Finsatsea: Marrakesh - October 29, 2013

This morning we had an exciting time as we approached Casablanca, Morocco. We were in bed around 6 AM and the ship began to do some tremendous rolls from side to side. We could hear glasses breaking and things falling down. We stayed in bed until the rolling stopped. When we got up and looked in the living room there were broken dishes and glasses from our wet bar and the flowers had all toppled over. It was time for us to get up anyway to be ready for our tour so we dressed and went out to see what was happening. There were huge rollers coming ashore in Casablanca and evidently when the ship turned to come in to the port it got caught in them. Unfortunately, it was a mess for the crew. All the dining venues had their tables set up for breakfast and much of the glassware and china was broken. They quickly set up some pastries and coffee for those of us leaving early. The crew is remarkable. By the time we returned this evening, everything was back to normal. We did see Chef Rafael in the dining room this evening and I asked him about the breakage. When he took us on our galley tour the other day he mentioned that he has a breakage allowance of $20,000 per month. He told us this morning’s rolls used up several months’ worth.

So on to the day. We docked in Casablanca next to what must be most of the Moroccan navy. Al said he counted 25 ships. This is the largest port in Morocco and it looked busy. We went ashore and boarded our bus to Marrakesh. It was not the Marrakesh Express of song fame, but it was a full-size touring bus that holds 40 or 50 people. We were only 18. Off we went with our guide Mo (short for Mohammed) and his driver and security person sidekicks. Mo first took us on a mini-tour of Casablanca. Most notable was the King Hassan II Mosque. This is a spectacular edifice completed in 1993. It’s the largest mosque in the country and the seventh largest in the world. The minaret is the world’s tallest with a height of 689 feet. The building sits by the sea and, in fact, the sea can be seen from the floor of the main hall. The building, which has a retractable roof, can hold 25,000 inside and another 80,000 on the grounds outside. It was impressive. After passing through some areas with lovely homes and a bunch of McDonald’s we headed southeast on the autostrada to Marrakesh.

The Minaret and Mosque of Hassan II

This is where we found that our expectation about the journey were completely off. I expected to leave the city of 6 million people (didn’t know there were that many) and ride into Lawrence of Arabia land. Instead of desolate desert, for most of our 210 km journey we passed through very agricultural land. There were farms cultivated in rye, wheat, barley, lentils, carrots, potatoes, etc. There were millions of olive trees and large groves of citrus tress. There were also lots of pomegranates with many vendors selling them along the road. Two of the more interesting crops are a tree called Argan and the prickly pear cactus. The Argan produces a nut which is used to make an oil that supposedly helps with dieting, keeping skin looking soft and young and generally acts as a miracle elixir. The prickly pear is supposed to be an immediate remedy for stomach and intestinal tract upsets. Only the last hour of our 2.5 hour drive was through more barren land. But that won’t be for long because the government has a program to plant a million more olive trees each year, plus 75,000 more orange and other citrus trees.

After a long but interesting ride we arrived at our destination, Marrakesh.

Marrakesh is the fourth largest city in Morocco and the most important of the country’s four former imperial cities. The population numbers about 3 million. The area has been inhabited from Neolithic times by Berber farmers. The city itself was founded in 1062. The walls of the city and many of the buildings within are constructed in red sandstone giving Marrakesh the name “The Red City.” Its location near the foothills of the Atlas Mountains and its rapid growth helped it to become a cultural, religious and trading center for the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. The main square, Jemaa el-Fnaa became one of the busiest in Africa. Today it’s the home of the largest traditional Berber market or souk in Morocco.

Our first stop was lunch in the Dar Rhizlane Hotel. Marrakesh has a number of ultra-deluxe hotels catering to the Hollywood and entertainment glitterati. This hotel was one of those. We had basically a Moroccan style lunch in a beautiful garden that smelled like roses and bougainvillea. They brought us so many dishes it was hard to try them all. There were lamb kebabs, and beef and onion patties. There was grilled chicken and Moroccan chicken cooked with peas. We had grilled veggies, a salad with citrus and pomegranate and couscous with vegetables. There was something that looked like egg rolls, but were actually rolls filled with spiced meat. And there were lots of different Moroccan breads including a kind of naan. To drink we had both red and white Moroccan wines, both good. Dessert was 2 wonderful fresh fruit tarts and a glass of mint tea. I think we were all impressed.

Garden of the Dar Rhizlane Hotel where we had lunch

Then it was off for our tour. Our first stop was the Bahia Palace. To get there we did make a short walk through a Jewish souk, or market. According to Mo, our guide, there is still a pretty thriving Jewish population in Marrakesh. Many came after being expelled from Spain 500 years ago. The souk was full of stalls selling spices and the smells were incredible. On to the palace. The Bahia Palace was built in the late 19^th century for a Grand Vizier and to accommodate his 4 wives and 24 concubines. The rooms are typical of a Moorish style palace with rooms built around central courtyards each of which had a fountain. The walls are decorated in beautiful mosaics and the ceilings are constructed of decorated cedar wood. The bedroom of the Vizier’s favorite wife had something I don’t remember seeing in other Moorish palaces I’ve seen. There were stained glass windows up around the ceiling.

An elaborately decorated ceiling

Some of the beautiful wall decoration in a palace courtyard

Next stop was the Medina or old city within the walls. We got off the bus and began a walk through the Jemaa-el Fnaa square on our way to the souks and Kasbahs surrounding the square. What followed was a couple of hours of absolute sensory overload. In the square itself there were snake charmers, performers, vendors of all kinds, horse carriages, scooters, what seemed to be half the population of Marrakesh with a healthy portion of tourists thrown in, and finally an energetic Moroccan band playing what I assume is typical music and with a dancer who never seemed to stop. As we walked through the souks and Kasbah they were selling all kinds of leather goods, fabrics, silver, food, musical instruments, and whatever else you can imagine. We saw women in burkhas with only their eyes showing and immediately behind them women with shorts and much of their breasts hanging out. The crowds were unbelievable. Mo had picked up a local fellow who followed along behind us and was our “security.” He literally did keep people from getting close enough to pick our pockets. I don’t know what we expected, but I can tell you it was an extraordinary experience and day.

Olives anyone?

The middle of the Kasbah

The man in the jacket was our security keeping on eye on the people around us

Jemaa el-Fnaa square where there was more to see than my brain could handle

As the sun was setting, we boarded our bus for the return trip to Casablanca. It was close to 9 PM when we got to the city and the traffic was horrendous. Lanes and traffic lights are really only suggestions. We were sitting behind the driver and next to Mo who was truly a back seat driver. I wish I could have understood the Arabic conversation because it had to have been comical. He was clearly telling the driver “go into this lane or that one” and periodically he would say loudly “Claxon” which had to mean blow your horn. They loved using the horn! We arrived back at the ship right at 9 PM. The staff kept the restaurant open for us and we had a lovely dinner. When we sailed out of the harbor we encountered the rollers again. This time the crew was prepared. We headed into them instead of side to them. In the dining room the tables not in use had all been cleared and the serving stations had all been shrink-wrapped.