Morocco by born2travel.it

The story

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"Travelling lengthens your life, fills it with faces and landscapes, with songs and sounds and horizons you didn't know. You meet cowards who must live as the brave, and brave men forced to live as cowards. Your old ideas crumble and new ones are born. And travelling is dancing, as the Chichewa rightly say, adapting your step to that of others, turning in the void following sounds and rhythms you didn't know, deaf to everything that is not the melody of a song until then unknown."

- Javier Reverte - (Vagabond in Africa)

20. 11. 2010 Casablanca (MOROCCO)

We have finally set foot in Morocco! The customs checks were very slow and nerve-racking...

Unfortunately we didn't manage to experience Casablanca by night because of the time, but just wandering the town's little streets made me feel alive!

21. 11. 2010 Meknes (MOROCCO)

I imagine old navigators and sailors arriving from the Atlantic Ocean and suddenly being enchanted by the charm of the majestic mosque of Hassan II; lush and mammoth, it dominates a promenade that runs along the ocean.

We set off again at once for the capital: Rabat.

The taste of Rabat didn't displease me; I was keen to visit this great city of the Maghreb. The royal palace with its order, the royal guards in full dress, the mosque of Mohammed V, the Kasbah of the Oudayas but above all the Medina with its souq.

Souqs always have a certain charm... Thousands of labyrinthine little lanes animated by endless people who sell, buy, haggle, deal... So many different smells, so many colours alternating. The Kasbah, an ancient fortification, struck me with its white-and-blue colours, Santorini style... Those lanes so narrow yet delightful, so many picturesque views once again framed by the majestic ocean.

The visit to Meknes was very interesting, made so also by the explanations of our guide Bouchra. Yesterday Bouchra in Meknes, today Khadija in Fes: they gave me a completely new idea and image of Moroccan women. You can feel this social change in the air. You see how spirited, prepared and proud they are.

In Meknes we visited the madrasas, the granaries, the stables of Ismail, we lost ourselves in its intriguing souq until we ended dinner in the traditional Riad Bahia. A typical dinner based on little starters with chickpeas, aubergines and peppers, chicken cooked in the tajine, etc. The background was very ethnic and helped create a sweet atmosphere, so much so that we spent a very pleasant evening.

22. 11. 2010 Fes (MOROCCO)

Khadija takes us to discover her city. The souq is really complicated!

The thing that most upset me, above all my nostrils, was the tannery. You see all these lads with their bodies immersed in these round, putrid vats that give off an odour so strong and nauseating that we were persuaded to use sprigs of mint to find a bit of relief.

The madrasa: the Koranic school where children study the Islamic holy book for 30/40 years. Finely decorated and very ancient schools!

[Nick]: "The initial scepticism about a departure I hadn't much wanted turned into joy for yet another trip on the road".

This place is very spartan, but we like it that way! The evening was made unforgettable by the bongos played by the local lads and accompanied by my guitar!

Fun playing Italian classics involving those Berber lads and their bongos.