Morroco

 Followings my Lisbon visit,

I boarded a most comfortable commuter jet to Casablanca

Morocco,  a drive to a magnificent hotel; Le Casablanca and a walking tour of Casablanca. The boardwalk at the beach reveals the  massive  waves of the Atlantic ocean.  Then a visit to large mosque.  Casablanca is the largest and commercial center of Morocco with a port that can handle 350 ships simultaneously, but its not the capital. That would be Rabat. The hotel was very luxurious and and opulent.

The following morning we met our guide for the trip; Abdul. In case your are wondering how a bus tour works; one loads up on the bus every day and the guide narrates the entire day.  Multiple stops during the day for attractions, refreshments and WC breaks.  The bus has good wifi and charging ports.  

The terrain inland from Rabat to Fes  is arid and hilly.  Remined me of the Texas hill country.  One main difference; olive groves as far as the eye can see.

When we arrived in Fes, the real adventure began.  We spent 2 nights in a Riad which is deep in the medina.  The baggage  was handled by local porters who met us at the Riad.  We had to walk ~20 minutes through very narrow streets in a line as to not get separated and finally arrived  at our lodging which was through a small door behind the non descriptive walls.  Once inside it was apparent that this had been a family home in the past with multiple bedrooms and open air sitting rooms.  Today riads are used as hotels while in the past they represented homes for the privileged.  The kasbah refers to a walled city typical of ancient civilizations while the term medina is often interchangeable with kasbah..  So, we walked  through the kasbah past several  open markets and merchant stalls to our riad.

How bought that for some arabic.  By the way, the majority of inhabitants are not arabs but berbers. The berbers are the one of the original populations of what is now Morocco.  Followed by the Jews and most recently(hundreds) of years the arabs.

There are only ~4000 jews remaining in Morocco  due to the many that fled during the Vichy occupation of Morocco during WWII.  Most berbers today have acclimated to modern society and are indigenous in the middle class.

I must emphasize before we leave this topic of kasbahs that there is absolutely no way I  could walk through the kasbah independently.  The width of the walkway was about 8 feet and there was 2 way trafic of people, carts and motorcycles.

We left Fes the second morning for visit to the the romain ruin Voulibilis which was a film site for”The Last Temptation of Christ” and a then a visit to a private cave where Mohamed prepared and served us berber tea.

Photos