Fes and Casablanca

Our day in Fes started early after a good night's sleep and a couple of sortees into our magnificent bath/shower. The bathroom was visually gorgeous in pale green and white tiles, a lotus flower hand basin annd dark green floor tiles. However, the toilet lid was cracked down the middle and glued together as was the top of the cistern. Somehow this simply added to a sort of imperfect perfection...it was my favourite room!

We gathered at the bus at 7.45 the next morning and drove around the city, past the enormous gates of the Royal Palace (the King moves between nine palaces) and visited a tile co-op workshop where artisans manually chip the coloured and glazed tiles into preplanned shapes and sizes to fit like a jigsaw on to and in to the master plan. We saw wonderful tiled fountains and vases. Some of the tiny tiles are meticulously hand painted: I watched a young woman doing this with such a delicate touch and couldn't imagine what it must be like to sit cross legged in such concentration for hours a day. I looked at the decor everywhere afterwards, through every open window and door in the crowded medina with great new appreciation.

After this, about 10.30 am, we left the bus to be taken through the Fes medina. 'How long shall we be here?' someone asked the guide. 'We shall be picked up elsewhere by the bus at 2.30' was his response...4 hours!

We had first gazed down on the medina from a high hill: thousands of yellow, ochre and white cubes fitted together tightly into a city within a city. When we entered the gates, after being sternly warned not to stray, ('It will take me years to find you')we walked quite fast (in extreme heat most of the time except for wonderful shady pockets of cool air at some moments) for those 4 hours. Parts were up gentle, long hills when I just put my head down and charged ahead, determined not to be last! We went into a madrassa which is now used as a mosque....how anyone ever found the entrance I have no idea....it was one of a hundred small wooden doors on that narrow street which opened up into a beautiful tiled courtyard, above which were the tiny windows of the boys' rooms...it had been a boarding school. There was such a peaceful atmosphere in the large back room, I could have done with a quick meditation right there! Our group, about 37 strong, was becoming exhausted by exercise and heat...students and others alike.

We visited a tannery where we climbed a narrow inner circular staircase to gaze down upon the raw hides, pools of dye and tanning surfaces. There was an overpoweringly strong odour from the new skins and we were given sprigs of mint to hold under our noses. Of course we were later lead into the attached store where a myriad of jackets, coats. handbags, belts etc hung in profusion. Each was a work of art and had I had more money on me I would have bought something because the prices, after a little bargaining, were ten times lower than in N. America.

It was nearly lunch time so we were lead into another beautiful Moroccan building within the medina still where we were given glasses of mint tea and shown carpets. George made the mistake of admiring a Berber one which I liked too: it had lovely muted colours and obviously there was a great deal of work in it. After being literally worked upon by a team of superb salesmen we bought it! In retrospect I realised that a whole team had been at work: the original salesperson who plied us with mint tea, the secondary salesman an elderly man in a white jellabah who praised us for our excellent taste and took us upstairs to see 'our' amazing carpet on a bare marble floor.

There was a moment when a rather pale faced George muttered to me 'let's go' and I said 'you try it but I can't!', it truly was too late. Then there was our guide who said he would get a good price for George because he was 'the leader'. Then the first man came and shook his hand and with yet another 'owner' or manager a price was decided, George said 'no' and the final price was agreed to. It was a magnificent team effort on their part and we own a carpet we never intended to buy! When we returned to the ship and were having a swop stories session in the bar with friends we discovered that three couples were now the proud owners of Moroccan carpets and all three carpets had been made by widows over a period of from one to two years! Stories to tell gullible N.Americans!

We arrived back on board Explorer at about 8 pm to find the dining room waiting for us with a good old non-Moroccan supper.

Yesterday Tuesday we wandered round Casablanca and the medina again with Amy the music prof just enjoying the heat, the atmosphere and the friendliness of ordinary Moroccans in the street. We sailed last night at 8 pm, rolled through the harbour again, this time with far more movement than our smooth entry. That continued all night so we slept well. Today has been a normal class day, the highlight of which was watching a rehearsal of Michael William's Acting class. The students are doing a play as I may have mentioned for school children in Cape Town...Karoo Moose. It's gonna be good.

Do read Brenda's blog...she had a great adventure and came through with flying colours having made lots of friends. We call it her "baptism of fire"!