Exploring Fez, Morocco: Time Travel in a Rich and Textured City

Photos: Jann Segal
Water salesman

When I went to Fez, Morocco with OverseasAdventure Travel, we were in parts 9th century, parts 14th century, in a glorious country that had the modernity of Tangier and Casablanca and the antiquity of Fez. We had left the 21^st century behind in the capitol city of Rabat where the base trip began for Morocco’s Sahara Odyssey.  Even our Riad, or traditional Moroccan guest house, was a step back into a different century with unique architecture, vivid colors, and artifacts from the past everywhere.

The first of our two days in Fez was a tapestry of traditional Moroccan sights, smells and sounds, but quite different from others we had already seen. They were perhaps the richest day of travel on the entire trip, although each day was unique. We spent the day at the Medina and started in the Mellah district also known as the Jewish Quarter. We visited the Aban Danan Synagogue, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The synagogue had a very simple door entrance as any other house in the same neighborhood, but the interior was somewhat elaborate and had undergone restoration. It even had a very old mikvah there, or a ritual cleansing bath. Our Trip Leader opened the Torah ark, and I was invited to take the dressing off the Torah along with one other woman who is Jewish. But she knew better than I... a Rabbi needs to be present, and a special blessing said, and she didn't know the blessings (nor was there a rabbi). Still, it was nice to have my heritage recognized like that, which I was hardly expecting. I left a donation in the tzaka box on the way out for charity.

Rethinking Genocide in Turkey as a Traveler

 

gen·o·cide

/ˈjenəˌsīd/

the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group

"a campaign of genocide"

 

Photo: Jann Segal
Fairy Chimney in Cappadocia

Definitions form Oxford Languages

 

I was heartened to hear President Biden declare that nearly a century after the systematic killing of the Armenians in Turkey which began in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, that atrocity is in fact considered a genocide by the United States. Turkish President Erdogan and the government of Turkey to this day flatly deny there was ever a genocide there. Rather, they maintain they were in a state of war at the time and both sides suffered casualties, with Turkey suffering as well. However, the International Association of Genocide Scholars affirms the death toll to be over one million Armenians.

Southern Africa: A River Runs Through It

Map Source: Wikipedia

 Any visitor to the Southern African nations learns quickly about the majesty of the Zambezi River; the fourth longest river in Africa; the longest river in the continent by some measures, but still only about half the length of the Nile. Having experienced both the Zambezi and the Nile rivers, the Zambezi is by far the most formidable, and certainly a completely different experience than the Nile.

 

Slow Travel or Adventure Travel?

  

Photo: Jann Segal
Lake Guatavita, Colombia

Slow travel. I love even reading the words. They calm my travel soul and remind me that there will be travel in my future, at an even and interesting pace. A pace where I can see the magnificence, smell the spices and flowers, watch the locals count buckets of money, learn how to cook a new dish from locals in their homes, meet their families, run into them by accident on the street of their charming town, or be greeted by these kind strangers during an accidental meeting at the airport.  All of these things have happened to me while traveling with Overseas Adventure Travel, sometimes as part of the group, sometimes on my own before or after the group adventure. These moments don’t require having a
camera to capture them. They require an appreciation of life and living, learning, wandering.

The concept of slow travel began in 1986 as a movement in Italy after a Mc Donald’s opened in Rome. People were afraid that interest in the culture and the food would start to wane and ultimately be forgotten rather than relished, savored, appreciated to the fullest. In fact, a whole slow movement began that many of us heard little about. Then the world was treated to a global pandemic, and even local traffic came to a grinding halt. But in the travel world, slow travel was talked about for when travel resumed. It includes a connection to people and their cultures, to educate oneself and to stay in the moment in a sustainable and lasting way. But of course, this education has lasting consequences for the future for those who endeavor to take the slow path, even if it’s in conjunction with a group tour, which is how I like to do it. 

The Blue City of Chefchaouen, Morocco and the Ancient City of Tetouan

The blue city of Chefchaouen in Spanish Morocco is about six hours outside of Casablanca by bus, and a glorious and colorful city to experience.  When I took this pre-trip with OverseasAdventure Travel on their Morocco Sahara Odyssey trip, we saw many colorful sights along the way. I never thought I’d be taken by the sight of casaba melons, but as with everything else in Morocco, it was a unique and colorful sight.

The Smart and Savvy Traveler: Travel Tips for All Experience Levels in Travel

 

No matter how experienced a traveler someone is, from a novice who wants to learn how to travel, to the most experienced amongst us, there is always more to learn. Just when we think we have it all together and can travel seamlessly, a major world event occurs that upends our well- honed travel patterns and brings us back to square one. The September 11 terrorist attacks and the global pandemic are two events that come to mind that certainly had me scrambling for travel tips on what to do. But getting a blood clot on an overseas flight, or not being able to successfully handle altitude, are two common travel dilemmas that can occur even when the world is running like clockwork.

There certainly is no recipe book, but I travel frequently with Overseas Adventure Travel, when a group tour makes more sense than independent travel. They provide a very comprehensive book of travel tips that was once more geared to the novice, but now includes tips also geared to the more experienced traveler. Don’t be put off by the title about 101 Tips for Solo Women Travelers. Men can benefit as well!  

I wanted to go into additional detail on four specific areas that aren’t addressed as much as I have written about, since I have done extensive research on the following topics which are of interest to all.

Of Travel and Timelessness

 

My name is Jann Segal, and I’m a travel addict. There, I said it. Writing is my twelve - step program, and thankfully, it’s not been working. I’ve given myself over to the higher power of travel and the tour companies who entice me. They constantly triumph, and I’m delighted with the outcome. But like any other addiction, mine has genetic roots.

I always knew it was my mother’s side of the family that was to blame. My mother Anita became a travel agent after I had started traveling, but the real culprit was her brother, First Lt. Edwin B. Kane, who died in Tunisia during World War Two.   Killed eight years before I was born, I obviously never got to know my late uncle. But when his affects were sent back home, included were his well-documented photos of the many places he was able to visit while on the European and African continents before the war took its toll. I looked at the photos constantly as a child, dreaming that someday I might get to visit Egypt, Libya, Africa, and Ethiopia, (the latter he documented as Abyssinia). These photos, in addition to his souvenirs which my mother eventually let me have, were absolute treasures to me.