Idriss is the great-grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and fled persecution in Baghdad to settle in Volubilis nearby, where he converted the locals to Islam.
We found a room at Hotel Moulay Diyar Timnay, which had a very comfortable “triple” room, excellent tea, as well as good food and a view from the rooftop restaurant. Stepping outside the hotel, taking a right past the Grandes taxi stand, there is a fruit and meat market of much higher quality and cheaper than can be found in the cities. Going past the main square in front of the mosque, you ascend into a maze of steep alleyways and it is easy to lose sense of direction. We went to take a look at some of the Riad hotels later and some of them were quite difficult to find, but well worth staying in as well. There is a Riad called Buttons Inn, which is associated with the Café Clock in Fez that looked particularly good on the website; we rang the doorbell several times, but no one answered, so not sure about the service! Moulay Idriss doesn’t have a lot of other tourists and the alleyways were quiet and peaceful at night -- not something we were very used to seeing in the cities. The boys ran around in the square in front of the mosque and this helped to dispel some excess energy. Some local kids were already running around and tried to involve Toby and Ethan to no avail.
After a fitful night of interrupted sleep, we set off for Volubilis, an ancient Roman ruin built in the first or second century AD, and another World Heritage Site. The site is quite spectacular and has an impressive triumphal archway, a capitol and a number of pillars and interesting mosaics. The boys had a enjoyable time climbing up and along the ruined walls, much of which had been plundered for building palaces in Meknes. We were very inspired by the impressive columns and courtyards -- at least what was left of them.
Despite it being winter, the boys needed a rest after an hour of wandering around and we retired to the onsite café for some mint tea. We left Volubilis around 1 p.m. with the intention of catching the train to Fez at 2:15. After a quick McDonalds stop for the boys, we arrived at the train station and waited. The train was half an hour late, but we had built in a good window to catch our flight back to Girona, Spain, but then the taxi got stuck in traffic because it was rush hour and ended up taking half an hour longer than we anticipated. We checked in but found we had to repack our bags to meet the baggage allowance limitation. Finally, we got through security to our gate and waited. And waited some more. No announcement was made, but the Ryan Air flight was about an hour late by the time we took off. We arrived in Girona hungry and tired, but happy to be back in a familiar environment where transport mostly runs on time…