Ouarzazate to Marrakesh to Casablanca

I’m now back in Casablanca, in the same hotel where I started my Morocco Sahara Odyssey just under three weeks ago. Since I last posted I’ve been to Ouarzazate, where I got sick, Marrakesh, where I saw a doctor and got all kinds of drugs that made me feel 95% back to normal, and now Casablanca. This afternoon when we arrived we visited the Hassan II Mosque, which is pretty much the only thing of interest to see here. I’m just hanging out in my hotel room until our group is meeting in the lobby for good-byes. Tomorrow we are all leaving. They’re all going home. I’m flying to Valencia to begin the next part of my trip.

I only want to write about a few things from the last five days, and I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story. Here are my albums:

• Ouarzazate
• Marrakesh
• Casablanca

Ouarzazate

As I mentioned, I got sick in Ouarzazate. (Actually, it started the morning we left the desert.) At first it felt like what I call “the crud”: cough and congestion. But it got worse on the second day. This was the part of the itinerary OAT calls “A Day in the Life,” where we visit real people in real places. It’s not sightseeing or anything remotely touristy. On past trips this has included visits to schools, farms, and rural villages. We’ve helped with cooking or taught lessons for kids. It’s usually very special. But I decided I wasn’t up for it, so I stayed in our hotel in Ouarzazate while the rest of the group went.

(Actually, not all of the rest of the group went. Several folks were experiencing various forms and degrees of digestive upset. I consider myself very lucky that I wasn’t dealing with that!)

In the morning I walked to a nearby pharmacy and got some cough syrup and some sore throat lozenges. In the afternoon I got restless and decided to head into the historic center of the city and see what there was to see. I visited an artisan souk and the ksar. 

The Old Synagogue

Then I headed toward the synagogue. Throughout this trip I’ve enjoyed discovering how Judaism was once such an important part of Moroccan life.

When I arrived, I was met by a young man who welcomed me in and showed me around. The place was a maze of rooms and stairways covering three levels. I suppose there was a synagogue there once, and I came to understand that the rabbi once lived upstairs.

This 400-year-old synagogue, which is now a museum, is filled with the largest collection of Judaica I’ve ever seen in one place.

At the end of the tour I asked his name and took his photo.

Drive to Marrakesh

The next morning we set out for Marrakesh, and on the way we encountered the most amazing scenery of a trip that was already filled with amazing scenery.

Marrakesh

I don’t know how to convey what Marrakesh is like. It’s not like any other city I’ve ever visited. I previously shared how Chefchaouen and Tangier surprised me by being less chaotic than I expected. And Fez turned out to be just as chaotic as I expected. Well if Fez is Tangier on steroids, then Marrakesh is Fez on steroids. Lots and lots of steroids. This was the biggest surprise of the entire trip, because it was so much more of what I anticipated than I ever could have anticipated. 

None of my photos come close to conveying the experience of walking through the souks of Marrakesh. For one thing, it’s really hard to take photos when you are navigating narrow alleys in thick crowds with motorcycles weaving between people walking. And every shop you pass is filled with brilliant, colorful stuff, so much of which is handmade and unique.

And then, in between, you visit a garden or a museum or a palace or a synagogue or a cemetery or a caravanserei. You buy things you didn’t know you needed because you are so charmed. It’s hypnotic, and you fall into it willingly, even gleefully.

Or something like that.

Anyway, even though the photos don’t begin to capture it all, there’s nothing more I can say about it that will. So look at my photos!

Sick

By our first afternoon in Marrakesh, I was feeling much worse. I started to get an earache, so I worried I was getting an ear infection. I asked Abdelleh to call the doctor. He came and met me at our riad and did a quick exam and prescribed a regimen of drugs. By then the pharmacies were all closed, but Abdelleh eventually found one that was open — at 11pm! By then I was asleep, but the next morning I started on the drugs, and it was almost a miracle how quickly I felt better. 

Women and the hijab

On our last afternoon we met a young woman in her 30s who shared with us some of her experiences as a woman in Morocco. Her name was Fatimazara.

She spoke mostly about her decision to stop wearing the hijab, and how difficult it was for her to tell her family of her decision, and then how difficult it has been for some of them to accept it. It was impossible to listen to her story and not think about LGBTQ+ individuals and their struggles to come out and find acceptance. I asked her whether women who no longer wear the hijab feel any connection or kinship with the LGTBQ+ community, and it was clear to her also that the struggles are very similar.

Casablanca

There’s not much to say about Casablanca. We visited this huge mosque that is fancier and more splendid than any of the mosques I’ve ever seen before, in Turkey or in Azerbaijan. It impressed me and also disturbed me. After spending the last three weeks immersed in Muslim culture and learning what a beautiful religion it is with a very simple, straightforward piety, it felt so odd to be in a place that expressed nothing of the sort. It was like something Donald Trump would build.

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So this is the end of my Morocco Sahara Odyssey. What a great tour it’s been! Learning about this culture, the people and their history, their religious practice and beliefs, their kindness and compassion has been inspirational. And of course, in the midst of these qualities, there are prejudice and poverty and injustice and inequality. As Abdelleh told us from the beginning, he wanted to show us the best and the worst of his country, and he definitely did that.

And I am now ready for the next adventure.