We have had clear sunny skies ever since we arrived in Morocco, which is wonderful as long as you remember to carry your sun block, hat and water with you as you wander. It is HOT and this is autumn.
I love travel clocks and I thought I had set the two I carry with me to loudly awake us in time to be in the Glazer lounge at 7.30 am. Neither went off! It didn't really matter as I had been waking on the hour ever since 3 am so we were up and breakfasting in good time for George as group leader to make an impressive appearance at 7.15.
The gangway had been lowered to Deck 2 which is always a relief as it is a steep drop should you miss your footing descending from deck 5. Everyone checks this level on our return as the climb up on a hot day, plus back pack and sundries, is gruelling! Yesterday when we returned at about 8pm there was an almost audible sigh of relief as we saw the gangway level with the dock...we were pretty exhausted and delighted to see 'home', feel the air conditioning and have a hot shower. But I'm leaping ahead.... we have only just left the ship....
After picking up our packed box lunches...which I'm sure some of you will remember (fondly?!)... we disembarked. The bus was parked right next to the gangway and we found our seats only to have to wait for one student who couldn't be found....t'was ever thus! Eventually the decision was made to leave without him. We drove through Casablanca in an early morning stupour for the most part, but as we left behind the rush hour and gradually entered greener and more rural surroundings I for one started to take notice. A standard method of transporting persons and goods is by donkey and we often saw them tethered in the shade while their masters dozed beside them. Houses were rectangular, white (originally!), with small square eyes for windows. Scrub and dry yellow soil surrounded them but where there was green in cacti, palms and trees it was dense and brilliant. There was a very clear blue sky and the glare dazzled me into wearing sun glasses as I window gazed. The bus felt cool and comfortable and I felt such an outsider and tourist as we whizzed by hooded men and women walking beside the road or working near the little 'dice' houses.
Volubilis was a magnificent display of Roman villas, streets, latrines and public baths. They sit atop a golden rise near the city of Meknes, ruined by earthquake but somehow glorious in their decay. We wandered there for hours under an excrutiatingly fierce sun. We needed gallons of water to appease our thirsts but there was none available...a strong suggestion has been made by George that it is carried by the bus. Some older members in our group felt dizzy and ill which I diagnosed as dehydration and in one case at least was cured by a few gulps of warm bottled water.
To our great delight we were taken to a Restaurant for lunch....there had been miscommunication somewhere and we abandoned our lunch boxes with glee! Everybody I have spoken to on board has been raving about Moroccan food...it is tasty and mostly tagine cooked: long enclosed cooking releases yet contains all the flavours of lamb or chicken with vegetables and sometimes couscous coloured with Saffron, which is used alot in Moroccan cooking.
(I want you to know that we were asked by our guide to donate those lunch boxes to some people working nearby which we did gladly)
After enjoying a delicious meal in a typically Moroccan restaurant with mosaic wall decoration and Islamic arches in a slightly darkened but cool room, we reboarded the bus and travelled on to Fes. We were taken to our hotel on the outer limits of the Ville Nouvelle in Fes. This rather grand and very French part of the city could easily be in the south of France. The climate here is Mediterranean, palm trees lined the streets and there is a cosmopolitan air about the buildings, fountains and squares. Only the jellabahs, fez's and kaftans speak of a more exotic land.
Our hotel was a boutique type, again in typical arab design...it lacked only one modern addition we would have appreciated....an elevator! 5 was the number tacked on to all floors. Our room was 505. Oh my God I thought I have to lug this back pack up 5 flights of stairs...we were all hot and sticky and thinking hot shower (or cold, who cares?)! We went up one flight and saw 513...OK the 5th floor starts on the bottom? There seemed no order to the numbers as we arrived breathless and hopeful on each landing...we were up 4 flights! Mama Mia!
Our room was a suite: bedroom, living room, kitchen/bar, huge bathroom with all mod cons including a jecuzzi shaped bath with a built-in seat and shower. We had two tvs and were able for the first time since leaving Montreal to watch the BBC news. It took me a little juggling to make both air conditioner units work effectively but finally, showered and cool I thought, I need to get horizontal. There's a bar downstairs, said George...Let's go! So predictably we found ourselves with others sitting outside overlooking the street drinking wine and ouzo! It felt so good to be in a beautiful and exhilarating country, drinking the local wine (from Meknez)with like minded friends and with stable ground beneath our feet. The temperature was a very pleasant 76 degrees or so by now, with a breeze.
More later....
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