MORROCCO

When one thinks of the ideal place to embark a comprising tour of Europe - few consider Casablanca, Morocco the archtypical launching point. Located on the northwest corner of the African continent however, Morocco has been geographically misplaced in Africa. It is culturally more tied to the Islamic Middle East

The cunning plan was this, I fly from San Francisco airport to Memphis, change planes and go to Amsterdam. After a day there, it was off to Casablanca to meet up with the rest of the crew. From there we would take the trains to Fez, Mekness and then to Infrane where we were to meet our old friend form Oman, Peter Hardcastle. Mr. Hardcastle is a Professor at the University of Infrane and he was one of dad's mountaineering buddies in Oman. He was kind enough to let us stay at his place and I got to keep up with the European Championships from there.

Right; the journey starting from Amsterdam, to Casablanca and Spain.
From Infrane it was off to Tangier where we would catch the ferry to Algecerias, Spain. Then it was busses to Barcelona, via Granada to see the famous Alhambra Castle. After about five nights in Catalonia, it was off to Pamplona for the controversial running of the bulls' festival. We were also there to meet up with Lucia (friend from Abu Dhabi), her niece Diana and the rest of her wonderful family. Then, it was back to Barcelona, via Zaragoza and back to Abu Dhabi. On our way we also went through Andorra and a small bit of France.

Above: this village of Moulay Idriss is located about an hour away from Mekness.
So I started the journey with Marvin, who rented out my room for the couple of months while I was gone, taking me to SFO airport. From there I caught both my planes and arrived in Amsterdam. I was kicking myself that I didn't spend an extra day in Holland cause it was the peak of Euro 2000. Just as I was leaving, Portugal v Germany was being played in Rotterdam and the atmosphere there was rocking. But nevertheless, it was off to Casablanca.

Right; the Stevens family "Rock the Kasbah" . Below; the Bou Inania Medesera in Fez.

Morocco has somewhat of an awful reputation for tourist harassment. It also says in the Lonely Planet Guide that of all the tourists who go there, 98% of them don't go back.......... a world record! Nevertheless, I have been to many places in the world that have had similar things said about them so I thought not worry. The minute I got out of the airport, I was confronted by several suspicious men imploring, "You want taxi?" I opted to ask the Tourist Information what the prices for taxis were, went to a "You-Want-Taxi" Man and was shown a taxi. As it turned out, the "you-want-taxi" man wasn't even the taxi driver but he demanded money for showing me a taxi that was virtually ten feet away.

As it soon turned out this sort of behavior is typical of locals. While walking through the souk (market place) in Fez, a young boy approached me with my sunglasses (he'd obviously stolen them) and while I thanked him sincerely for returning them, he wouldn't leave until I gave him money (which I did not). I constantly found myself having to duck into stores and cafes to escape the pesky locals. To their credit, the Moroccan government realizes that this attitude towards visitors is killing their tourism industry and things have, according to Mr., Hardcastle, improved vastly in the last couple of years.

Once you do learn to stomach the nonsense from the locals however, Morocco turns out to be a great place to travel, full of culture. There are ancient roman ruins, beaches with water you can actually swim in (unlike Europe and San Fran (Brrrrr!)), and outstanding gold and crafts shops and then there's always the mint tea, the so called "Whiskey of Morocco". That's worth the trip alone. And best of all, Morocco is relatively cheap. "Un Grande Taxi", which is the most efficient way to go for tourists from one city to another costs about 100 dinhar (about ten US dollars) and can fit about six people in them. My biggest fear about coming to Morocco was that I would be unable to keep up with the European Championships. No fear! Their coverage was ten times better than it is in the US so I got to see all the games from the wonderful mint cafes.

Morocco is apparently no quite the hippy haven that it used to be in the early seventies. Now that it's discovered (and been discovered by) western culture, it's a little harder to find the authentically dressed locals and the Berber Markets seem to have assimilated a little too much to meet the Westerners needs. Villages like Fez, Marrakech and Mekness, not such obvious tourist destinations than the likes of Casablanca and Rabat, do have market places and Kasbah's that are thankfully still quite rich in culture.

So after about ten day of scrounging around in Morocco, it was off to the ancient port city of Tangier where we were to catch the ferry to Spain. Tangier is many times called "Europe Meets Africa" and it used to be called the "International City". It most certainly was. Back in the 1940's-50's Tangier, like Casablanca was a swinger's paradise. Many illegal European bankers and merchants camped there to escape from their own countries and Tangier was also the first ever gay resort (now wonder my dad wanted to come here). When Morocco claimed it's independence in 1956, Tangier converted to Islamic rule, but it is still a lively city with some exceptional seafood restaurants.

After one night in Tangier, we caught the ferry, said good-bye to Morocco and headed off to Spain.

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