December 25, 2003
The Cities of Morocco
Well, at long last the first official entry in the Africa blog!
Have been in Morocco the last 9 days or so, having a look around with Tom.
We visited Rabat, Casablanca, Meknes, Fes and Tangier (very quick, I know!)
Rabat was posh and clean and relaxing, whereas Casablanca was dirty, noisy and run-down. Meknes had an interesting Medina (old city), and no-one bothered us, whereas Fes had a much bigger Medina, and we were constantly hassled.
'Hello my friend, where are you from?' - the favourite opening gambit. After this, come offers of guiding, taking you to market stalls, finding hotels, finding restaurants, and 'something special' , which apparently means hash.
If offers are refused, they will walk in front of you, whichever way you go, and point things out to you. The longer they do this for, the more pressure you are under to tip 'the guide'!
They are extremely persistent in Fes, while here in Tangier they seem to be easier to shake off. Or maybe I'm more used to it now, who knows!
Two other very important things about Morocco are -
- There are countless places where you can sit outside a nice cafe, and while away the day drinking coffee, or very sweet mint tea, which is very popular here.
- The cars that the driving instructors use here, have 2 steering wheels!
yes, really they do...