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.

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.

Remembrance of Great Meals Past

Do you remember when you had your last exceptional and unforgettable meal during foreign travels? I surely do.

Photo: Jann Segal

 Local food and beverages are among the things we all look forward to enjoying when we travel to a foreign country. In Turkey one year I was quite taken by the pomegranate salad oil, which for me became a life changing experience I had to write about. Then there was the unexpectedly delightful risotto and mushroom sauce I experienced in Milan. When I classify a meal as life changing, that means I loved it so much, I had to go home and cook it! And now, thanks to an olive oil farm I visited in Israel, I know how to shop for higher quality olive oil to enhance my cooking. After my visit ot Vietnam one year, my food walking tour was such an eye opener in terms of both food and locale that I would normally never have experienced, I now always take a food walking tour in foreign cities. Food in all its unique varieties is truly the heart and soul of every culture. Other foods (in particular, spices) of which I have fond memories, are spicy fresh paprika from Croatia, fresh pepper from Southern India, which is along the Spice Route, and of course spices in Istanbul at the Grand Bazaar.

 Food can be so much more than a meal. When traveling and experiencing new cultures, if can feed the human spirit, lift the world-weary traveler’s soul just enough to make it to the next destination, enhance new friendships forged through travel, and heighten a traveler’s awareness of new possibilities that go beyond the travel experience. In under- developed countries, the food purchased and served even in a restaurant, can elevate those whose livelihoods depend on the income.

Special Moments in Morocco’s Sahara

Dromedary Central

There are special moments on every trip. Times that you never forget, and which you cannot always capture in any cameras.  They are moments to just enjoy and savor, like the people I saw in Southern India counting buckets of money. The Overseas AdventureTravel trip Morocco Sahara Odyssey is one of those trips that was filled with these moments.

The day we left for our two days on the Sahara was as rich in travel texture, as the variety of spices on that night’s tagine. We left our desert castle hotel, which was really in the middle of an oasis. Even the swimming pool there looked like it could be a mirage. As we drove through the desert in 4-wheel drive vehicles, it was impossible to know how the drivers could find their way to the camp. Even tire tracks and rocks get blown away by the wind and sandstorms, and we passed one mirage after another...we kept thinking there was water.

The day was rife with human interaction, the kind a traveler never forgets. On the way here, we visited a Berber woman and saw how she lived. She's married her first cousin thru an arranged marriage. One of her children suffers the consequences of that and is extremely mentally ill. In Morocco, they still hide mentally ill children as a disgrace to the family, even abusing them and chaining them to the room. But this is their tradition and custom, and even future generations will not change It we were told. I wanted to hug that woman and give her money above what our trip leader was giving her. It was wrenching to hear her story.

Explore the Cultural Crossroads of Morocco

Morocco has more cultures to explore then the average tourist is aware of. In fact, I traveled there solo a few years ago and noticed bits of it. But it wasn't until I took Morocco Sahara Odyssey with Overseas Adventure Travel, that I was able to truly experience the country and learn about all the cultural influences. And to me, this was pure bliss.

Ritual public  bathing before call ot prayer

Cultural variances can be seen as soon as arrival in Casablanca. Although the language there is French and Arabic, Casablanca is clearly Spanish for "white house". In fact, the white house from which the city derives its name is located on the coast. I saw it when I arrived a couple of days early and had a driver and guide take me up the coast to the once Portuguese occupied town of Al Jedda among others. The Portuguese cannons facing the water can be seen in various parts of the country up and down the coast.