Meknes

On Friday afternoon, I traveled to Meknes, which takes about an hour to get to by grand taxi. Luckily, our group had 12 people, so we traveled in 2 taxis. Once we arrived, we found a riad, a traditional Moroccan house or palace, which operates as a hotel. Inside, there is generally a garden or fountain and the middle has an open area or courtyard. The walls and floor were lined with beautiful tiles. We stayed in two rooms, which were relatively large and very nice.

For dinner, we went to a local restaurant. I chose camel burger, which was delicious! The meal also included green beans, rice and something very similar to hummus (in taste at least). However, this meal did not compare to camel sandwich I ate in Fes yesterday, which was my favorite meal to date! As always, we were joined by friendly (and significantly cleaner) cats. After dinner, we viewed Meknes from the balcony of the restaurant. We snapped a picture of the exchange group before leaving for the riad. I'm wearing the red hat!

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped in a cafe for coffee and tea. We watched news on the demonstrations in Egypt and discussed politics. When one of the exchange students asked Nour if a similar uprising was likely in Morocco, he noted that while some Moroccans disagree with particular policies, the king enjoys broad support. He also made a comment that I found very interesting. He said, "Democracy is a double edged sword." He noted that because nearly half of the Moroccan population is illiterate, democracy isn't necessarily an ideal form of government for his country. 

Once we got back to the riad, we watched TV and chatted for a bit. We played poker for a while, but I wasn't very good. Traveling together has definitely allowed many of us to become closer. As demonstrated by the picture below, studying abroad has taught us to become truly comfortable with each other. Nothing allows for bonding quite like sleeping in one bed with three other people!

In the morning, we ate breakfast on the roof of the riad, which was gorgeous. I loved the colors and design of the balconies. One day, I want my balcony/deck to resemble this one! :)

Breakfast consisted of croissants, baguettes, strawberry jelly, butter, coffee and milk. Joel, pictured below, found an interesting way to shave on the go..

This is the view of Meknes from the balcony of the riad.

After leaving the riad, we headed to a tomb called the Moulay Ismail Mausoleum. We wandered through a series of open air rooms and viewed a fountain in the center of a courtyard. I recently found out that this is one of only a few sanctuaries open to non-Muslims in Morocco.

After visiting the mausoleum, we headed to an underground prison for Christians. After doing some research, I learned more about the prison. During his reign, Moulay Ismail built the structure to house up to 60,000 prisoners, who were shackled to the walls. The prison was actually constructed by a Portuguese architect, whose work earned him freedom. 

We walked outside of the prison and wandered around an open arched area. We tried to take a picture with everyone behind a column, but it's a little difficult to make some of us out.

Piles of trash contained beautiful pieces of broken tile, shown below. 

The weather wasn't ideal for walking and so we decided to take horse drawn carriages back into the main part of Meknes for lunch. 

For lunch, we shared  a large chicken tajine. 

Nour offered a helping hand to Garrett, who was having trouble adjusting his hijab..

In Morocco, mint tea is poured in a very distinctive manner. The pot is held high in the air over the glass, a method I heard is supposed to cool down the tea. I haven't quite mastered this art yet and have managed to spill boiling tea on myself a couple of times...

After lunch, we walked to the roof of the restaurant and enjoyed the view! As you can tell, it was very wet and still raining. 

Before leaving, we went to one of the shops near the restaurant. Everything inside was very overpriced. However, I was quite impressed with all of the elephant figurines! :) 

We also saw a man who handled snakes in the main square. I am not a snake fan and kept my distance. Luckily, he did not see me snap this picture. If he saw anyone taking photos, he asked for compensation. According to Nour, some snake handlers put the snakes around the necks of bystanders and won't take them off until offered money to do so.

We wanted to shop, but the majority of what we found in town wasn't very exciting. One of the stores, shown below, sold an array of underwear and bras. Great place to buy my friends souvenirs, right?

I hope everyone is having a great week! 

Fes!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post! My computer hasn't been working in my room, so I haven't had a chance to update! Last weekend, we went to Fes! We travelled in taxis from Ifrane, which took a little over an hour. Once we arrived, we walked around the Old Medina and then got dinner.

The restaurant was located right inside of the main entrance to the Old Medina, shown in the picture above. Below, Rebecca, Brooke and I wait for our dinner, which was delicious! :)

Our meal consisted of appetizers, soup (or salad), bread, a meal and dessert. For the whole meal, we each paid 50 dirhams. I was starting to doubt the food here, but our dinner redeemed Moroccan cuisine! The food was amazing! I had a ground meat (beef, I think) and egg tajine. I finally had some decent coffee too! :)

For dessert, we had a choice of cookies or tangerines. The cookies were pretty good and my favorite was the one on the bottom, which was chewy and almond flavored.

After dinner, we went back to our hotel. It was nice, but once again, very cold! We spent a couple hours on the roof chatting, then headed to bed. Fortunately, we had thick blankets and I didn't have any trouble sleeping. We each paid 100 dirhams for the night and had our own beds. 

On Saturday, we woke up and headed to breakfast, which consisted of different kinds of bread with butter and honey (and mint tea, of course). The bread shown in the picture below is called harsha and is dense and similar to cornbread. The other bread we ate is called msemmem and is flaky and is somewhat similar to a crepe. Moroccans LOVE their carbohydrates! 

After breakfast, we ventured into town. Everything was so colorful! We wandered around the shops, which included jewelry, leather bags, plates, lanterns, and loads of other goodies. 

I absolutely love the lanterns that we saw in Fes! They are beautiful, but I'm not sure how I would be able to get one back to the states in one piece.

There are countless food shops lining the streets in the Old Medina. Some of the featured meats were slightly disturbing, especially the camel head hanging from a hook. I apologize if this picture disgusts anyone, but I thought I should share to fully capture the experience. 

We visited  the Tannery, where most of the leather used for the products in the medina is processed. The dye used for the leather is all natural and is stored in large vats. According to our guide, the Tannery is the center of the Moroccan leather industry. Visitors are given mint leaves to smell while visiting the Tannery, which emits a very strong odor. The picture below is of two fellow exchange students (Rebecca and Brooke) and me putting our mint leaves to use! 

While most of the vendors in Fes were very friendly, many were pretty aggressive. I found a bag that I liked in town and saw a similar version in the Tannery store. After explaining that the purse was made of very high quality camel leather, the seller mentioned that it cost 900 dirhams (over $100 USD). I tried to explain that this was too expensive and he angrily responded, "You don't like my leather!" After having a brief and fairly awkward staring contest with the disgruntled salesman, I left. 

Many of the shop owners emphasized their love of Americans and noted that they would give us "the student price." We all had our share of interesting interactions while browsing through the shops. One of my personal favorites was a man who sold earrings. I briefly looked at some of his jewelry and found a pair of earrings that I liked. He said they were 30 dirhams, which Nour, a Moroccan student who (very kindly) showed us around Fes, said was too much. As we walked away, the salesman screamed, "You know nothing about Morocco!" He proceeded to insult us multiple times afterwards as we walked past his store. Another student, Elizabeth, made a real connection with a seller, who asked her if she was interested in his bags and then proclaimed, "I love you!" 

At one point, I lost our group and headed up the street looking for everyone. Suddenly, from every direction, I heard, "Katharine! Katharine! Come, look!" At first, I was totally confused and not quite sure how a herd of Moroccan salesman suddenly knew my name. Then I realized that my name was scrawled across the back of my trusty L.L. Bean backpack. 

We also visited a rug shop. The salesman pulled dozens of rugs and blankets out of stacks that lined the walls of his store. I am considering buying a carpet before I leave, but plan to shop around. He also showed us blankets, which he called "student rugs." One of the girls in our group, Jill, bought a blanket for 400 dirhams (about $50 USD). 

One of my favorite parts of our trip to Fes was the Berber apothecary. A salesman showed us an array of natural medications and remedies, including "Moroccan Viagra," which he noted was very useful for "the jiggy jiggy." He offered us whale fat, which is supposedly an aphrodisiac. He also let us sample different kinds of oils and perfumes. When he showed us a tube of green lipstick, I got to be the guinea pig of the group. At first, I was afraid the lipstick would actually be green, but it changed to a pretty shade of pink once applied. 

For lunch, we ate at the same restaurant we had the night before. I really enjoyed the fresh orange juice, which is by far the best I've ever had. Each glass consists of about 3-4 freshly squeezed oranges. I also had a chance to try fresh apple and banana juice (both were very good). An interesting aspect of dining in Morocco is the constant presence of cats. We were joined by a couple of cats for lunch, one of whom jumped onto Nour's lap.

Of our travels to date, Fes is by far my favorite! It is beautiful and so busy and exciting! Luckily, it is also relatively close to Ifrane. There is so much to see and one trip just isn't enough!