Travel Chapter 9 Morocco

Travel Chapter 9
Our visit to Morocco

At sea off the coast of Morocco.

Due to some very rough weather, our departure from Gibraltar was delayed causing us to arrive in Casablanca 18 hours behind schedule. The winds and waves on the way from Gibraltar to Casablanca reached 9 meters at times and the ship really rocked and rolled, pitched and yawed and whatever else a ship can do. We approached the entrance of the Casa harbor about 7 pm. The captain came on the loudspeaker to announce that he would have to retract the stabilizer fins when approaching the harbor and that the ship would start to rock seriously.  The stabilizer fins are actually fins which can be extended from the sides of the ship and act to reduce the amount of roll of the ship by counterbalancing the movement of the ship. This allows the ship to move ahead without reaching any great angles of roll. About 10 minutes after this announcement, at a time when many were still having dinner, the ship commenced to heel over to almost 30 degrees. Brigitte, Emmett and I had immediately gone up to the 7th deck lounge to watch the entry. We had to hang on with all our strength to the tables in the lounge which are fixed to the floor. The ship heeled over to a point that it was a little unnerving, particularly from this high point of the 7th deck. In fact, the result of this was that the ship lost many glasses and crockery as the kitchen crew did not have time to secure everything. Why the captain did not give more notice of the upcoming rolling is not known. He certainly new he would be retracting the fins and one wonders why he gave notice only 10 minutes before the event.

Once into the harbor, the water was calm. We learnt that the storm had caused enormous damage in Morocco, with flooding, heavy winds and snow in the Atlas Mountains. In fact, we learnt later that the local travel people had already scrubbed all our tours as they did not think we would make the harbor because of the storm.  But we did, we tied up and everybody got an early night. The trip I had booked had been a 3 night bus trip to Marrakesh, Essaouri, Safi and back to Casa. In fact, the first night was dropped from the tour and we were scheduled out the next morning early. I had looked into organizing our own trip to the same destinations but car rentals in Morocco were so expensive, I could not do it cheaper than the trip offered by the ship.

You can see pictures of our Moroccan trip at: http://picasaweb.google.com/akeyserlingk/Morocco?authkey=xEJ_4JP0x2c&feat=directlink. The next morning at 8am we loaded on the bus with 40 other students and adults and headed for Marrakesh, a 3 hour drive from Casa. We had an excellent Moroccan guide with us who gave us a very good introduction to the country. We arrived in Marrakesh and had an hour walking through the main square and into the souk. The main square of Marrakesh is a huge flat area about the size of 3 football fields. It is an amazing area where all sorts of activities can be found from snake charmers to monkey trainers to groups singing and merchants selling their wares. The square is surrounded by a covered souk, or market place where there are hundreds of little stores side by side. The labyrinth of alleyways can be very disorienting and one can easily get lost as there are no reference points. 

After a good Moroccan lunch of couscous with lamb at a very traditional restaurant, we were back for another tour of the main place. As the trip time had been shortened we had little time on our own. By 6 pm we were at our hotel where we checked in for the night. Dinner was not scheduled until later that evening so Emmett and I set off to reconnoiter the area which was a shopping and residential area, away from the centre. We had been charged by B to find some small colored glass vases to add to her collection.  We came across a fine store selling all sorts of typical handicraft of the country. We looked for the glass vases but found none. Emmett had expressed an interest in buying a Jebella, which are long robes with a hood which is the typical garment worn by men in Morocco. We casually asked whether they had any and of course, they did and they had many. I had given Emmett instructions in bargaining and he took to the art of bargaining like a fish to water. He tried on various garments until he found one he like, he then enquired the price and indicated that that was far too expensive. As there was no other clients in the store, we now had 3 people dealing with the Jebella purchase and Emmett was having a wonderful time as he could finally use his French with these people. After quite some time and even more price reductions he arrived at a price which was agreeable to all. He then put on his Jebella and seemed quite proud of his new garb.   I bought a few long dresses, called booboos for Brigitte and Emmett added a pair of Moroccan slippers to his collection. We then went back to the hotel, Emmett looking like a local in his hooded garb. He was quite the hit at dinner when he appeared wearing it as well as his new slippers.

The next morning we boarded the bus and headed to the coast to visit Essaouri, a beach and resort area already built up and where the Moroccan government intends to invest some US$ 1.8 billion more in developing the tourist infrastructure.   We visited the medina which is the old walled city and reboarded the bus to Safi where we spent the night in a strange hotel from city center which had no facilities. So we all went to bed early as there was nothing else to do.  They did not even have internet connection.

The next morning we headed north towards Casa but stopped in the city of El Jadida where there is a very well preserved city built by the Portuguese. There is even a huge water cistern built by the Portuguese in the 16th century which was only rediscoved in the later part of the 20th century. The whole old walled city is a UNESCO world heritage site and is well worth the visit. We reboarded the bus and headed for the harbor where we loaded back on the ship.

The trip was a good view of Morocco and certainly gave everybody a good sense of the country. It is a huge country which is endowed with a temperate climate and huge gently rolling valleys which go from the Atlas Mountains to the Atlantic. It is a fairly intensely cultivated country which exports it vegetables and fruits to Europe in the winter season. The politics seem reasonable with a king who seems to be doing the right things and who is liked, perhaps not loved, by his people. It is one of the most westernized Muslim countries which has a history and tradition of openness and hospitality. It has the problem many developing countries are facing of having a population of which over 50% is under 25 with high unemployment. Given it heavy reliance on tourism, Morocco will suffer until Europe gets over the current crisis.

Cheers


Alexander NIcolas Graf Keyserlingk,
Aboard the good ship Explorer
Somewhere going around the world in 104 days.
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