April 29 – May 2 – Marrakech & Casablanca

Monday 29 – started with a walk to the port. Watched a large fishing boat docking – a complex process as the boats are parked 4 deep and bow to stern. They push & shove the boats to create a gap then slowly nudge the returning boat into the gap. Many men jumping from boat to boat tugging on huge ropes & yelling to each other. It took nearly ¾ hour to get the boat berthed. Then they started scooping the millions of sardines into plastic boxes by hand to be lifted onto the dock & carried to the nearby market on big barrows or loaded onto trucks.

We then purchased some fresh fish for lunch – barracouda, tuna & sardines plus tomatoes, onions & green capsicum with crusty bread. All taken to a restaurant that specialises in cooking your food for you. They cooked the fish over hot coals & served with grilled vegies & chilli olives. Magnificent.

After lunch we took a public bus to Marrakech. Another vibrant city but looks a little more modern with lots of green areas. Dinner in the main city square. This square is converted to a massive food court plus entertainers every evening then returned to a city square in the morning. There was a seething mass of humanity plus many food stalls (we ate at stall no 41), music, dancing, snake charmers, story tellers, street vendors & traffic (yes – cars motor bikes, horse carts, donkeys, barrows & push bikes vie for space in the square). An amazing site – “Melbourne Food Festival on steroids” (and it happens every night???). Our dinner was a great variety of salads, dips, calamari, cous cous, crusty bread, meat skewers, juice or soft drink (no alcohol allowed in the square). Could have eaten cow tongue, goat head (or cheek) and other exotic feasts but resisted temptation. A great feast & terrific night.



Fish for dinner

Our sardines cooking

Part of city square at night

Tuesday 30 – a self-guided tour of the sites of the city – included an ornate tomb, a fantastic gallery of old photos, the Ben Youssef Medersa Koran School where students memorized the Koran by rote the school had incredibly detailed tiling, wood carving, arches etc, a fascinating museum. We got lost several times in the Souk but finally found our way out of the maze of lanes and alleyways. Our last dinner together – rabbit tagine & lamb tangia – delicious. A night cap at our hotel before bed – Moroccan wine is OK.

Ben Youseff School dormitory

Ben Youseff School courtyard

Wednesday 1 May – a short walk to Cyber Park (a lovely little park near the hotel) then a lazy morning getting organised for the next stage of the trip then back to Casablanca by train.

Thursday 2 May – goodbye to Morocco. What an experience – magnificent & colourful palaces, mosques, tombs, scenery (farmland, mountains & desert) & people – crazy traffic, mazes of alleys & laneways in the kasbahs, souks & medinas – confronting poverty & difficult lads showing us the way out of the Kasbah (for a fee) & via their shop. A taxi to the airport – the driver wanted us to give him some $US in exchange for Moroccan Dirhams?? He then pulled over at an intersection & hopped out of the cab & another driver jumped in for the rest of the journey – only in Morocco??

Arrived Rome, picked up our car & drove ‘on the wrong side of the road’ to our cabin for the next 4 nights. Compared to Morocco the traffic was tame.