MOROCCO!!!

MOROCCO
FEB 2-FEB 5

Again, I’m sorry it has taken me so long to finally put up my post for our time in Morocco. I am working hard to make sure that this doesn’t become a habit and that I’ll be able to put up my in-port blogs soon after leaving each country. So, like with Spain, sorry if anything is out of context or in wrong tenses. With that said, we were in Morocco from Tuesday February 2 to Thursday February 5 after we arrived a day late due to the refueling problems in Gibraltar.

DAY 1

We docked in Casablanca, Morocco late Monday night and weren’t allowed off the ship until Tuesday morning. Most people planned on spending time in multiple Moroccan cities, but due to the loss of a day, pretty much everyone (yes, hundreds of people) who wasn’t on an SAS trip was planning to go to Marrakesh. So, Tuesday morning we were going to be able to get off the ship at 8:15am. There was an 8:50am train to Marrakesh (about 3 hours) that quite literally, EVERYONE, was trying to make. Unfortunately, we didn’t get off the ship until around 8:30am and when we did we learned that we were docked in a very large industrial pier, filled primarily with commercial ships. By the time we found a cab, negotiated prices (we were informed that all Moroccan cab drivers would be trying to rip us off), and got to the train station, we had missed the train. And we were some of the first people off the ship. Not a single person made it on the early train. So, we took the next train to Marrakesh that left at 10:50am, not a big deal. Since we were at the station so early, we were able to get first class tickets for only 30 dirham more (about $3, $12 total). By 10:30ish, the ENTIRE platform was filled with SAS students waiting for the train to Marrakesh. I spent my time in a group with four other guys and four girls, all of which happened to be blondes (not necessarily a good thing for women in Morocco). When we arrived in Marrakesh, we had lunch in a very fancy looking restaurant overlooking the Djemaa El-Fna/medina (large square filled with street performers, sooks (shops), etc. I had Chicken Tagine, a stew kind of thing cooked individually in a funnel shaped clay pot. It was very good and reminded me of some Persian stews. When we got our bill, I was very surprised to see that our meal cost only 65 dirham per person (less than $8). For future reference, the conversion rate is about 8 dirham per one US dollar. After lunch, we walked around the sooks trying to find our hostel/Riyad. After walking around, through various alleys, we came to a door with the name of our hostel on it. It was very sketchy, but when we walked in we were greeted by a very nice man named Mohammed and his wife/partner Michelle. We immediately sat down and were welcomed to mint tea. We learned that Michelle is French and Mohammed is originally Moroccan, but studied literature at a French university and has learned English solely by watching American movies. After our tea, which was delicious (I got to see in the pot and saw an entire mint tree’s worth of leaves), we put our stuff in our rooms, which were incredibly and surprisingly nice. We were then told to go upstairs and check out the view. Not sure exactly what they meant, we went on the rooftop of the Riyad to see an entire couch, chair, Bedouin-tent-kind-of-thing set up that overlooks the entire Medina. It was an absolutely remarkable view (I have lots of pictures). At around 6pm-ish, we walked around the sooks, which are set up only in the evening. There are hundreds, all with similar things ranging from clothing, wood products, scarves/tapestries, carpets, and who knows what else, as well as food including all kinds of nuts, dried fruit, olives, and lots of un-butchered meat. It was very cool seeing how all of these things, which seemed to be more touristy, are actually how and where the people of Marrakesh buy anything they may need. Someone compared the market to their Super-Target or Sam’s Club. For dinner, we ate in the Medina a one of the 125 little stands. We had various meat skewers, including 2 types of chicken, meat, a koubideh-thing, and a spicy tomato dipping sauce that reminded me a lot of Pita Inn’s. It was a very good (and cheap) dinner that everyone in the group loved. Also, all say now for those of you who told me not to eat street food, no one in our group of nine got sick at any point while we were in Morocco. After dinner, since there isn’t much nightlife (bars, clubs, etc) of any sort in Marrakesh, we went back to the Riyad and just hung out for a while.

 

DAY 2

On our second day, we woke up at around 9am to a prepared breakfast in the Riyad. They prepared fresh orange juice, more mint tea, bread, and these crepe/pancake kind of things for us, all of which were terrific. After breakfast, we went to the Marrakesh Museum, which was visually very cool, but unfortunately everything was written in either French or Arabic. After the museum, we visited the nearby Ben Youssef Madrassa (one of the largest Madrassa's in the North Africa. It is a school attached to the Ben Youssef Mosque and is home to beautiful art and architecture). It was very cool and I have lots of pictures. Afterwards, we went back to the Medina and had lunch at another café overlooking the large square. This time, I had their chicken cous-cous, which was only okay. I think it was more due to the restaurant than the dish, but not a big deal. After lunch, me and three of the guys split off to go to a hammam (Arabic bath-house). We had just as much of an experience trying to find a decent, safe-looking one. After several very sketchy and shady looking hammams, we found one recommended to us by the tour guide of a group of SAS students we passed by on the street. In all, it was a very cool (and clean) experience. It was only the four of us and afterwards, I don’t think I’ve ever been so clean in my life. After the hammam, which lasted about an hour, we met back at the hostel, paid a whopping 200 dirham each ($25) for the night, and went to the train station to head back to Casablanca. We took a 7pm train, again with a lot of SAS students, and got back to the ship around 11pm. On the train, we played a long game of Uno with a nice, young Moroccan man named Adil. It was very cool being able to play with and actually talk to a Moroccan person who isn’t attacking us trying to sell us things.

 

DAY 3

On our final day in Morocco, I went around Casablanca with my roommate Chris and his friend from school, Natalie. We did lots of walking, walking from the ship through Casablanca’s small market (which doesn’t even compare to Marrakesh’s), to the immense King Hassan II Mosque (built only in 1987 and is the largest in Morocco and one of the largest in the world). For lunch, we went to Rick’s Café (yes, from the movie Casablanca). I don’t believe that it was used in the filming of the movie, but it is an exact replica of what was used and is just as fancy, formal, and expensive. The food unfortunately, was very limited, not Moroccan, and just okay. But, it was a very cool experience being able to go to such a “famous”restaurant. Afterwards, we walked around Casablanca a little more before eventually going back to the ship. We were back on at around 4pm-ish (on-ship time was 6pm) and took a desperately needed nap. 

 

Before we get to Namibia on Sat (Feb 14), I hope to have another post up about what’s been going on on the ship the past few days.