Morocco..Dec 23, 2016 to Jan 3, 2017.

Morocco..Dec 23 ,2016 to Jan 3, 2017.

Many countries have an "Open Sesame" word. For Morocco it is Amitabh Bachchan. India ... Indian meant Amitabh Bachchan .. it got you a warm smile, the offer of hot mint tea and in some cases a special price.

I discovered this only on arrival.

I chose to visit Morocco partly because I liked the sound of it  !   There was a feeling of the exotic in speaking aloud ...Marrakech..Rabat…Fes…Meknes and although Casablanca does not quite match up…but  Humphrey Bogart and Tom Cruise lent it  plenty of romance and adventure.

Actually the country is quite a hotspot of Hollywood shoots. Martin Scoresese’s epic story of the early life of the Dalai Lama the film Kundun was shot at  The  Kasbah Du Toubkal  at the foot hills of the Atlas Mountains .

Daniel Craig in Ian Fleming's Spectre went to the Sahara and very recently it was The Game of Thrones in

Essaouira (the E is silent) a beautiful beautiful city along the Atlantic Ocean.

 The country inspired Henri Matisse to paint over 20 of his canvases  and Yves St Laurent bought the famous  Majorelle Gardens which his trust maintains  to date in Marrakech. 

I do a lot of reading before firming up travel plans…and the more I read…the history,  the Berbers, the role of the French and the Spanish,  the Souks, the more determined I became to go.

Reading is not the same as seeing.

For one..no matter how well written… your jaw does not drop…and the experience goose bumps are totally different.

As the plane lowered itself to land at Casablanca I saw this wonderful carpet of green..and the reading came back to me..I am in a country of Olives..Olive trees…Argan trees …

and a new for me..Cactus farms. The prickly pear ( Cactus type  )   is cattle feed , its sold in fruit markets for human consumption  ...and as per my car  driver it will be the next big beauty enhancement breakthrough!

Morocco is Mosques…there are only 3 that non muslims can visit and  Casablanca has one of them.

The country is a  big pendulum that swings  between the traditional and the modern.

My guide in Marrakech was a woman. She spoke excellent English..was fun..retold how her husband , educated in France and with a PHD prayed fervently for a son when she was giving birth to her first child.

My lady Guide 

She walked me through three centuries..

The 12th Century...showed The Koutabia Minaret .

An ordinance forbids  any other building to rise above it

The garden of La Menara…with hundreds of olive trees..and a pool.

The Koranic School

In the 14^th century I found myself in the Koranic school..a theological college with 132 cells for the scholars and there was The 19^th Century took me to the Bahia Palace


I was told that if I wished to live in Marrakech the facade of my house has to be pink.. ( there is a shade standard. )..I cannot cut any date palm trees 

and of  course I cannot build higher than 250 ft.

On my own I went for a cup of tea to the La Mamounia  ..a 300 years old hotel set in 20 acres and Winston Churchill’s favourite. It is believed that he was a very regular visitor and had a permanent suite which the Hotel Management offered to label with his initials..and being what they were..he refused.

Morrocco for me is also a history that dates to the 2nd & 3rd century AD when the city of Volubilis was built by the Romans ... Soaring arches springing from columns and mosaic tile work.

It is also craft ....silver jewellery .... ceramics ...rugs and leather

I went to visit a tannery that only used natural dyes..quite prepared to not be overpowered by the smell.

At the entrance I was greeted by a man with a basket of mint leaves and told to take a bunch..it would be more pleasant than holding a handkerchief to my nose.

Dyeing .... Tannery

In the Medinas  the  streets, were narrow .....donkeys laden with fruits...... it was the season of oranges  walk past you .It was clean..and in all my car travel which was plentiful..I did not encounter a pot hole !

Sauce for the Goose is not sauce for the Gander

" Kamal , you are so fit !!
You walk four and a half kilometers everyday ... and sometimes twice a day .
You go to Greater Noida by Metro, changing trains, taking an auto for the last leg, lecture for 4 hours and return home the same way atleast once a week "

I say  " Bah....Nix !! "

The Kasbah du Toubkal , Imli is 40 miles from Manakech and 5850 ft above sea-level
( Mussorie is 6580 ft)  It is directly below Jbel Toubkal the highest mountain peak in the Atlas range.

Imli is 5710 ft above sea-level  and Kasbah du Toubkal says it is a 15 minute walk from Imli.
I was asked would I like to walk or ride the mule  that was going to carry my luggage up.

Kamal " The fit" said ... walk up ...
The path was rocky , steep and my breathing was so laboured that some of the tree leaves fluttered.
I took two stops ...met my mule on his way back ...and reached the gates of the  Kasbah in twenty five  minutes.

The itinerary for the next day had the words " Picnic"  and a "Moderate" walk in it.
I imagined apple orchards , cherry and walnut trees , a rug , and a flask of hot coffee.
Instead  it was a snow clad peak 7520 ft  high !!

My calves are still screaming and the fact that I made it and came back is because I had a wonderful guide ... Mr Ali.
If you are as fit as I am I recommend you ask for Mr Ali before you set out.