Days 25-30, Morocco: Marrakech, Ouarzazate, Zagora and UK: London (First time around)

As I am writing this, I am waiting for dinner at Nathan’s place in London. Him and his girlfriend Michelle are making a Sunday roast, a British tradition which according to Wikipedia, “dates back to when the squire would treat his serfs to a meal of roast oxen every Sunday to reward them for the week's work.” I guess Nathan’s my squire and I’m his serf.

In London, I’ve taken a break from being a tourist in London and have been just relaxing, meeting Nathan’s friends, chilling before we start on our second venture to Eastern Europe. I’ll do more touristy stuff when I return on the 26th. For now, I’ll just enjoy the Sunday roast.

Recap of the last week in Morocco:

2 Day 1 Night Tour from Marrakech: Ait Ben Haddou, Ouarzazate, Zagara (Sahara Desert)

Nathan and I arrived at Marrakech and immediately we began to scour the city, exploring the deep dark regions of the city and immersing ourselves into the city.

Not. I had a fantasy basketball draft to attend to, and Nathan had to work out his travel plans back to London. We spent the afternoon in our Ibis Hotel (a hotel chain) lobby on the computer. Real good use of our time in Morocco. At least I got Chris Paul with my first pick.

We ventured out to the city to sign up for a 2 day 1 night tour with a company named Sahara Expeditions in our plight to visit the Sahara Desert before we left. That night, we didn’t do much except visit the famous square in Marrakech, Djemma el Fna. Awesome place. We slept early because the next day we had to wake up at 6 for the tour.

Almost all of the tour was spent on a 4x4, ferociously driving out to the desert and stopping along the sites. Compared to our usual relaxed sightseeing schedule, Nathan and I felt like we were animals being directed around. Nonetheless, the sights we saw were fabulous and the desert experience despite not being what we thought it would be, unforgettable.

The beast that took us around

Our meal of beef tagine, shared with the couple that was also on our trip. Underneath the stars, in the desert, outside our tent, it was sweet.

We woke up at 6am to have breakfast.

I thought I was pretty cool holding my camera above my head and taking a picture of our camel ride out of the desert. Ait Ben Haddou, apparent where Gladiator and countless other movies were shot. I was trying to look for Russell Crowe but couldn’t find him.

Our insane driver. Almost got us killed apparently, but I was clueless-ly sleeping in the back of the 4x4.

Part of our drive. The driver was insane and drove at like 80 mph on these tall mountains.

Marrakech

There’s a reason why when people talk about Morocco they know about Marrakech. It’s a large, unique, and bustling city. The medina is a lot more modern then the one in Fes, but nonetheless it’s still a medina - meaning lots of shops and people, and the possibility of getting lost at any time. Except since Marrakech was more developed then Fes, there were now also motorcycles zooming around in addition to donkeys. Nathan and I stayed at a Riad, meaning a traditional Moroccan guest house where it has an open air courtyard in the middle and the rooms are lined up in a square. Very unique experience and the place was beautifully architecturally. Marrakech was definitely a memorable experience.

On the streets in the Medina. Donkeys, people, and the possibility of getting hit by a motorcycle at anytime.

Closeup of a street stall. Nathan didn’t want to get sick (understandable) so we didn’t eat there.

Chicken tagine - we ate tagine for like most of the meals. Nathan got sick of Moroccan food but I still liked it by the end.

This is one of the “tourist attractions”. A palace that USED to be grand. Nathan and I were unimpressed.

Pastry shop that I went to like 5 times in 3 days. They learned well from their ex-colonial rulers, the French, because it was damn good and cheap.

Notice the meat/butcher shop right next to the shoe shop. Doesn’t make sense at all.

Another pastilla, this time filled with chicken and egg.

The big square in Marrakech. Huge and lots of people.

Next Up? Berlin with Nathan and Michelle!

Days 21-24, Morocco: Fes, Rabat, Casablanca

Fes

Looking back, we started off the Morocco leg of our trip with the most undeveloped/rustic city. Fes has a walled-off medina (old town) that dates back to the medieval ages, and walking through it with a guide it seemed like nothing much had changed. We hired a guide, but the countless twists and turns, narrow alleyways, made our first experience in a medina a blur. We would stop at a notable sight such as a mosque or shop, stay there for like 10 minutes, then rapidly move on to the next sight through a bunch of narrow alleyways. Our guide was pretty funny, saying stuff like “Moroccan dates are like Viagra”, and also pretty knowledgeable with history which allowed us to learn a lot about Morocco. Reflecting on Fes, the day went by so fast that it’s quite hard to remember all the places we went to – I wish I had taken a video but I was so focused on the surroundings and our guide that I didn’t.

Donkeys everywhere.

Inside of a mosque, but obviously only Muslims could go in.

Typical alleyway, well the narrowness of it at least. Here are some clothes being dyed.

A view of part of the Medina

Used to be a market. The weight in the front was badass.

Yah, that’s a camel head. I debated on whether or not to show this, but it was too cool not to post it.

Rabat

Compared to Fes, Rabat the capital of Morocco was a lot tamer. Nathan and I basically finished looking at the sites in a day when we had budgeted 2 days for it. Nathan also had stomach problems so it was a good time to unwind, chill out, talk to our girlfriends, and taste some Moroccan delicacies as well as common meals.

Challah, remains of Roman-era town/fort. On the top of that minaret to the right are some stork’s nests- pretty cool.

Underground tombs – apparently there are eels in there. Folklore says that woman who are infertile should throw eggs in there so that eels will eat it. (umm…symbol for human’s reproductive system)

View of the Kasbah, supposedly a self contained city, from our rowboat.

That’s rotisserie chicken, fries, rice, sauce, and soda – common meal for them. I had it 3 meals in a row; needless to say I got sick of it. Never thought I could get sick of fries and rotisserie chicken.

A Moroccan delicacy – pastilla. I had it for my main course, and thats powdered sugar on top of a pastry filled with nuts, chicken/pigeon, onions, and other stuff. It was tasty, although kind of weird that I was having a sweet main course.

Casablanca

Casablanca – the notable tourist site is the Mosque Hassan II. Third largest mosque in the world. Highest minaret. Retractable ceilings. Electric doors. Escalators. And yes, it’s a mosque.

We also had a stroll along a waterfront 5 km outside the city center, where expats and rich folk hang out. I was pleasantly surprised to see a TGI Friday’s there – man I love that chain. We didn’t eat there, but got some freshly grilled fish instead, since we were next to the waterfront and it seemed the right thing to do. We stayed one night in Casablanca, and that was more than enough.

Huge Mosque.

Yah, the ceiling is retractable in 3 minutes. Technology and religion mixed together is a beautiful thing.

Had myself some mint tea and chilled. With sugar it was kind of like drinking spearmint gum. Delicious.

Next Up? Marrakesh!

Days 18-20, Spain: Granada and Morocco: Tangier

Nathan and I took the train from Sevilla to Granada, the first time we took it in Spain. Trains kind of reminded me of new things in China – without much character and style. But it was a smooth sailing so there’s nothing to complain about.

Granada

A drastic change from Sevilla, Granada is the lesser talked about Andalucian city but it’s definitely the one with much more character. It’s a much more distinct mix of Islam and Christianity, in terms of architecture and food, the two tangible things I could really see and taste. The basic history lesson that I gathered from my two days is that Arabs used to rule Granada until Queen Isabel and King Fernando decided to take over in 1492, resulting in the mixture you see in Granada.

As soon as we got to our hostel in Granada at around 11am, we realized that there was a free tour of Albayzin, a narrow and hilly area where the Moorish (Muslim Arabs from North Africa) people used to live. Hearing the word free, Nathan and I jumped on immediately. Well, obviously we knew it wasn’t going to be free and that there would probably be some kind of tip involved, but we had nothing better to do. The tour guide had a very hyper/active style that could have been annoying, but it kept me awake. We scaled the streets, listening to his stories and looking around. It sure beat looking at the Lonely Planet guide every 5 minutes so I was content. We ended up at some caves in the Northern bit of the city, which people used to live in, then Nathan and I bid farewell and went to the big daddy attraction of Granada, Alhambra. It was a palace/fortress/garden/everything so Nathan and I spent about 5 hours at – I’ll just post photos.

Alhambra was a damn good site and well worth our money. Great views, cool architecture.

Our tour guide. Super hyper. Oh, and also there were probably 25 girls and 3 guys on the tour. It’s like guys don’t go on free tours or something.

Next day Nathan and I looked at our Lonely Planet guide, realized we’d seen pretty much all the big sights in Granada and took a chill day with our only touristy event being the Capilla Real, a church-esque building where Queen Isabel and King Fernando were buried. It was our last night in Spain so we picked a good restaurant and had ox tail stew (which was actually quite similar to ox tail stew I have at home) and a sausage/cheese/pork platter. We slept early, anticipating a long journey the next day to Morocco.

SAUSAGE FEST (hah…)

Tangier/Traveling to Fes

Next day we made a big journey to Fes. Nathan and I didn’t find the idea of staying at either the Spanish port of Algeciras or the Moroccan port of Tangier exciting so we decided to do a 16 hour travel day instead: 4 hours of train, 2 hours of ferry, 5 more hours of train, and time in between. Sounds exhausting, and it was – but I have to say it was a lot nicer than the 16 hours I have to usually be on the plane going to the US from Hong Kong. It was definitely a lot more scenic. At the end of the day, we had a reserved a hotel right next to the train station at Fes, and it was a damn good decision because we were tired.

First picture I take in Tangier – didn’t take this boat but it was similar.

Yeah, they got McDonald’s in Morocco…

On the train from Tangier to Fes, a guy popped up right from underneath the seat in our train couchette/room. Scared the sh*t out of Nathan and I ‘cuz we thought we were alone. He was trying to avoid paying the train fare, but he was dumb enough to not wait until the train fare collector had passed. He got kicked off, which wasn’t too bad for us since he smelled like he hadn’t taken a shower in days.

Next Up? Fes, Rabat, and Casablanca!