Morocco: Meknes, Fez, and Tangier

Morocco was a whirlwind adventure! We went to Meknes, Fez, and Tangier. It was a great experience, but ladies let me warn you in advance, take a man with you! Women are treated more like objects here and man expect you to "bow down for them." It just makes me soo grateful that I live in America, where everyone is treated equally. There are many things that are different or unique here: they use currency called Durhams and about 11 Durhams= 1 Euro and 1 Euro= 1.45 USD, just to give you an idea. We weren't allowed to drink the water and we even had to use bottled water to brush our teeth. The entire country appears to be very religious and stop to pray 5x a day, in addition they don't drink any alcohol. They are very conservative and most women cover their bodies entirely except for either their faces or just their eyes and their hands. Anyway, on to the trip!

We left early Friday morning, drove down to the Spanish port and took a ferry, with our bus too, across the water to Africa! We arrived, went through customs, got back on the bus, and continued to Meknes. We stopped along the way and rode camels next to the ocean! It was an interesting experience. Then we continued and stopped an an ancient cave that has a gorgeous view out to the ocean. We arrived at an absolutely gorgeous hotel (which was a fantastic change from our hostels). We had a "traditional" dinner of chicken and veggie stir-fry, salad with many different ingredients, lamb, and spaghetti :)

The following day, now Saturday, we headed out to do a small city tour of Meknes. We saw the royal palace and ancient grain storage, the Mausoleum, and the Bab Mansour Gates. Then we headed to Fez. We arrived here and had a lovely time. We saw an overlook of the city, went to a traditional clothing store and tried on many costumes. Then we went to a traditional dinner that night with dancing and singing. We ended with the national drink, which is fresh mint tea. Absolutely delicious!

Sunday we had a walking tour of the entire city. The Medina is the oldest "neighborhood" of Fez. It is made up of 12,000 labyrinth streets to protect from invaders. It reminded me a lot of the Albycin in Granada, which is a Moorish district and neighborhood. We got to walk to the raw markets with food just hanging everywhere, through the dirty streets, and the real places that the actual inhabitants of the city visit. This was probably my favorite day. It was a bit dangerous in Fez, more so than Meknes and Tangier, so we had several body guards traveling with our group. In Morocco there is NO set price on anything, except in restaurants and hotels. They expect you to barter for everything - food, clothes, toys, etc... My friend was offered 2,000 camels in order to trade for me by a shop keeper. I said, "Sorry, I'm not for sale." We got to go to a hand made silk factory, where they made scarves, table cloths, and blankets by hand, in front of us. It is an incredible style of handiwork. Then we went to a Moroccan Rug store and I found the most beautiful, colorful rug I have ever seen. A few problems: it was huge!, it cost 4000 USD with shipping included to the US, but the salesman said he would give it to me for free if I would stay with him at his house for a week. He was very open about that statement, to which I responded with an awkward laugh and said, "Sorry, I'm worth more than that." Then we went to a leather tannery, where we saw the men in the dye tanks, with the leather, dying everything by hand. Then we did a bit of shopping and headed to Tangier for the night.

Monday we toured Tangier. It is a big, modernized, port city that seems to be a bit for convenient for foreigners. Today I received a marriage proposal from our guide, Nebil, who said he wanted to make me his 4th wife, got a snake wrapped around my neck, and Henna painted on my hands. We saw a gorgeous view of the ocean, with Spain in the distance. We walked through the oldest neighborhood, saw the outside of the symbolic Mosque of Morocco, since non-Muslims aren't allowed inside any mosques, and ate our final traditional Moroccan meal. It was complete with lamb kebabs and mint tea. We began to make the long journey back home and arrived around 1:30 AM Tuesday Morning...with class at 10 AM that day.

Overall it was an amazing experience, but I am sooo glad that I live in America or even in Spain. Anywhere seems better than Morocco, due to the way women are treated and the dangerousness of the area. Thank GOD for freedom!