Fez to Marrakesh

Well, the title of tonight's blog says it all.  We spent the day on our bus, traveling from Fez to Marrakesh.  We left out hotel at 7:30 this morning and arrived here at our hotel around 5:30.  My stereotype of Morocco has been negated.  I haven't seen a sandy dessert or a camel.  Today at the highest elevation of our drive we drove through "little Switzerland" with a totally different atmosphere and architecture than anything we've seen in Morocco.   Yesterday after a long, warm day in Fez I took advantage of the beautiful pool at our hotel (fortunately we have no pictures of that).  Tonight, after sitting on the bus all day I think I feel more like crashing in our room.

The scenery varies from very dry (but not desert)

To some lightly forested hills

To European style ski areas (little Switzerland)

Fez

Fez is the former capital and the spiritual center of Morocco.  There are many more traditional people, and the closer we got to the medina, or the old city center, the more we saw traditional dress, and the only western attire was worn by tourists.  This is in sharp contrast to Rabat and Casablanca.  We weren't allowed in the mosques here either, which is different than what we experienced in the other cities.

The medina is a labyrinth of miles and miles of allies.  There are shops on the main allies, and in the cross streets there are doors to homes.  The allies are narrow and dark, but the doors open to homes with central courtyards open to the sky, with gardens, fountains and beautiful tile work.

We walked many kilometers through the medina today and stopped for lunch at a restaurant there that had beautiful traditional decor and served delicious Moroccan food.  I had a chicken pastilla that is a chicken pie that almost tastes like apple pie, due to it's sweet, cinnamon flavor.  No beer or other alcohol was served in this very conservative establishment.

  The highlight of the show last night was these traditional players.  They played drums and wooden instruments, danced and twirled their drums around.

We visited one of the two main fortresses remaining at Fez.  We took this from one of them looking across at the other.  They were built in the 1200's.

This is the medina - or old town - mostly dating from the 800s to the 1300s.  We spent most of the day wandering around the alleys in here.

You can see one of the main city gates and a section of wall here.  Fez still lies mainly within the 13th century walls.

Streets in Fez are narrow and you have to share them with an endless army of donkeys!

We were told that this is the "oldest university in the world."  It was founded in the year 825 by one of the daughters of a wealthy merchant.  The University of Al-Karaouine is still functioning, however it only offers studies in Islamic law (it has never offered a full curriculum) and has about 300 students.

Here is the tanner's area in the medina.  They still tan hides here the way they did in the 1100s!  They have a series of pots containing pigeon dung and urine and move the hides by hand between them. The area stinks so much they give you a bunch of mint leaves when you enter to hold in front of your nose.

This is the mausoleum of Idris I, the founder of Fez.  He founded it in 789 as the capital and industrial and commercial center of his empire.  It remained in this role until the French took control in 1912.  As soon as the French were in power they moved the capital to Rabat and the commerce and industry to Casablanca, effectively stifling disent from the city.  Fez remains a cultural, artistic, and religious center.

We had a great lunch in the restored dining area of a 12th century house.

We left Fez through the grand gate.  It is decorated in the characteristic green of Fez.

Fez

Today was spent traveling from Rabat to Fez, a distance of about 140 miles.  We stopped in the old city of Meknes where we saw an incredibly large granary and stables from the 17th century.  The granary was designed to store enough grain to see the area through droughts, thoughtfully designed to maximize the storage conditions. The stables were huge as well - they needed to be because they housed 12,000 horses.

After lunch we stopped at a Roman ruin that is incredibly well preserved.  Most amazing was the condition of many mosaic floors.  After dinner this evening we will be attending a show.  More about that tomorrow.

First hitng this morning we went back to Mohammad V mausoleum and went in.  Here is his sarcophagus and those of his two sons who succeeded him.

The city of Meknes is a UNESCO site.  The city walls are over 40 km long and have a number of beautiful gates.  

This is one of the main gates.

Many movies have been shot in the horse stables and granary.  This is a shot down one of the aisle of the horse stables.  The horses were allowed to run around inside of the stables since they got nervous if they were kept tied.  Imagine 12,000 horses running around in here while you tried to clean the place out!

We visited the mausoleum of  Moulay Ismail in the city.  This city was the capital of the Moulay Ismail state in the 17th century.

Although we could enter the outer rooms, only Muslims were allowed into the actual mausoleum.

This is the holiest city located in Morocco and the third holiest city in Islam.  It is the site of the tomb of Moulay Idriss who founded the city Fez as well as made this city his final "seat of power."

The Roman city of Volubilis lies just outside of the holy village of Moulay Idriss.  This city was founded by the Romans in the year 23 AD.  It grew to 20,000 - 5,000 retired Roman soldiers and 15,000 Berbers - by the year 200 AD, becoming the administrative center for the north African Roman empire.  The Roman soldiers were all recalled to Roman so that by the year 285 AD only the Berbers were left.  They converted to Christianity in the 300's and eventually left when the city as destroyed by an earthquake in the 4th century .

Many of the mosaics survive intact.  This arch was built in honor of the emperor and his mother who had granted the Berbers who remained in the city Roman citizenship.

Just through this doorway you can see the remains of a church,  This was built in about 340 when the Berbers converted to Christianity (Constantine had declared Christianity the official Roman religion).  Shortly after this the earthquake hit the city.

Casablanca to Rabat

Today we drove by Rick's Cafe, made famous by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.  We probably won't be going there though.

Casablanca and Rabat are coastal cities and although very humid, have been cooled by the ocean breezes today, so weather has been pleasant.  The vistas of the sea are beautiful.  The ocean waves are really rolling in and crashing against the shore.  Hundreds of people are out enjoying a day at the beach.   We visited  some beautiful public squares today, plus the Mosque Hassan II, which is quite magnificent.  Of particular interest was our visit to the Oudaya kasbah, which is the oldest part of the city of Rabat.  It is made up of narrow, winding streets that are rather maze-like.  This month is Ramadan, and women all over are cooking for the celebratory meals that take place when the obligatory fast is broken at sundown.  There were some delicious fragrances wafting out on to the streets and I wondered how difficult it would be for the cooks to refrain from sampling the food they were preparing.

It seems like everywhere we go America's second embassy is there to greet us!

The market in Casablanca held some items we do not normally see - like this swordfish head!

There are satellite dishes everywhere!  You go by the worst hovel and it is full of satellite dishes.  Every roof lines looks like this!  People really lover their satelite TV here.

The main mosque in Casablanca is the third largest in the world.  The floor holds 25,000 worshipers!

The inside of the mosque is beautiful indeed!

Sandy got into the visit with her head scarf!

Rabat is the capital of Morocco.  It was founded in the 12th century by the Moors who used it to plan their strategy to retake parts of the Iberian peninsula.  When they were thrown out they kept the capital here.  This was the main palace until 1950's when the sultan died.  His son now moves around the country using this palace mainly to receive foreign visitors.

This is part of the 12th century city walls.  Inside is the old city of Oudaya kasbah.  The walls enclosed an area of about 6 square miles.

The old city is interesting.  Everything is painted blue and white.  The streets are very narrow and wind around.

The last area we visited was the Mohammad V mausoleum.  This mausoleum was built next to the remains of the 11th century Rabat mosque.  The mosque was never finished and, what was finished, was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1900s.

Andelucia

We left Spain today after spending four busy and wonderful days exploring the region of Andelucia, which is in southern Spain.  With Cordoba as our home base, we visited Sevilla on Wednesday, traveling by train.  In the morning we visited the cathedral where Christopher Columbus is buried, and after lunch we went to the Alcazar Palace, with beautiful Moorish architecture.  We took what seemed like a long walk, due to the rather high temps, to a park which had been the site of a world exhibition in the 1920s.  Our last stop of the afternoon was at the Archaeological museum.  We caught a taxi for the trip back to the train station.  Plantar fasciaitis and temps approaching 100 degrees convinced us that walking back was a bad idea.  Our train got us back to Cordoba by 8:30 and we topped off our day with a visit to our favorite taverna for tapas and sangria.

On Thursday we took the bus to Granada to see the Alhambra.  We first stopped at the cathedral where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried, then took a lunch break at an outdoor cafe before taking a taxi to the  Alhambra.  Caren had made reservations ahead of time - a must do for this popular attraction.  Our visit there lasted until it was time to catch the bus back to Cordoba.  It was late by the time we got back and   Tom decided to sit out the tapas and Sangria tonight.  Too bad for him because we found another fun place where the Sangria was excellent and we were served a complimentary dessert wine that was produced locally.

After a third long day and late night we were up early on Friday morning to check out of our hotel in Cordoba and catch the train to Malaga.  We were in Malaga by 9:00 AM.  We checked in at our new hotel, then went to the airport to rent a car for an afternoon drive to Gibraltar.  It is really quite an amazing rock!  We visited the pillars of Hercules, the caves, which include the gate to Hades (you maybe didn't know where that gate was), the tunnels, and of course, the monkeys.  Since we were now on British soil we took a break from tapas and had fish and chips for lunch, along with some Fullers lager.  On our drive back to  Malaga we left the main highway for awhile to get some better views of the Mediterranean.  It was a beautiful evening for enjoying the seashore on out last night in Spain.

    

The cathedral was originally consecrated on the site of an earlier mosque (Almohad's mosque dating from the 9th century) in 1483.  Ferdinand and Isabella designated as their church.  It is located next to their palace (they have several palaces).

Columbus was buried here as was his eldest son.

The carvings on the altar are truly impressive.

The main palace is located next door.  It was originally the Moor's sultan's palace but was converted when this area fell to the Christian kings in the 13th century.

This is the Admiral's room where Columbus' voyage was planned and all the supplies were ordered.  Later on Ferdinand commanded that all commerce with the Americas had to be approved and authorized through here.

The palace is an interesting mixture of work done after the fall of the Moors and the original Moorish decorations.

This building was used for the World's Expo held in Seville.  It has art work from all of the provinces.

The cathedral in Granada is huge - but not as cluttered as many others.  The inside is entirely white.  King Carlos V designated it as the royal mausoleum in 1522 so Ferdinand and Isabella are buried next to the cathedral.

Ferdinand and Isabella are entombed in the mausoleum next to the cathedral.

The fortress sites above the city next to the official palace the "Alhambra."  The earliest remains date to about 800 BC.  They were followed by Roman ruins, then Moorish ruins from about 600 AD, and finally the present fortress.  Built in about 1242 the present fortress incorporates the earlier buildings.

The Alhambra was the main Moors palace on the Iberian peninsula.  It fell in 1242 and was promptly remade into the Christian Kings' palace.  Inside are intricate carvings and decorations in places overlain by Christian shields and emblems of the Spanish kings.

It was a surprise to find that Washington Irving stayed here for several years and wrote a number of his stories here!

The main throne room is intricately carved.

The fortress dominates the city skyline.

On the way to the rock of Gibraltar - you can see it for miles!

Standing on "the rock" you can see the "Pillars of Hercules" in the background!  (One pillar is the rock itself and the other is the large mountain across the strait in North Africa)

The view from the top of the rock is exceptional.  You can see the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, North Africa, Spain, and the strait.  There is shipping all over the place.

The Greeks thought that the entrance to Hades was here in this cave on the rock.

During WWI the British dug over 30 km of tunnels in the rock.  They refitted this area for a hospital in WWII - but never used it.  It is now a theater area!

What a fantastic venue for a concert!

The Moors built this castle in the 6th century and used it as a launching point to conquer the peninsula.

A great view of the land connecting Spain and Britain's rock.  The airstrip was built on a fill area in WWII.

Since we were now in Britain, Sandy and Caren had to have fish and chips and a good British brew!