4 dynasty excursion

We left Friday morning to go to 4 different cities to see either the four most important dynasties or the only four dynasties that exist in Morocco—still not quite sure of all the historical references/stats. But either was it was really cool. It was really nice to see more of Morocco outside of Rabat because it kind of hit me even harder that I’m actually in Africa right now. The first city was Meknes which was alright although we hardly got to see any of it. We fit the first three in on Friday and spent all day Saturday in Fez. But Meknes was really neat, and it’s a pretty big city so I’d defiantly like to go back one free weekend sometime during the semester. We had a different tour guide for each city and they were all really funny in their own ways hahaha. One ones in Meknes and Fez did not only a good job guiding us, but also taking us to “their friend’s shops where we would get good prices on the very unique things they were selling” hahaha. They probably got some commission for bringing us and although a lot of us got really ripped off, we got some good stuff too!
So we didn’t see too much of Meknes except beautiful gates—which are becoming some of my favorite things about Morocco. The DETAIL on these medina walls and huge doors/gates are amazing! The pictures I’ll put up won’t do them any justice to how beautiful and amazing they really are, BUT at least you can see what I mean. (It was also a running joke that every guide we had showed us “the most beautiful; the oldest; the biggest; the most intricate blank in allll of North Africa.” hahahaha They were good at their job at least!) We were supposed to go into a mosque there, one of the only that allows non-Muslims inside, but it was closed. So we ventured onto a golf course instead? We were all pretty confused about why but the tour guide was proud to show us “the only gold course in allll of Morocco that is inside medina walls… you never lose your ball!)
It is also important to note that we went into this excursion purposefully being tourists. And to be quite honest it was nice to see the touristy things because we haven’t even really done that in Rabat yet. So after Meknes, we went to the town of Mouley Idriss which is I think one of the oldest dynasties—besides for the Roman empire which was city #3—but anyway all we actually did there was eat lunch at a woman’s house/inn. She had a gorgeous and large house and we walked through the very crowded market to get there but we were defiantly gawked at because this is actually not really a normal tourist stop for the regular tour of Morocco or North Africa. But the food was incredibly delicious and her house was very warm and had an amaaazing view from the top terrace. SO I think the point was only that we simply be there in Mouley Idriss because there’s really no old kingdom to see.
So then we were off to Volubilis which was literally 5 minutes away. Volubilis was the old Roman Empire from over 2000 years ago. We of course just saw the ruins but I’ve never really seen ruins before and it was so coolllll!!!!! It was amazing what was still intact even after being uncovered. I took lots of great pictures but my memory card for some reason wasn’t pushed in so the pictures are saved on the camera, not the memory card so I can’t upload them onto my computer until I get homeL I was very disappointed but in theory some really cool pictures to exist, I just can’t show you yet… We saw the main streets, into very large houses with different rooms for guests, the bathroom, the hot tubs and even a brothel (proof that it was a brothel came by an inappropriate carving of a man’s genitals… it was pretty hilarious to us 20/21 year olds when the tour guide surprised us with that one hahaha). Even some very detailed archways and pillars somehow have survived 200 years. It was so neat to think an ancient Roman city once stood BC.
After the Volubilis, we drove to Fez where we just had time to check in our hotel and go to dinner. The touring if Fez didn’t happen until Saturday, but we did go to a pretty elaborate dinner that was very much aimed at tourists. First of all, the hotel we stayed in was just sooo nice it was kind of mean to tease us like that. It was luxurious to have my own comfy bed, lots of space, a balcony, air conditioning, closet room/the ability to unpack, a bathtub and plenty of hot water and water pressure. I know it’s only been two weeks but still, those things are all very sorely missed in my life already. So after we had just enough time to shower and wash away the immense amount of dirt a day of sightseeing seems to acquire, we all met in the lobby to get back on the bus to go to dinner. We even got to kind of dress nicely. The place we went to was very delicious—and we got to order a few bottles of wine which seemed to be very much in order—and it was totally made for tourists to get to experience a home style Ramadan dinner. There was also an entire show put on a lots of different acts hahaha. There was a band, a belly dancer, a magician and even a fire eater! We finally drew the line when they took people from the audience and dressed them up like “Moroccan princesses” and carried them on their shoulders in a metal sitting casket—while we all clapped and laughed along no less. We had officially become too much a tourist and wanted our reality back. We were also just so exhausted from the day, we didn’t leave dinner until after 11 and easily just passed out when we got back.
So Saturday was an all day Fez excursion and I loooved that city. For one, although we did have a tour guide and did the classic tourist route through the incredibly confusing maze like medina of Fez, we still got to see so much more than we even would have survived through had we just wondered on our own. The median of Fez, like that of Rabat, Meknes, and I assume all big cities in Morocco, are almost totally surrounded by tall walls that separate it from the rest of the city. But Fez is bigger than Rabat, especially the medina. It was genuinely a maze with no rhyme or reason and defiantly no street names—not to mention incredibly narrow streets at times (yet no matter how narrow, still the same amount of people but more donkeys/mules carrying loads as well). Even locals who have lived there their entire lives don’t all know how to get everywhere in that place. There were something like 9000 streets within just a few square miles. We made a few stops throughout the medina, but I was mostly amazed at the people-watching and culture-sighting as we walked through the streets. I wish I could really do an accurate job describing it through words, but I think the pictures do better it justice. My personal favorite part of the day was stopping at the tanneries where all the leather is made, soaked, dyed and constructed into bags/wallets/shoes/belts etc. The building was FULL of merchandise. Every inch of space on every wall and ceiling was covered! We were given mint leaves to smell as we went in because the smell can be kind of overwhelming and disgusting, but we were there on a good day so it wasn’t too bad. On one of the balconies you could look over and see all the big vats of dye or water or whatever it was and lots of men working to dye the hides. It was reeeaally cool. It was also very colorful—they use all natural color to stain the leather, poppies for red, henna for orange, saffron for yellow, mint for green etc. It was incredibly cool. I bought a medium sized bag for too much, but I got him down from 400 to 350… (I’m still not sued to this bartering process yet) I mean I KNOW I paid way too much for it but the fact that I could see the entire process before my eyes, It not only made me feel less guilty for buying a purse made out of goat hide that I would usually not do, but I really felt obligated to myself to purchase something there because it was such a cool cool cool thing to see. Besides, I really do like the bag too! There were lots of cool things I would have happily purchased but I knew we were being ripped off (again our tour guide was getting commission so even he was pushing us to buy—but I’m not resentful, in the end it was only like 40-50 dollars for a medium sized genuine leather bag).
We also went into a cloth making factory where they were selling scarves and tapestry-type things. Again, very touristy and over priced but it I gave in again. We saw the big machines they make the fabric on and men were hard at work. The workers all wrapped our heads in a tradition hijab fashion and we took a group pic. So culturally sensitive! But I mean it was kiiiind of of fun I admit haha. Then I bought two scarves for 100 durhams/20 bucks-ish. And again I sooo could have bought scarves for way cheaper but when in Rome… I liked them and saw them being made… I’ll get over it. Plus Ill make all that money back when I buy my bootleg DVDs for less than 1 dollar each (kidding…kind of).
By the time we got back I had time for a quick nap and a shower before dinner and drinks at the hotel bar all night. Ramadan is kiiiind of cramping out western style with this whole no alcohol anywhere thing. At least we did have this bar at the hotel, although it wasn’t fun or interesting because we were just with each other… either way we had a good time!
One more funny story… my roommate went running yesterday and she decided to be bold and wear running shorts. I know she’s such a rebel. She had regular running shorts that were not at all risqué to my standards, and a long sleeve t shirt on and she said she got sooo much attention. One man even jumped out into the middle of the road and took a picture of her with his cell phone—she had to run around him. Just because they could see her legs… LEGS! It’s just one more thing men and women in our country just take for granted I guess!

(pictures on a seperate post soon!)