Morocco Trip (mostly in photos)

Look at this, 2 blog posts within a week! 
              
We got home from our Greece trip on 30 Jan, and after a quick reset day flew out again to Morocco on the 1st of February!  We had a week before Dennis's school started up again (or so we thought), so it was a pretty quick trip - We flew to Casablanca, and got right on a train for Marrakech (immediately) after arrival.  We stayed two nights in a Riad in the old Medina -- the market area in the walled-off center of the old part of the city -- and loved it. Spent a full day walking around the Medina and old souk area, then took a train the next day back north to Rabat.  There we enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the Saunders' family (Olmsteders) and also got to see our other Olmsted friends the Musas as well!  The Saunders showed us around Rabat and then we took off on a train again headed for Fez.  We stayed in another lovely Riad right next to the Medina there and had a full-day tour of the labyrinth-like souk.  After hitting the military museum the next morning, we headed back to Rabat for one last night with the Saunders before flying back home.  When we arrived back in Istanbul, we discovered the second semester start-date had been pushed back a week!  Really wish we could have spent another week getting to know this beautiful country.

Top take aways:

1) I really wish I knew more French.  Even though most people do speak Arabic, French is spoken pretty much all over, and would have been really helpful.  The French influence is visible in the culture too though, tasty food & beautiful art abound.
2) Trains are not all created equal, and to really immerse yourself in a culture you need to travel in 2nd class.  We rode 1st class (a/c, cushy seats, quiet, lots of space, people keep to themselves) all but the Marrakech-Rabat leg and it was very pleasant.  But in other ways we really enjoyed that one ride, crammed into a compartment with 5 other people who spoke little or no English. Right when we sat down they all started offering us snacks for Paul from the lunches they had packed for themselves, and all had cheerful conversation for the 4-hr trip back north.  A/C would have been nice though I guess :-)
3) It was a bummer that we were not allowed into any of the mosques -- the architecture seemed very different from what we're used to in Istanbul (Ottoman vs Moorish style).  The culture is very different in many respects from what we see here, but in other ways very similar because both countries are trying to navigate the balance between their Islamic/rural/tribal/Anatolian/Berber/traditionalist etc heritage and the pull of a so-near Europe with all its modernity and western ideas.

Ok, time for photos.  I could ramble more but it's more fun to look at the pretty. 

Disclaimer: Be prepared for Dennis's winter beard, in its natural, untrimmed state.  It's intense.

Door to our Riad (small hotel) in Marrakech.  There were lots of cool doors in Morocco.

One of the many narrow alleys in old souk area in the Medina in Marrakech.

The Musee de Marrakech is in this palace built at the end of the 19th century - Dar Menebhi.  Building itself was way cooler than the collection it houses.

The Ben Youssef Medersa was built in the mid 14th century (rebuilt in 16th) as a Koranic school for up to 900 students. 

Leather slippers.  Small shops like this were common in the souks, and really awesome to see. 

Jemaa el-Fna square was the main open space in the Medina, lots of crowds gathered around performers like this one.

 

A lot goes down in the Jemaa el-Fna square.  Yes, those are snakes.  It is difficult to write this caption because I have to also look at the photo. 

The minaret of the Kasbah mosque, dates to the Almohad era (built 1184-99).  Closed to non-muslims, but really cool blue tiles. 

Palais el-Badi, a once-luxurious palace complex built in the late 1500's.  It used to be really impressive, with Italian marble, Irish granite, Indian onyx, but a later ruler demolished it in 1683 and stole the materials to make his palace in Meknes. 

One of the many courtyards in the Palais Bahia, built at the end of the 19th century.  Please ignore the fact that most of the photos I (Emily) took on this trip came out a little crooked.

Every night, the square fills with these food trucks that set up restaurants with tables.  Each one has basically the same thing, but the front men all try to get you to come to theirs (all numbered) with promises such as "#7 - you'll be in heaven", and "#25 - stay alive".   Food was great!

Beautiful train station in Marrakech.  That kid is not light in the Bjorn, btw.  The Saunders let us borrow the Deuter backpack carrier for Fez, and we bought one as soon as we got home.

Rabat, mausoleum of Mohammed V, the father of Moroccan independance (died in 1961).  It sits across from (you can see some of the columns on the left) the site of the 8-centuries-old unfinished Hassan Mosque.  It was going to be one of the largest in the Muslim West (600x456ft), but was never finished and then was mostly destroyed by an earthquake.

One of the gates (Bab Oudaia, 12th c.) to the Kasbah in Rabat.  We rocked it, don't worry.

Inside the fortress walls in the Medina in Rabat, all the streets are painted blue like this.  You feel as if you've been suddenly transported to a Greek island.

Another pretty door.

Us with the Moroccan contingent of Olmsteders.  Only Paul decided he was too good to look at the camera.  Maybe he's just confused because Dave doesn't have a beard.

The courtyard in our Riad in Fez.  Paul digs the Deuter.

View overlooking Fez from the top of the old caravansary.

View down into the tannery in Fez.  This place has been in action and has remained unchanged since the Middle Ages.  Apparently pigeon poop is an important ingredient as it helps in preparation of the skins.  They also gave us mint sprigs to help with the smell in case the wind blew the wrong way. 

Pretty sure this is the Bou Inania Medersa, built between 1350-1355.  It's a mosque, school, student's residence combined.  Instead of the red tile roofs we have here, they have green glazed tiles, very pretty.

I loved all the carvings.  We have amazing tile work in Turkey, but this carved plaster and wood stuff is really beautiful

Our guide took us to a cute restaurant for a traditional Moroccan spread for lunch.  Tasty. 

We also went to a fabric shop where they were doing weaving.  They use wool, cotton, and plant silks.  The men do the weaving though (women embroider) as it is pretty physical work running these looms.

They had the silk threads strung out all down the alleyways.  I'm bad at remembering but I think it was after spinning, in preparation for making the embroidery thread.

Bab Boujeloud into the Medina in Fez, built 1913.  Great example of Moorish style architecture.

View from the Military Museum.  That is one heck of a beard, also.