I was awake at 5:30 and that was an improvement on the last 2 morning when I was wide awake at 4:00. Now I know how Jesse felt when she came from Toronto and was up playing at 3:00 am. My darling husband slept until 7:00 but his shoulder kept him awake during the night so guess we are even for sleep. The excellent Movenpick breakfast made up for the definitely not excellent breakfasts at the Kenasi Bama in Casablanca. We walked around the pool and looked ocross the Atlantic to Spain. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy on the Spain side so only an outline was visible. Dinner at the hotel restaurant. We explored the casino which was like every other casino but didn't think it a good idea to part with our money there.
We were ready and waiting for Adbul at 10:00. Not sure we like starting that late but we will see how it goes.
He explained what the buildings were as we passed and said a lot of the apartment buildings were owned by hash sellers. The king seems to have many residences in Tangier. 4, I believe, all with multiple guards on all the gates. He is much loved and his picture is everywhere yet I'm not sure why.
Our visit to the Hercules Caves was amazing. What a place. The caves are a series of rooms, some larger than others but the place is huge. You can see where they used tools to enlarge the rooms. It must have been a great advantage to smugglers and pirates as a place to hide their treasures.
They were inhabited in prehistoric times and in the recent past for jet setters and celebrity parties complete with hashish. Lots of photo opportunities in the caves. As we left the stiff wind off the ocean blew Roy's cap off and over the railing toward the ocean. It landed below the railing, we'll out of reach but being my Roy he had to see if he could get it. He went down a flight of stairs, climbed over a wall that was just above waist high and then scrambled and climbed up about 20 feet for the darn hat while from above I was cringing in fear that he would fall. None of my pleading worked - he probably couldn't hear me for the wind but I'm pretty sure he knew what I was thinking. I really don't want to test our medical insurance and I was so afraid he'd break something (or worse). He made it up the cliff and retrieved the cap (like you can't buy another) and then had to find a path down... He made it, much to my relief, and he looked pretty smug. Well done for someone who is having a __ birthday tomorrow but he'd better not do it again.
Next we visited Cape Spartel, the place where the Atlantic and the Mediterranean meet. The water looks the same on either side! A nice young couple from France took our pictures and we took theirs. A nice exchange.
Then it was on to the Kasbah in Tangier. It is quite different from Rabat. It is built on a hill and though it has homes just as the Kasbah in Rabat it is very different. It is more open and didn't seem as big but we did have two tours in Rabat and perhaps saw more. We toured the museum which held artifacts of civilizations back to the Phoenicia
The roof top gardens are very nice but the gardens in Rabat are better kept. We walked down from the Kasbah to the Medina. Adbul lived in this area as a boy. He showed us his schools and said the Medina was a place he frequently went. We walked at quite a pace past the stalls until we came to a place he suggested for lunch. It was a cafe that only Moroccan's eat but the kabobs were good and it was nice to experience the Moroccan way of life. After lunch he took us to a bazaar. Aha the coin drops, perhaps his uncle runs the bazaar. We are sure there is a commission here for him.
He put us in the hands of a very pleasant man who insisted we need to see the view from the roof. Up we went, one flight of stairs, guess what is on this level -carpets, up another level, carpets, another floor, oh yes, more carpets. After at least 5 floors of carpets we reach the top and a door to the roof top. Be still my pounding heart, there is yet another flight of stairs with a bend in them, as they have all had. At last, behold, The View, we can see the Atlantic in one direction and laundry on every roof top in the vicinity. We do our best to be impressed and when he is satisfied that we are impressed enough we can go back down to the inevitable carpet salesmen and a cup of mint tea. We have had rug salespeople try to convince us we need at least one rug in China, Turkey, and Peru and we still don't own one. Straight out we tell them that it's not going to happen. They were very beautiful and as we could tell well made and we liked them better than we have anywhere else . Did we want one, yes. The huge area was soon covered with rugs of every description and from every area and ethnic group in Morocco. The promised "no hard sell" became some slight pressure until it was downright very hard sell. "Memories fade my friend but the carpet will be there." "We are your family we want only the best for you". By now we are blocked in by rugs, how do we get out of here? Eventually we just climb over them and leave a disgusted salesman behind to pick up and put away 15 to 20 rugs of all sizes. There are other things we can buy on the first floor we are told. By the way, we had 3 people play different roles in the rug sales. The man that took us to the roof, the display man who hauls them out and the closer. We have had enough and can't even think when we get downstairs. A disppointed Abdul awaits us. No commission today. He also gets an earful from us. He treats us to nougat from a street vendor to make up. Nougat is good but no more rugs please.
We go by taxi to visit the tombs of Phoenicians. They are very worth seeing. Hewn into rocks high above and overlooking the Atlantic are about twenty coffins. 1.8 meters by about 1/2 a meter wide a 1/2 to 1 meter deep. They are empty and uncovered, also unprotected. People were sitting with their feet in them enjoying the view. Oh yes, Abdul treated us to humus from a street vendor. There two types. Chick pea and black eyed peas. The peas are just steamed peas. They are not mashed. The vendor put them in a cup and poured some of the liquid from steaming over them and shook paprika and cumin over them. He put a stainless steel spoon in each cup and we stood there and tried to make a good show of eating them. To our horror he took the cups and spoons back, rinsed them in a murky pail of water a put them out ready for the next customer. We didn't get sick so think we were lucky.
Now we are off to Chefchaouen. It is 120 kilometers but a two hour drive over twisty roads and beautiful scenery. We are in the Rif mountains. Chefchaouen is high on a mountain. It was founded in 1417 by a Moorish exile from Spain. Then it became a fortress to repel invaders from Portugal. It was a refuge for Jews and Moriscos escaping from the Spanish inquisition otherwise was closed and insular. Off limits to Christians until 1920 when the Spanish conquered it. They discovered Jews speaking 10 century Castilian, extinct in Spain for over 400 years. Leather craftsmen were working in the same way their ancestors worked in the 12th century. The Jews painted the town blue because they felt it made them closer to the sky and the colour repels bugs. It has remained that blue ever since.
We arrived at Dar Chefcjaouen around 7:00 pm. What a place. We bagged the Royal suite! The best room in the hotel we were told. I believe it was. We had a living room with a working fireplace, a huge bed with a TV to watch while in bed, a front garden with beautiful orange roses and a pink climbing rose, geraniums, etc. The outside rooms were all like private cottages and there was a hotel building with rooms.
Chechauen is a place to see!
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