Hi Sunanda....have a brill holiday...hope the weather is nice and warm for you. We went to Tunisia and found the people great......although a little ' In your face'....but that is quite a normal retail tactic...you might find some bargains for Christmas pressies in the bazaar.
love
Hope you have a great time Sunanda ~ sounds lovely to be escaping the cold if only for a short while.
x
Hi S, I know that we've PM'd on this - and found that we were both in Marrakech waaaaaaaaaaaaay back when. (You wouldn't believe how I dressed there - even the hippies laughed at it's being OTT 🙂 , but I believe you at the time had got so laid back, man, that I saw you trying to explain your poetry to a camel? 🙂 .)
But seriously, I was only in Fez the one day, passing through; but I do remember one thing, since you do know Marrakech a little. Whilst the Marrakech medina is pretty bewildering, after a while you can just get to know your way round it. The main thing I recall about Fez is that it was even harder! (As you'll see, if it's still the same. And I think medina-warrens are just great!)
V
I just thought I'd post a PS to this thread to let you all know how I got on during my short break in Fez. Firstly, the place I stayed in was super (www.riadcharqi.com) and I was really made to feel at home. Secondly, Morocco is very different from how it was 35 years ago - much cleaner, obviously more modern and the people all seemed very self confident and relatively prosperous. I saw very little out and out poverty. The medina WAS an absolute labyrinth: I longed for a piece of thread like Theseus so I could find my way out but it was fascinating, though I hated only being able to peer in through the doorway of the beautiful - and numerous - mosques. (I can understand though that they don't want or need hordes of tourists traipsing through.) Being hassled to buy things, go places, see sights, did happen but in a very low key way. ('Have you seen the tanneries, madam?' 'Yes, thank you.' 'OK, madam, a thousand welcomes to Fez. Have a nice stay.') All very friendly and unthreatening. And the children ('Bon jour' they all chimed) were enchanting - education is obviously key here. The new(ish?) young King is widely liked - it was his father Hassan II who locked dissidents up in underground desert jails which are now open to the public!!!
One final thing - it's really not the place for vegetarians or vegans as there is meat hanging up all over the place - and not just anonymous meat but heads and all sorts of organs. I have a strong stomach but had to avert my eyes a lot of the time.
Anyway, it also rained - a lot! So maybe if I go back October would be a better month. I imagine in Summer the flies would be a problem....
It was a great break though and a lovely destination. Will post a few pics later...
Love
Sunanda xxx
Thanks for the post, Sunanda. You've got me really interested in returning, though I'll be doing research first - my interest would be to see if there are still economy (I guess Moroccan) places to stay at much lower rates (accomodation as you know used to be virtually free); otherwise one might as well holiday anywhere else.
Online I see that £115 or such flights are available through most of 'winter': I'd be more interested in after March, when it's still only about £168 a flight, rtn.
So Morocco changes all the time like most anywhere else. I think I'll get the Rough Guide to read up. I've known the place at two different time-periods: first, like you, the early 70s. For a guy it was quite exciting then, but you had to keep your wits about you - European girls just disappeared never to be seen again, and I got knife threats. Then I was back twice in the late 1980s, fully 15 years later. That was a much safer Morocco, but still rough and ready enough to be interesting. I stayed in a fishing village that had no running water and no electricity (but it was all arriving in 1989). Much safer by then but still a bit 'dark': a group of males tried to lead us into a dead-end with the clear intent of a mugging, so I just acted out a pretend "madman temper" a la Mel Gibson to get them to run off. 🙂
I tell all this since once again about two whole decades have passed. So what to expect by now? I liked it ideally as it was in the "middling" way in the late 80s I suspect. Anyway, I'll see an updated Rough Guide: maybe there are still out of the way places. There's the mountains and the Sahara on the other side, after all.
On mosques, that is a shame and it's one thing I really appreciate about Tunisia - you just affirm that you believe Mohammad was a prophet, and in you go, for the whole day if you like.
V