Having been to Morocco twice, I have to say it may be one of the most 360 degree experiences we have ever had. While most vacations have one or two or more incredible moments, places, sites, meals, hotels, Morocco had it all. But the visits — both with hiking, long bus rides that crossed the country, oasis, camels — were a piece of luck in life, I think. This place, this Morocco, is in transition; and while so much the Arab world is falling apart, it seems to be falling together.
GOING TO THE SAHARA
In the nearly two weeks we were there we went from the magic of the ancient Medina of Fez, swathed in the comfort of the fabulous Sahrai Hotel, to the deep Saharan desert and the highest dune in the world, near the town of Erfoud, near the contentious Algerian border and home to the Berber Tuareg tribe.
The Tuareg tribesman took us on a walking tour of the town of Erfoud. We walked for hours through small plots of irrigated farming, each owned by a family. Of the many events of that day…
The visit to an ancient and decrepit kasbah once the home of the 16th century descendants of the current Alaouite dynasty. We met the last direct family member left, sitting calm with his mint tea on a hot day, amidst the ruin, protecting it we were told until the time when the government comes to re-claim and re-build it.
Then on to the local market, donkey-trading, spices, scents and colors and a cacophony of sounds. Two photos say more than any words.
The market and it’s winding, lost-and-found lanes, with women covering their faces so as not to be photographed, men shouting in English and Moroccan, donkeys braying as they went to auction. If there was a place to buy herbs and spices, this was it. And we did, which like so much of Morocco is a multi-sensory experience.
As always, there was the obligatory stop at the “recommended” Berber rug shop, where one does not shop, as much as sit, be entertained with staff pouring mint tea, men unfurling multi-colored rug after rug, no two alike, the main man speaking rapidly and solicitously as he charms and sells, uses his instinct to know a buyer from a browser.
…and yes, we purchased several rugs, which when we fretted over how to transport them, the staff practically jumped and with a swizzle of hands compacted and sealed a 6 foot run into a tidy, white-wrapped ball.
This was just one day; after this we went to a store, purchased Berber head scarves and off we went to the sunset ride to the highest dune in the world. That post will come next, because it also involved a lifelong dream of mine to see the sunset on the Atlas mountains, as well as stay overnight in a Berber tent.
Outspoken Traveler 