Visiting the Moroccan Cities

The Gate of the Royal Palace in Fez. Photo: Azizul Jalil

In the spring of 2014, we visited four of the five well-known and beautiful cities in Morocco. The weather was pleasant and the distinctive architecture, the sea, the wide boulevards and the green scenery presented themselves in a vivid and attractive manner. Country's rich past in the form of buildings, mosques and gardens were evident in all the cities. We started our tour with the capital city of Rabat, then the ancient cities of Marrakech to the south and Fez-Meknes to the east of Rabat. We also went on a half-day visit to Casablanca on the Atlantic Ocean. The fifth city of Tangiers was far to the north and it was beyond our budgeted travel time.
There are good auto routes connecting the cities. One can drive through the colourful country-side fast. Or one can ride the comfortable trains, which run regularly and on time. There are buses too, but naturally it takes a longer time. Some of our Washington friends had grouped together, engaged a tour company to take them round for about seven days in a guided bus tour of the cities, which they found enjoyable and instructive. Since it was practically customized to suit their preference and conveniences, it may be the best way to see the country. Moroccans speak Arabic and because of its colonial past, many speak French. Very few people speak English. A guide everywhere is a must.

Rabat's old town and the Oudaia Fort are situated on the mouth of the river Bu Regreg near the Atlantic. It is a strategically located large fort with a fine garden. The most decorated and serene-looking mausoleum, mostly with green tile decorations of King Mohammad V, also on the sea-side, were at a ten minutes' walking distance from our hotel through a park with beautiful trees, some of them flowering in the springtime . Sale', a new commuter town, is on the other side of the river, where we attended a fabulous wedding over two days, which was the main purpose of our Moroccan journey. We went to the Medina, the walled city where innumerable small shops were selling all kinds of goods. You have to bargain as the price you ultimately pay is usually half of the initially quoted price. A shopkeeper guided us to a nearby Moroccan restaurant, which had nice beef and Turkey-chicken grilled dishes and of course, the traditional Moroccan dish-Tagine, made with steamed vegetables, chicken, nuts and Couscous. We were told that alcoholic drinks are not served in Moroccan restaurants though these are available in international hotels patronized by the tourists.

Marrakech, because of its history, buildings and special charm is the most popular tourist destination in Morocco. Accompanied by our friends, Najma and Abdun Noor, we went by train to Marrakech from Rabat. It is a comfortable journey of less than five hours. We visited the late 19th century palatial house, El Bahia, of a former prime minister- an oasis in the heart of the congested inner city of beautiful flowering trees and fancy, highly decorated rooms. We heard the story of his concubines, corruption and oppression of the people and ultimately, of his death at the hands of the mob. We went to the Medina, where we found shopping in a market, like in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, interesting. It was smaller and not fully covered or decorated. Our wives had a good time buying silver jewelry, carpets and gifts for the grandchildren. We saw the 11th century Koutoubia Mosque from outside as it was closed-it is open only during prayer times. The large park with a lake and a tower in the middle of the city is 1200 years-old, established by Idris II who founded the first kingdom of Morocco. We stayed in a garden-like hotel belonging to a Dutch hotel chain, which had hotels in most of the big cities of Morocco.  The whole ambience of the hotel and that of the magical, terracotta city of Marrakech was most relaxing.

King Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. Photo: Azizul Jalil

A traditional show in the evening in the suburbs of Marrakech called the Fantasia was entertaining and at times, exciting, particularly the sound of the loud gun powder shots from the horse riders while they galloped fast in a stylistic manner. There were parades in Moroccan costumes of different regions and belly-dancing by a woman on a chariot, which was slowly drawn. Melodious Moroccan music was played the whole time with a light and shadow display- creating in the cold and breezy night an ethereal feeling among the spectators, who were taken back in their minds hundreds of years.  Hot dinner was served in tents, which gave relief from the wind and cold we were subjected to in the open air arena of the grand show.

Leaving Marrakech by train, we went to the port city of Casablanca in three hours and took a city tour by taxi. It is the commercial and industrial capital of Morocco and its largest city. We saw the magnificent Hassan II Mosque on the Atlantic coast. Completed in 1993 mostly over sea water, it is the tallest religious building in the world. Twelve million people had contributed to build the mosque to celebrate the King's 60 th birthday. The coastal area was sealed off at many places as it was under construction. Not much could be seen of it during our brief tour when during the afternoon we faced heavy traffic. Our car driver failed to identify the famous Rick's Café shown in the Academy Prize winning movie Casablanca (1944) featuring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.  However, traveling separately, a friend of ours had found it. We returned by taxi to Rabat in the evening in about 90 minutes.
After the marathon wedding in Rabat was over, we went on a day's visit by car to the 1200 years-old fort city of Fez, a journey of two and one-half hour. It was an enjoyable drive through the green and yellow rolling countryside with periodic road side farm houses and green  orchards of olive trees and lots of Eucalyptus trees and red Hibiscus flowers..  

We found cactus being cultivated in the fields and wondered if it was used only as a fence but told that its flower is marketed and eaten. From the ramparts of the fort in Fez, we could get a panoramic view of the hills, valleys and the fields below- a very humbling experience.  Only the decorated gates of the royal palace could be seen-the rest was hidden from sight by high walls. Fez was so beautiful that once an Arab historian felt that all the beauties of the earth were found there. Meknes, one of Morocco's imperial cities, is about 15 miles from Fez. It was a slight detour from the road back to Rabat. Like Fez, it is also a walled city. The Royal Stables with its very high ceiling, which housed ten thousand horses, was an amazing structure. It is currently the home of the Royal Military Academy. A separate granary was built for storing feed for the horses.           

We returned to USA from Rabat via Paris, which is well connected by Air France through their twice a day service of about three hours.