Morocco!

Hey, remember when we went to the exciting, exotic destination of Morocco and never told you about how it was? This is what happens when we don't get the travel blogs finished before we do other things we need to blog about (new trips, exams, moving, etc.)... but better late than never!

First, some general impressions of Morocco. There was definitely some culture shock involved in leaving Europe's shores and arriving in Africa, despite the short distance between the two!



Morocco is dusty, dirty, chaotic, and generally quite poor. It reminded us a lot of Mexico, except of course for the significant cultural differences. But it is also exotic, intriguing, historic, and quite safe.

Arabic is the first language in Morocco. The second is French, and most Moroccans we met were bilingual (and many also had enough English to talk to tourists with).

Morocco's culture is an interesting mix of African and Arab, with a little bit of European sprinkled on top.

The native African aspect of the culture - with dark skin, traditional language and tribal culture - is still dominant in the southern parts of the country and intermingles in the north as well.

The Arabs arrived in the 7th century AD as part of Islam's swift expansion from Saudi Arabia throughout the Middle East, and Morocco has had a dominant Arab culture ever since.

But being close to Europe and along the important Straits of Gibraltar also meant that Morocco was often conquered and reconquered by various European powers, among them the French, Portuguese, Spanish and British. The French made the most lasting impact, which can be seen in the architecture as well as the language.

So the major Moroccan cities all have an original old town (the Medina) along with a French new town (Ville Nouveau). Naturally, the former is the most interesting, and the latter is the place to find a modern hotel and usually the train station.

Morocco was a very interesting place and we're glad we visited. It gave us much better insight into the Arab culture that dominates so much of the planet and it was good to broaden our horizons travel wise - visit mosques instead of churches, hear the daily call to prayer instead of church bells, and enjoy seeing Arabic writing on our Coca-Colas.

It was also like traveling back in time - the streets, culture and way of life in the old towns have changed so little over the centuries that between the outdoor markets, the donkeys, the winding alleyways, the dust and the chaos, you really get a feel for what the whole western world was like in the Middle Ages - even in Roman times!

And the food was absolutely stupendous. The breads, the meats, the spices, the desserts! It was almost universally fantastic and thank heavens never made us sick. And finally, the vast majority of the Moroccan people we met were reserved, courteous and kind.

But the biggest downside to Morocco is that in the popular tourist destinations like Tangier, Fes, and Marrakesh, local salesmen "touts" will take one look at your lighter skin and drive you absolutely nuts with persistent offers of tour guide services, things to buy, etc. This was very bad in Marrakesh (the most popular destination).

And talk about high pressure sales! Many will walk next to you and won't leave you alone until you've given a satisfactory reason why you don't need a guide, or leather slippers, or a lamp, or they are finally convinced they're wasting their time on you.

From what I've read of Egypt, Jordan and elsewhere, this is a fairly common aspect of Middle Eastern culture, but is especially bad in Morocco.

This annoys most tourists very much, and we especially hated it. We've learned that we both have a much more northern European temperament - we like order, peace and quiet, and being left alone on the streets!

I imagine you get used to it after awhile, though, and the government has started to try to crack down on the touts, especially in Marrakesh. Hopefully it will get a little better in the future.

OK, enough of the generalities. Next time, sail with us to Tangier...