Day 4 -- A Riad Experience in Fes

(This account is a little sketchy on details and photos because I was not feeling very well at the time. Sorry about that.)

I had heard about the riads of Morocco from the Frommer's Travel Guide, but I didn't expect it to be a part of our schedule.  That's OAT for you.  They want their travelers to have as broad an experience of a country as possible.  We went to the Riad Dar Imana in the medina (old town of Fes).

Riad Dar Imana
Our riad is a family home with 12 rooms for guests.  It also serves home-cooked meals, which we experienced at dinner tonight--along with some entertainment.

Rashid is the owner of the riad and he is assisted by three women who are his cousins.  The house was built in the 17th century and Rashid's family has owned it for the past 68 years.  A Jewish Moroccan family had it previously and then sold it to Rashid's grandfather when they went to Paris and later Israel during the mass exodus of Jews from Morocco.  The only condition that went with the sale was that if  Jewish family comes to Fes, they would be allowed to stay here.

Rashid's family consisted of 31 members, including 13 brothers and sisters, and they all used to live here.  He is the second to the youngest.  His sisters married and were off on their own.  As the family became smaller and they had this big house to maintain, they decided in 2007 to open a riad and to share the house with people like us.  Now his family has 103 members and they oftentimes come here for a visit.  He has only two children.  (Moroccan families today usually have 2-4 children while they used to have 6-7.)

Rashid insists his riad is not a hotel, but a house--"so, please feel at home," he told us.  He wanted to avoid the rigid system that a hotel brings and make his place more homey or like what we would call a bed and breakfast (B&B).




Here is the dining room, which was originally an interior courtyard and garden. 













Here is a shot from the third floor, where my room was.











Here is the view of the three floors rising up from the original courtyard.  The carved wood banisters and facings is probably cedar from Lebanon, although the French planted cedar trees in Morocco when they colonized the country in the early 20th century.

Notice the elaborate decoration on the pillars and ceiling and cornices.

Our Meal




Our hostesses were dressed in traditional kaftan silk with beautifully  embroidered belts.  They prepared a four-course meal for us and first presented it to us when they invited us to their kitchen.

We had soup, salad, and turkey (or chicken) with  prunes and a prune sauce for an entree.  Delicious!









Yemni looks over the turkey (or chicken) cooked with prunes.

Garry and Rae finish their delicious meal with a little mint tea.






 


Entertainment


Before we ate supper, we had a little entertainment with some local musicians who played traditional Moroccan music.  The youngest man (standing) had a tassel on the top of his hat that he kept swinging around and around--all night.  As he engaged us, he captured Lester's eye, who not only put on the hat and twirled the tassel, but he danced.  He got a lot of laughs out of us.

You can see the tassel twirl on the young man at the bottom of the photo.  A couple of the women cousins and Rashid (right) enjoy the entertainment....












.....as we enjoy the entertainment.















My Room

Upon entering the riad, our hosts gave each of us a red rose.  I put mine on my bed.  It was a nice touch. 

Although I had to climb up to the third floor to reach my room, I was astounded by its beauty and comfort.  I felt like a queen--and allowed myself to enjoy it.  We have truly been spoiled on this trip!

I'd typically leave a light on in my room.  In the riad, I left the colored light (left of the head board) on above my bed.










Here is a shot from the other end of the room.  The doors lead to the hallway.

This large bathroom had a wonderful, hot shower.

According to Wikipedia:

A riad (Arabic: رياض‎) is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden or courtyard. The word riad comes from the Arabian term for garden, "ryad".^[1] The ancient Roman city of Volubilis provides a reference for the beginnings of riad architecture during the rule of the Idrisid Dynasty.^[2] An important design concern was Islamic notions of privacy for women inside residential gardens.

When the Almoravids conquered Spain in the 11th century they sent Muslim, Christian and Jewish artisans from Spain to Morocco to work on monuments.^[3]

The riads were inward focused, which allowed for family privacy and protection from the weather in Morocco. This inward focus was expressed in the central location of most of the interior gardens and courtyards and the lack of large windows on the exterior clay or mud brick walls. This design principle found support in Islamic notions of privacy, and hijab for women. Entrance to these houses is a major transitional experience and encourages reflection because all of the rooms open into the central atrium space. In the central garden of traditional riads there are often four orange or lemon trees and possibly a fountain. The walls of the riads are adorned with tadelakt plaster and zellige tiles, usually with Arabic calligraphy, with quotes from the Quran.

The style of these riads has changed over the years, but the basic form is still used in designs today. Recently there has been a surge in interest in this form of house after a new vogue of renovation in town such as Marrakech and Essaouira where many of these often-crumbling buildings have been restored to their former glory. Many riads are now used as hotels or restaurants.

Day 3 -- Volubilis

Triumphal Arch

The Romans were conquerors and not very nice guys. They enslaved those they conquered, killed those who got in their way, and hungrily gobbled up the known world for their own riches and desires. However, say what you will about their bad habits, they were marvelous engineers and city builders. Volubilis was no exception.

Aziz, our local guide

This inland outpost, originally established by the Phoenicians, was enhanced and expanded by the Romans during their three-century long stay (325 BCE – 225 AD) in Morocco. The reason? It was a "grain basket" as well as a place for olive oil. 

 

They built the city out of the limestone from the mountains, which weren't all that close. They plastered the walls of their buildings and painted them. On the floors they put mosaics, some of which have been preserved and are among the best and most colorful in the world. A wall 18 feet high surrounded the two-square mile city that included a triumphal arch (still mostly intact), temples, a forum, main street with space for shops, housing for all classes of people. An aqueduct brought water in from the mountains to provide drinking water, toilet and laundry facilities, a spa. One of the private homes was 10,000 square feet! Their slaves here were the native Berbers, who took over Volubilis when the Romans left and they inhabited the town until the 1755 Lisbon earthquake leveled it.

I could feel the presence of the Romans here, just as I had when I was in the forum in Rome, only it wasn't a sadness that pervaded this place. Instead, it was just a presence, maybe tinged with pride at having created such a marvelous city.  I had never heard of Volubilis and yet it fascinated me. There was a young woman who looked to have a Muslim prayer book with here. She was praying here, in this valley surrounded by the most fertile soil in Morocco. I found this odd, as I had never seen anyone do this among Roman ruins. Our guide, Yemani, said it was not so unusual, as Muslims pray anywhere

that is a clean place. Maybe the woman had Berber background and she was praying for her ancestors who lived here longer than anyone else. Maybe she was an archeology student and she was hoping for inspiration and good luck in her work. Maybe she was an architect or an artist and she merely admired what had once been here. Nevertheless, no one can come to Volubilis and not be moved by its size, former strength and beauty, or its importance in settling the known world of its time for this was civilization!

Volubilis is only recently being excavated and there is much work to do and much more to learn here. It is my dream to spend time in an archaeological dig and if I were to choose a place, it would be Volubilis. No wonder it is a UNESCO world heritage site!

Day 3 -- Mekenes

Mansour Gate of the palace of Sultan Mouley Ismaïl in Mekenes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

We started out early today with a 6 a.m. wake up call, a quick breakfast, suitcases out our door at 6:45 and off and running on our bus at 7:30. We are trying to beat the traffic out of the city and make our way to Mekenes, the seventeenth century capital of Morocco, and finally to Fes, where we will stay overnight in a riad (a home owned by a family with rooms rented out to visitors and guests).

We crossed the Bou Regreg River, which originates in the Middle Atlas Mountains and runs through the center of the country before it spills into the Atlantic Ocean. It also runs through the twin cities of Rabat and Salé (pronounced sal-ee), which is the bedroom community of Rabat.

Here is an excerpt of Wikipedia's interesting take on Salé (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal%C3%A9)

Salé is the oldest city on the Atlantic coast, as it was founded by the Phoenicians and was known back then as Sala (modern challah); it was completed since then from the other side of the river of Bou Regreg by the Banu Ifran dynasty. During the 17th century, Rabat was known as New Salé, or Salé la neuve (in French) which explains Salé as the oldest city on the river. In the 10th century the Banu Ifran Berber tribe settled the area and constructed a settlement where the city currently stands. These Banu Ifran were also the builders of the 'Great Mosque of Salé'.

In Pirate Utopias, Peter Lamborn Wilson says:

Salé... dates back at least to Carthaginian times (around 7th century BC). The Romans called the place Sala Colonia, part of their province of Mauritania Tingitane. Pliny the Elder mentions it (as a desert town infested with elephants!). The Vandals captured the area in the 5th century AD and left behind a number of blonde, blue-eyed Berbers. The Arabs (7th century) kept the old name and believed it derived from "Sala" (sic., his name is actually Salah), son of Ham, son of Noah; they said that Salé was the first city ever built by the Berbers.[2]

In the 17th century, Salé became a haven for Moriscos-turned-Barbary pirates. Salé pirates (the well-known "Salé Rovers") roamed the seas as far as the shores of the Americas, bringing back loot and slaves. They formed the Republic of Salé.

The city of Salé was bombarded by the French Admiral Isaac de Razilly on 20 July 1629 with a fleet composed of the ships Licorne, Saint-Louis, Griffon, Catherine, Hambourg, Sainte-Anne, Saint-Jean. He bombarded the city and destroyed 3 corsair ships.[3]

Today, Salé has become the stronghold of political Islam, and of extremist, Jihadist, and Islamist Salafist groups in Morocco. Extreme and Saudi-style Islamic religiosity (men with long beards and Arabian/Afghan clothes, women covered in black ...etc.), coupled with extreme poverty in overcrowded neighborhoods has become a hallmark of modern Salé, in a strong contrast with the rest of Morocco.

Salé has played a rich and important part in Moroccan history. The first demonstrations for independence against the French, for example, sparked off in Salé. A good number of government officials, decision makers and royal advisers of Morocco were born in Salé. Salé people, the Slawis, have always had a "tribal" sense of belonging, a sense of pride that developed into a feeling of superiority towards the "berranis", i.e. Outsiders.

Mamora Forest

We were not that far away from Rabat when our bus stopped at the Mamora Forest, which spans 133,000 hectares. It is a twentieth century man-made forest of oaks, pines, and eucalyptus trees. The French dreamed up this project when they held Morocco as one of their colonies in the early 20^th century. Today, over 50,000 people live here and are employed here to harvest various products from the trees. The eucalyptus provide medicines, cardboard and paper, and wood for fishing boats. The oaks provide cork from their bark, which is peeled every three or four years. The government harvests the bark and then it is People also gather acorns from the oaks. They boil and salt them before they eat them.  Yamni peeled a bit of the bark and it looked and felt like cork.

Orange trees also grow in this forest. There are 30 varieties with two crops harvested each year. There are also tangerine, grapefruit, and lemon trees here. In fact, this area, known as the Western Plateau, is one of Morocco's richest agricultural lands.

Sights along the Road

Morocco has lots of construction going on along every roadway

Comfort Stops

Garry and Jan have a nus-nus break

We made a “comfort stop” at a coffee shop where I began to drink my favorite cafe au lait. Another favorite of Moroccans is nus-nus, which is half coffee and half cream. The coffee is served in a small glass, and I found it a welcome treat in mid-morning or mid-afternoon.

Yemni had a knack for anticipating our needs at just the right time!

The “comfort stops” require a tip of 1-2 dh for the attendant, so we always had to have our coins ready. Actually, throughout the trip we borrowed from one another on these coins. It's a polite gesture for the attendant who relies on tips for income. This usually means that the toilets are kept in good working order, they are relatively clean (most were toilets but there were a few “holes”), and paper was provided. However, whenever I travel to these countries, I always keep a stash of my own toilet paper and handi-wipes (for soap). 

A Lesson in Hospitality

Yemni had promised to stop the bus whenever he saw something interesting. As we made our way to Fes, he spotted a small roadside stand that sold beans, snails and olive oil. An old woman soon approached us. Her name was Yemana.

Yemana

Yemana lives here with her youngest son, who happened to be at the market today. There was also another man there who helped her with her olive harvest. By any standard, she was a poor woman, however, she showed off her roadside stand and allowed us to take pictures.

She then invited us to have an omelet. I thought this very strange as we had literally barged on to her small farm unannounced. She was not an OAT representative, nor had Yamni ever met her before. But she insisted and Yamni moved us along into what we would learn is the tradition of hospitality that we would experience throughout the trip everywhere we went.--by people of all classes.

harvesting olives

We first checked out her olive trees and helped harvest a few. This was very enjoyable as the olives come right off the tree with a delightful little snap. A few of us tasted the olives and gasped. The fresh-picked olives were hard and bitter tasting. They need to be cured before they are eaten.

Yemana's kitchen

 


She then gave us a tour of her kitchen, which was in one small building, and peeked into her living quarters, which was in another small building. Her place overlooked a beautiful scenic view of rolling hills of grain. She had some chickens and turkeys. The turkeys were bound together by their feet—two turkeys at a time—so they would not fly away.

Yemana's bedroom

Yemana asked for a volunteer or two to help her cook the omelet. Julie and I volunteered to crack about 8 eggs into a bowl so that Yemana could cook it in a frying pan and add some herbs. She also heated up some Moroccan flat bread in another pan to serve with the omelet. Once the eggs and bread were ready, Yemana brought the food outside the kitchen, placed it on a tree stump, and invited us to eat. The fresh eggs were tasty and we each had a bit of them. We talked with Yemana and took pictures of her place before we continued on our journey.

We were astounded at her hospitality and the time she took with us.

Yemni gave her a tip. OAT provides him with some money for occasions such as these, and it relieves us of having to do it with our own money. That's one of the benefits of a one-price-includes-everything arrangement.

“I know these people,” said Yemni as our bus took again to the road. “We could stop anywhere on the road, and we would be treated with the same kind of hospitality.”

This tradition of hospitality comes from the Arabs' life in the desert, which is a very difficult place to live. Whenever travelers encountered each other, they provided food and drink. The tradition lives on today, as we experienced it.

Mekenes

We rolled into the orange tree-lined streets of Mekenes after driving past the tree-covered slopes of Mount Zerhoun, which mark the beginning of the Rif Mountains.  I wondered what we could possibly see at the stables where Sultan Ismail kept 12,000 horses, but I would be in for a surprise.

Two horses were attached to each wall.

The stables' thick, clay walls of baked brick helped to keep the place cool, including the granary, which was an important part of any fortress.  There were 8 wells with water pipes to keep temperatures in the 60-degree range.  There were also skylights and a reservoir for water.

This part of the building survived the 1755 Lisbon earthquake while the royal palace and the rest of the stables with their flat roofs were destroyed.  The arched roof saved the building and the stables were 10 times the size.

Everything in Mekenes is big.  This was done on purpose.  It was meant to impress enemies and act as a deterrent to any thoughts of attack.  Ismail was ruthless but effective.  He united the country--and made sure it was stabilized and peaceful.  He built 300 forts in his kingdom.
  
 

One of the cleaning areas with sewers.  I swear I could smell horse manure here.

The stables took 10 years to build, which was done by African slaves mostly from Mali and Mauritania.  The slaves were acquired by conquering these lands rather than buying them.  People with dark skin in this area are the descendants of these slaves. 

We arrived at the Mansour Gate (see above), which is part of the fortress that Moulay Ismaïl Ibn Sharif built.  Its blue and green ceramic tiles came from Fez, where artisans still make them.  The columns came from Volubilis, a Roman settlement we would see later today.





Fortress walls had holes incorporated in them for scaffolding and planned restoration.

The fortress comprised a palace, a granary, the stables, a water tank, a reservoir, and a wall.

Here is the square and the market (opposite the Mansour Gate).  We would tour the indoor market (left) and afterward eat a delicious lunch of ___.

Market

some beautifuil displays of olives

The market was the first one we saw and the sights and sounds were eye-popping exciting especially since this city was much smaller than Rabat. Vendors had small stalls with their goods surrounding them as they stood in the center. They hawked their goods with delight, and shoppers taste-tested them and selected them for quality and freshness. Gawking tourists like us snapped photos at the sights.

The market houses vegetables of all shapes and sizes. Meat from beef, turkey, chicken, and fish were also available. The most interesting part of the market were the olives. Morocco produces 70 varieties of olives and they come in different colors and are picked at different times. They are prepared for eating by soaking them in water, salt and slices of lemon.

the meat market of lamb with sheep heads in back

We had lunch in Mekenes at the Restaurant Salina.

ahhh, mint tea (a.k.a. Moroccan whiskey)

 

Every meal begins with soup

 
Sultan Moulay Ismaïl Ibn Sharif

Mekenes was founded in the 12^th century, but Moulay Ismaïl Ibn Sharif (reigned 1672–1727) made it his capital city. The 17^th century were the glory days for Morocco under his leadership. To make sure every knew that, he built a fortress in the city to store grains and cereals from the land's rich harvets. He also built a “barn” for 12,000 horses. Horses are key to an army's strength and mobility and Ismail was going to make sure everyone recognized his kingdom. He built a victory gate, which abuts a huge square and the city market.

Here is Wikipedia's description of Ismail's reign (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Ibn_Sharif)

The second ruler of the Moroccan Alaouite dynasty ruled from 1672 to 1727 succeeding his half-brother Moulay Al-Rashid who died after a fall from his horse. At the age of twenty-six, Moulay Ismaïl inherited a country weakened by internal tribal wars and royal successions. Meknes, the capital city he built, is sometimes called the "Versailles of Morocco", because of its extravagance. Some of the stones were plundered from the ancient Roman ruins at Volubilis.[2]

He has also been given the epithet "The bloodthirsty"[3] for his legendary cruelty. In order to intimidate rivals, Ismail ordered that his city walls be adorned with 10,000 heads of slain enemies. Legends of the ease in which Ismail could behead or torture laborers or servants he thought to be lazy are numerous. Within the 20 years of Ismail's rule, it is estimated 30,000 people died.[4]

During Moulay Ismaïl's reign, Morocco's capital city was moved from Fez to Meknes. Like his contemporary, King Louis XIV of France, Moulay Ismail began construction of an elaborate imperial palace and other monuments. In 1682 he sent Mohammed Tenim as an ambassador to Louis XIV, and he even made an offer of marriage to Louis XIV's beautiful "legitimised" daughter Marie Anne de Bourbon. Marie Anne refused.

Moulay Ismaïl is noted as one of the greatest figures in Moroccan history. He fought the Ottoman Turks in 1679, 1682 and 1695/96. After these battles the Moroccan independence was respected.

Another problem was the European occupation of several seaports: in 1681 he retook al-Mamurah (La Mamora) from the Spanish, in 1684 Tangier from the English, and in 1689 Larache also from the Spanish. Moulay Ismaïl had excellent relations with Louis XIV of France, the enemy of Spain, to whom he sent ambassador Mohammad Temim in 1682. There was cooperation in several fields. French officers trained the Moroccan army and advised the Moroccans in the building of public works.

Moulay Ismaïl is also known as a fearsome ruler and used at least 25,000 slaves for the construction of his capital.[6] His Christian slaves were often used as bargaining counters with the European powers, selling them back their captured subjects for inflated sums or for rich gifts. Most of his slaves were obtained by Barbary pirates in raids on Western Europe.[7] Over 150,000 men from sub-Saharan Africa served in his elite Black Guard.[8] By the time of Ismail's death, the guard had grown tenfold, the largest in Moroccan history.

Moulay Ismaïl is alleged to have fathered 888 children. A total of 867 children, including 525 sons and 342 daughters, was noted by 1703 and his 700th son was born in 1721.[3]This is widely considered the record number of offspring for any man throughout history that can be verified.

After Moulay Ismaïl's death at the age of eighty (or around ninety by the 1634 birthdate) in 1727, there was another succession battle between his surviving sons. His successors continued with his building program, but in 1755 the huge palace compound at Meknes was severely damaged by an earthquake. By 1757 his grandson, Mohammad III moved the capital to Marrakech.