Imperial cities of Morocco
The tour is designed for 5 days. During this time, you will visit Marrakesh, Fes, Rabat, Casablanca, Essaouira and several lesser known but noteworthy cities.
I will say right away that I really liked the tour, the locals call it the Grand Tour of Morocco. In such tours, a lot depends on the guide. We were lucky with him, his name was Mohammed (New Approach Holidays company). In addition to his interesting stories, willingness to answer any question and always meet, he rationally adjusted the tour program. Every 1.5-2 hours there were stops, either technical or in interesting places, so a long stay on the bus did not bother.
If you come to Morocco only for a beach holiday, in Agadir, then I give 100% that you will not see the real Morocco.
Now briefly about each main city:
We stopped in Marrakesh twice, at the beginning of the tour, to see the main sights and on the way back to spend the day in the Medina and the evening on the famous Jema el Fna square.
Marrakesh is a special city in Morocco. He is considered the most beautiful. Yves Saint Laurent lived there, the real king of Morocco celebrated his wedding, Jacqueline Kennedy had a dacha.
Be sure to visit Djemaa el Fna after sunset, dine at local food trucks, drink orange juice and watch snake charmers. Everything is absolutely safe for your stomach, but there are nuances for your wallet. Below is the scam we got:
There is a menu of several positions (for example, 3 types of juice, 5.10 and 15 dirhams each), you ask for lime juice for 10 dirhams, logically believing that you will pay 10, but the seller demands 30, explaining that he made you a lime mix for 10 + grapefruit for 15 + orange for 5.
But to prove that the seller is wrong is possible if you are persistent enough. This scheme is also used in tents with several types of meat. Therefore, always specify that you do not need a mix, but only what you ask for.
Also, always ask the price first. But even if you know the price, you may be given less change, stand your ground until the return of the goods and the demand for a refund, then they will give you the missing change.
Fes has an old part of the city and a modern one. You will spend the night in a modern one, but it is the old part that deserves attention.
Fes old town
The last living medieval city in the world. It is huge, now 800 thousand people live there, in the Middle Ages 100 thousand lived there, at that time it was considered a metropolis. Located in a valley, a little away from modern Fez, it consists of two parts, the Old (14th century) and the Very Old (9th century).
The very first university in the world is located there, although now it is no longer a university, but a mosque.
The impression is that nothing has changed there in the last 500 years. People are engaged in the same crafts as in the Middle Ages, they trade in the same way, dye leather and fabrics in the same way, sew in the same way, and so on. The only difference is that the streets are usually clean, there is no slop, only the feces of donkeys or cats occasionally come across. A huge number of streets and streets, very narrow, so the city has bad air, no sun. The medieval name for such a system of streets is wilds. The meaning of the word fits perfectly. The population is poor, wealthy people gradually moved to the new Fez, and this is understandable. Except on foot, they move around the city on donkeys, or rather they carry only cargo on donkeys. Because on the streets, where a donkey can pass, there are a lot of people, children are running around.
The Old City is a World Heritage Site, protected by UNESCO. The card does not exist.
There are only district maps (there are only 80 of them), there is no whole map, because if you put together all the district maps at the minimum readable scale, then the city map will turn out to be about 10x10 meters (guide's note). Independent walks in the Old part of Fez for tourists are strictly prohibited, since after the second turn you can disappear forever without a trace.
Meknes, Rabat, Casablanca
Meknes is the center of Moroccan winemaking. Here they make a unique wine from gray grapes, it’s called vin gris (gray wine (French). Delicious. In addition to gray, they also make white, pink and red. Also in Meknes we visited a very interesting underground prison, which, of course, was one of eastern palaces.
Rabat is the administrative capital. They show an unfinished huge mosque, nothing entertaining.
Casablanca is the commercial capital. The largest city in Morocco.
There we visit the really beautiful mosque of Hassan 2, the second largest after the mosque in Mecca.
Unlike Marrakesh, Casablanca and Rabat leave the impression of dusty and untidy cities. Perhaps because of the color of the buildings, in Marrakesh all the buildings are terracotta shades, while in other cities they are painted white, which turns gray over time.
Perhaps the most atmospheric and elegant city in Morocco. I liked him the most. In the past, the city of hippies and Jimi Hendrix. Paradise for surfers. Huge beach but the water is cold all the time. The most beautiful Portuguese bastion of La Scala. Very cozy medina with Mauritanian-Spanish, Portuguese, French architecture.
This is where the Grand Tour ends. As you drive up to Agadir, your guide will turn your attention to spinoza or ironwood or argan plantations.
Moroccans consider this tree, and especially its fruits, a national treasure that cannot even be exported. Oil is made from the seeds of argan fruits, and anything is based on it. Both cosmetics and food products. The guide warns that it is impossible to buy argan anywhere and delivers it to the cooperative, despite sky-high prices, our women's group leaves far more than one thousand dirhams there.
The city of Agadir does not stand out in any way. Tourists can stay for a few days of beach holidays. But I advise you to go on a day trip from Agadir to Lezgira beach. It's a long drive, but it's worth it.
Spoken language in Morocco
Everyone, including children, speaks Arabic and French, and among themselves they can also speak Moroccan French (which no Frenchman can understand), and Berber. It was very interesting to learn that Berber (this is the language of the indigenous inhabitants of Morocco, the Berbers) is absolutely different from Arabic.
The Berbers have a different alphabet, similar to Greek and they write, unlike the Arabs, from left to right. Up to the point that local Arabs and Berbers do not understand each other. English is not in favor.
It so happened that we went on the Grand Tour in the summer, and even ended up on Ramadan. I advise you not to go in the summer, and especially in Ramadan)). It is better to go in early spring, when there is still grass everywhere and there is no dust. On the coast, the heat is not felt, we were even cold because of the strong and cold wind from the Atlantic, but in the middle of the country it was a little hard.
Features of Ramadan
Our guide and drivers observed Ramadan. This meant they didn't eat or drink all day long! If we, tourists who ate three times a day and did not particularly strain, by the end of the day, due to the heat, simply fell dead on the bed. You can imagine the state, by the end of the day, of devout Muslims who worked all day (driving a bus and constantly broadcasting something to tourists requires strength).
During the month of Ramadan, life shifts from daytime to nighttime. During the day, the streets are deserted. Shops open late, by 10-11 am, open until 5.30 pm, and then open again at 9.30 pm and stay open until midnight or longer. With the onset of darkness (22-23 hours), the city comes to life, parents with children, including small ones, go out for a walk, at 1-2 a. m. there is traffic on the street, traffic jams, a lot of people in cafes, children run, play on the playgrounds .
During Ramadan, Arabs do not drink alcohol even at night, but the Prophet Muhammad had a more loyal attitude to hashish, it is possible to smoke it at night during Ramadan (naturally illegal).
Traditional dishes are couscous and tanjin. Their taste depends on where and who prepared them. In my opinion, the most delicious tanjin is lamb tanjin. But it is rare, despite the fact that there are much more sheep around than cows or chickens.
Tanjin is meat with vegetables or couscous cooked in a "special hlin casserole" (guide's note). There is also a pie with pigeon meat (but pigeon meat is now replaced with chicken everywhere). In general, Moroccan cuisine is quite simple and unpretentious. But tea is interesting. As a rule, it is green tea with the addition of fresh mint and cane sugar. Strong, sweet, poured from traditional teapots, drunk from small glasses. Instead of mint, you can add rosemary, cinnamon, anise, cumin, in general, any spice.
As in any Muslim country, a man is allowed to have up to 4 wives. Morocco has passed a law requiring a husband to obtain the written consent of his first wife, certified by a notary, if he wants to have a second wife. But this is quite expensive for the husband, since each wife must live in a separate house. Moroccan families have many children. We observed local families on the beach, no one had less than 4 children.
Even in Morocco there is beautiful national music, desert blues and gnawa (gnaoui, Berber music).
