January 8th, 2008, 8 Comments »
We’re finally settled in our temporary home here in Essaouira. All has gone well, though I’m struggling with a bit of gastroenteritis-related unpleasantness. It’s to be expected when visiting the developing world and hopefully will, uh, pass, in the next couple of days.
We’re very happy with our little riad. Technically speaking it has five levels–three floors around a central courtyard and two terraces. The wifi works like a charm, and we’re going to go see ‘the wood man’ later in the week. He’s going to make us a very simple wooden desk where we’ll work for the next two months.
Things should get back to normal around this site in the next couple of days. In the meantime, here are some photos of our riad. I was also fond of this odd tin of ‘email synthetique’. We could all use some of that, occasionally. But how do I apply it?
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January 6th, 2008, No Comments »
Yesterday afternoon we hired a guide and meandered through Djemaa el Fna, Marrakesh’s extraordinary, sprawling souk. Wikipedia says it’s the busiest marketplace in all of Africa, and I believe it. I’d need a week to write a satisfactory description of the place, which overpowers the senses at every turn. Instead, here are a few photos we took, both before and after dark. These are three of my favourites:
Our ultimate destination, Essaouira, apparently has a nice, smaller-scale version of Marrakesh’s market. We can take the next couple of months to explore that at our own speed.
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January 4th, 2008, 6 Comments »
We have successfully touched down in the Palmeraie, a resorty suburb of Marrakesh. Thanks to LuxuryLink, we’re staying at Jnane Tamsna, a luxurious, garden-filled sprawling compound of lovely Moroccan houses.
I had mixed feelings about staying in the Palmeraie instead of the middle of Marrakesh, but we’ll be living in the dead centre of Essaouira’s medina for two and a half months. I figured we could enjoy a little touristy luxury for a few days. Plus, this place is only about a quarter-full, so we pretty much have the gardens and heated pools to ourselves. It’s gorgeous.
Of All the Gin Joints
We landed in Casablanca, and overnighted in Morroco’s grimy commercial centre. I’ve never much cared for big cities in the developing world (the exception being Havana), and I wasn’t particularly enamoured of Casablanca.
The exception was the extraordinary Hassan II mosque. I gather non-Muslims are usually not permitted inside mosques, so we jumped at the chance for a tour. Maybe they made an exception for this mosque to recover expenses–it cost half a billion dollars to build. From Wikipedia:
Built on reclaimed land, almost half of the surface of the mosque lies over the Atlantic water. This was inspired by the verse of the Qur’an that states “the throne of God was built on the water”. Part of floor of this facility is glass so worshippers can kneel directly over the sea; above, lasers shine at night from the top of the minaret toward Mecca
By a significant margin, it’s the biggest religious building (nay, complex) I’ve ever seen. It can accommodate 25,000 worshippers (20,000 men on the floor, 5,000 women on enclosed balconies). The main worshipping space is mind-bogglingly enormous–it defies description. I took some photos, but they don’t satisfactorily portray the experience.
Riding on the Marrakesh Express
The following morning we took the three-hour train trip down to Marrakesh. The landscape changed from farmland to red rock terrain. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit how much I was reminded of Tatooine, Luke Skywalker’s home planet. Though, of course, I’m pretty sure those scenes were shot in Tunisia.
Morroco seems like an ideal culinary nation for me. The food is flavourful but not particularly spicy. They eat a lot of poultry, and I’ve always preferred cous-cous to rice. Plus, Morocco is mostly a dry nation, so restaurants offer a rich variety of non-alcoholic drinks and juices.
Here’s our nascent Morocco photo set on Flickr, if anybody’s interested. More updates as events warrant and web access permits.
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