Traveling in Morocco

This is based on a very short trip to Morocco, so this in no way purports to be a knowledgeable recommendation, but on the other hand, I got really lucky with my lodging in both Tangier and Fez, so there are a few things here that may be useful to anyone planning a journey.  If you are concerned about street hustlers, take a peek at my blog entry on my experience with this as well as some reflections on those experiences.

For my first night in Tangier, I stayed at Dar el Kasbah.  This is an old hotel located alongside the old Medina in Tangier.  I had a single room for fifty Euro, which I booked through Expedia.  The place is charming, consisting of a stacked set of rooms accessed by a towering staircase.  At each level there were six or seven rooms opening on to a common landing.

The bathroom was super small, but it did the job.  There is a nice little breakfast, but I woke up late and wanted to get going, so I didn't take advantage of it.  The best thing about this place was that it was located in the middle of an area that bridged the ancient medina and the newer section up the hill.  Consequently, I was able to easily access both areas on foot.

To get to the Dar el Kasbah, take a cab.  Cabs from the airport are pretty straightforward and you can expect to pay 100 to 150DH.  If there's no meter establish the price up front.  If you arrive by ferry, there are two strategies to getting through the ferry station.  If you don't want to overpay for your cab, disentangle yourself politely from the various folks who will try and become your friend and keep moving through the station.  Exit down the stairs and walk to the official petite taxi stand.  You will want to get in a taxi that is blue and actually has a meter and your cab fare will just be a couple of dollars.  There is a place to exchange your currency just to the left of the taxis.

On the other hand, if you don't mind overpaying a bit, you can go ahead and hire a taxi as soon as you exit the ferry.  In this case, negotiate the price up front because their won't be a meter.  Tell them you are going to the Dar el Kasbah and when they say they'll take you there, offer fifty Dihnar.  This is about six dollars US.  It's way more than you need to pay, but on the other hand you now have someone who will assertively usher you to your hotel.  It's a bit of a lark.  You could pay as much as 100dh and it's still a bargain by Western standards.

The young host working the desk, whose name I didn't capture, gave me a number of very good recommendations.  If you are looking for a nice place that feels a bit more like home to have a cocktail, I recommend Le Coeur de Tangier, located above the Cafe de Paris near the French Embassy.  To access it you go upstairs and it seems like you might be in the wrong place, but keep going.  Drinks come with a nice plate of fish and are about $5E each.

Cafe Haffa is also worth a look.  This is a bit  hard to find.  Get a good map and when you head down the side street veer left sharply after a hundred yards or so.  [If you stay to the right there is an open space with a view to the sea, but nothing else is over there.  Take a peek if it's nice out, but then head back to the street to go down the hill to the cafe.]  Go in the afternoon as it is in shade in the morning.  Seating is tiered on a hillside overlooking the beach and crashing waves from well up the hill, so the setting is quite excellent.

When I returned to Tangier I stayed at the Atlas Rif and Spa, which is a French hotel located along the coastal road on the north side of Tangier.  This was a really nice hotel which has a bunch of bad reviews on Expedia.  Not sure why.  The reviews all relate to service, but I had no problem.  The bar and restaurant were staffed by friendly, helpful folks as was the front desk.  No one spoke much English, but the basic transactions were not hard to negotiate.  I selected this modern setting after having been pretty overwhelmed by the cultural differences in Fez and wanting a night of comfort and familiarity while still staying somewhere that differed from the standard fare back home.  I had dinner in the bar, which was very classy and the meal featured a plate of fresh vegetables and fruit along with some tasty fish.  It also included a hard fruit that was very much like a meat in its flavor and texture, which the bartender explained was a Moroccan artichoke.

I took the train in both directions between Tangier and Fez, which was a pleasant journey away from the coast and up into the foothills of the Rif mountains.  The train, which takes about four or five hours, cost less than $20 for a seat in a first class compartment.  First class is nice as there is more likely to be someone in your compartment who speaks English and you may meet some interesting folks.  If you bring food it is customary but not required to offer to share.  While riding the train I met several wonderful locals including a teacher and a young, energetic entrepreneur.

While in Fez I stayed at a Riad in the Medina.  This guest house is a Moroccan version of the B&B and was a pure delight.  Everything about it made me smile.  The architecture, the rooms, the host, the staff, the food...all extraordinarily comfortable and comforting.  It creates this oasis of peace within the sensory assault of the Medina itself.  There are a number of these in the Medina, but the one I stayed at was the Riad Idrissy.  It is operated by a charming English fellow named Robert who bustles about pretty much twenty-four hours a day making everything hold together.  The Riad is anchored by his restaurant, The Ruined Garden.  Located a short walk off the main thoroughfare in the Medina, it can only be accessed on foot.

I stayed in their smaller room, The Mezzanine, which was still really comfortable and spacious and overlooks the interior courtyard.  The other rooms have high ceilings and are larger and fancier, but for me this was perfect.  The place cost me $65E per night, which included a great breakfast everymorning.  When I woke up in the morning there would be a basket of tea and coffee that I could take in my room or take to the balcony or garden.

I suspect that any of these Riads would be pleasant, but check reviews and make sure you get a nice one.  It totally makes being in Fez or other Moroccan cities less stressful for the traveler.

Happy New Year 2014...From Fez Morocco

Happy New Year!

New Year's in Fez is a closed door...here are a few thoughts from yesterday as I left Fez.

I just returned from the bathroom here on the train from Fez to Tangier, where I discovered that the mechanics of the facilities are simplified to the level of a straight pipe leading down from the stool and emptying onto the tracks below.  It took me a moment to process such a choice, but the fact is that the countryside, here and in the States, is covered with animals, domesticated and otherwise, who are pretty much doing the same thing all the time.  The little bit of human waste being added to that total along the train tracks is pretty minimal.  Odd what we consider to be important.

I have made it through my three nights in Fez with a host of thoughts, feelings and insights and a cacophony of emotions.  Unlike my trip last summer, this trip is so filled with odd and unknown experiences that it is not really desirable or even possible to try and journal them in a direct way as I did when driving through the Rockies.  Every moment brings another moment that seems worth noting or exploring so that eventually it is impossible to really note anything.  Also, the sheer exhaustion of it all makes immediate processing more challenging...important, perhaps, but also slightly out of reach.

The last thirty-six hours have also been somewhat complicated by the fact that I have been not feeling well. I assume it’s just a reaction to new parasites, and it hasn’t been terribly bad, but it has lowered my energy and increased the need to know where the bathrooms are located.  As I write I can tell that the tone of these journal postings have that lower energy.  It's hard to communicate the extraordinary beauty and richness of this place when I am so spent. 

Between feeling off and also being really engaged with how I am much I am drawn to swimming in the cultural pool of the Medina, I did not do the larger tourist activities I had considered for Fez.  Instead I stayed in the Medina, biting off little chunks of what I could manage.  So, Monday was spent on long walks about the narrow paths of this ancient medieval city while being overwhelmed by it all, and then Tuesday was spent doing little one to two hour outings into the Medina, followed by an hour or two of rest.  It was a strategy that was suited to both the realities of my mental and physical state, as well as the underlying strategy of this trip – ie, knowing that somehow the universe will decide what happens here.

As a part of my stay at the Riad I had booked the New Year’s Eve Feast at Riad Idrissy.  I wasn’t sure if it would really be what I wanted, and while quite affordable, it was on the high end of what even a large meal costs here…650dh (about $75).  On the other hand, it was New Year’s Eve and what the hell else was I going to do?  Amine, who was on the train to Fez with me, had suggested I call him and celebrate with he and his friends; however that seemed like more adventure than I was prepared to initiate...and also would have been out in the new city which was of less interest.  Since I was feeling pretty shaky anyway, I decided to stay with what I had booked and went down to the garden at nine prepared to be slightly bored, possibly lonely, but well fed. 

Waiting outside was a friendly fire pit and a few guests had begun to gather.  A glass of champagne in hand I began a conversation with a couple from London, Alan and Susan.  I did not have to worry about making conversation, as Alan was pretty much unstoppable as a one-sided conversationalist.  Susan would routinely disengage from the conversation and gaze about the garden as Alan prattled on.  They were clearly a couple, but it was hard to see what she might see in this guy.  I was happy to listen to him, but I would think it would get a bit old after a short time.  So it goes.  At least I didn’t have to worry about standing around looking isolated and alone.  

After some time we were invited into the salon to begin the meal.  I was seated at a table with five others, and if I had been concerned that I would not be entertained I was happily mistaken.  Somehow the conversation moved rather quickly to the politics of homosexuality, and the benefits for a straight man of learning how to make love at the hands of a lesbian lover.  Honestly.  It didn't stop there and took wonderfully obscure turns.  Conversation ebbed and flowed through everyone’s interests and experiences during the course of the night and time disappeared. 

The accents around the table were really lovely.  All five of the tablemates seem to be in their early forties.  All of them had traveled more than I could even imagine. Here’s who we were (as best I recall...my facility with names is highly limited). 

Tara – A charming and beautiful girl from Wales who, after spending some time in the Netherlands had lived the past decade or so in Barcelona and Fez (simultaneously).  An international food and travel journalist, she was a delightful conversationalist and completely disarming.

Richard – The owner of a Riad near Riad Idrissy, he was the quintessential gay man with the tiniest hint of a speech muffle.  A lot of stereotypes going on here, and also very genuine and kind. 

David – He and Richard are brothers.  David is straight, but my introduction to him was the middle of a conversation about a handbag and scarf and how wonderfully they went together and how he hoped that the gentleman who was looking to distribute them deserved to have great success as he had a lovely aesthetic sense.  He is from Scotland but is currently living in LA where he works as a promoter of some kind.  Is it possible to be both genuine and slick?  If so, he pulls this off.  Charming, completely open and engaged, and in the middle of a string of romantic conquests that beggared belief.  Maybe it’s a Scottish thing. 

Susan and Rebeccah – Rebeccah is a patent attorney and they seemed to fit together very nicely.  They live in Sydney and had clearly done a lot of traveling in Africa.  I don’t know if it was mentioned, but it seemed like they had been a couple for a long time.

I rounded it out as a bit of a novelty act.  First time overseas from the American heartland and I go to Fez.  Really?  They were dumbfounded.  Oddly impressed, though, so that was nice.

The band in the garden.

Everything about the evening was sumptuous and overflowing.  Conversation, food, atmosphere…all mingled together and functioned as a kind of healing balm to the outlandish challenge of the preceding five days.  For four and a half lovely hours I ate and talked and laughed in this warm cocoon of international good will.  The food included offerings such as a buttery Atlas trout pate, duck soup, sea bass, roasted lamb, vegetable dishes of all kinds, wine and champagne.  Richard had an inside track on a flowing sequence of vodka tonics with a variety of lemon that I’ve forgotten the name of but was very tasty.  At midnight a band stopped by and drummed and trumpeted in the New Year.  Definitely one of my favorite New Year’s celebration ever.  A true gift.