Apr 10 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 15. Islamic toilets

Yep these are absolutely horrible!

No mechanical process to flush, you meant to wash your behind with a hose or a specially provided water jug which looks like a watering can.

I’m sure people are reading this thinking I’m horrible and nasty and judgmental for criticising how other cultures relieve themselves. I know this to be mostly uniform in Islamic places, as I’ve seen it in Arab parts of Israel (but not in the Palestinian ruled cities of Bethlehem and Jericho which rely on tourism) in Petra, Jordan, even in my own city of Portsmouth (sitting an IT exam) in a small office run by a religious Muslim, and in a house of a Muslim man in Leicester who sold me a car had these water jugs next to the lavvy.

This link here, explains Islamic teaching on toilets
http://www.myreligionislam.com/detail.asp?Aid=6096

For a lot of tourists considering visiting a nation like this, its something of a deal breaker having a civilised way of using the loo. This will put them off coming completely.

In places expected to be used by foreigners, then in restaurants, hotels, you will find ‘orthodox’ type of toilets. In railway stations and tea salons you may only be limited to just these….

Previous 14. Tea salons

Next 16. Synagogue and Jewish museum of Casablanca

Apr 9 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 14. Tea salons

In the middle east, going for a drink is more likely to be coffee than a beer, if you are meeting up with a friend.

In most of the Arabic world, they have their own style of coffee, espresso sized, strong with cadomine flavouring. You also have Turkish coffee, also strong, but large amount of sendiment, means you need to leave the last 5mm or so in your cup.

In Israel coffee shops are all over the place (even the throw away cups I have seen with a symbol of a possible place that Jesus visited!) DSCF8434 1024

However in Morocco, tea is the national drink here, just like India and China.

Its actually normally served with mint and plenty of sugar. It often has the slang name “Moroccan Whiskey” being a similar colour 🙂 its common to see someone delivering a bundle of fresh mint leaves to cafes.

Its custom to offer this beverage before any kind of business is done. Often you may get offered some whilst in a shop, because the owner hopes you are going to plonk down a decent amount of cash for something or he is just being purely hospitable.

The tea salons seem to be a common social place for men, people chat, smoke, read the paper and watch the news (Al Jazeera) on television. Its rare you see females in these places, they are more like a working man’s bar of some sort. They are different from the other types of cafes, they feel like a very manly sort of place, where chaps of all types come to get away from the worries of work or the missus.

I was sitting in a tea salon when everyone stood up. When I stood up as well to see what spectacle was happening. Its was a small Renault ambulance converted van driving slowly with the rear doors open, a lot of men walking behind which was part of a funeral procession. Its good to see the people in here have respect for those in community who have passed on. I noticed all the people in the funeral procession are entirely men, just like a similar event that I saw in Akko, Israel a DSCF8414 1024 few years ago.

People sell mint along with other herbs at random points of the main road also too.

There’s only one thing I really don’t like about these establishments, I’ll explain tomorrow.

Previous 13. Morocco’s King Mohammed VI

Next 15. Islamic toilets

Apr 8 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 13. Morocco’s King Mohammed VI

Everyone here seems to love the King.

So you see his face everywhere;

This is a big hall used for the busy market for selling meat and fish I saw in Tangier,

Above every electronic signage system in the railway stations.

In many cafes, restaurants and hotels there he is also, sometimes in a suit, or sometimes in a Arabic or African type of outfit. Its nice to see people have such admiration for their leader.

In addition to being a monarch, he is a pretty shrewd businessman from what I have read. He’s been leader since 1999, coincidentally the same year Jordan’s current King Abdullah also came to power.

Several other pictures were seen in a few shops I visited, whose owners told me that they were lucky enough to have the King come and visit their business.

Previous 12. Catholic church in Casablanca

Next 14. Tea Salons

Apr 7 2015

Archaeologist believes he found the site of Jesus’ trial by Pontius Pilate

(I’ll go back to blogging on Morocco later this week)

This is apt for this time of the year! (As we are in Easter and Passover)

http://www.timesofisrael.com/archaeologist-believes-hes-found-site-of-jesuss-trial-by-pontius-pilate/

(Worth mentioning that this is from a secular Israeli news source)

Apr 4 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 12. Catholic church in Casablanca

I’m not sure how long Morocco has had an indigenous Christian community.

I originally thought this building was a synagogue, as the patterns at the top give the illusion of looking like Magen David stars

Actually its a Catholic church. The doors are covered in some kind of crude chipboard like a repair done in a hurry.

It looks disused, but some people told me it is open later on. There was a static caravan with some people running some kind of youth club. Round one side part of the building adjoining appears to be government offices.

Round the side. Signs of arson. Building looks robust enough to not sustain much damage.

Lots of rubbish, and a ‘free Palestine’ scrawled onto the wall. Perhaps someone’s idea of a Palestine is full of rubbish and graffiti. Probably like this part of Jerusalem.

Like to know what the interior of this building looks like. The outer doors looks like some kind of chipboard or some temporary repair which makes me think its not so well maintained.

If the King is reading this, how about please get this building and grounds smartened up? 🙂 Talking of such, I’ll talk about about Morocco’s monarch tomorrow.

Previous 11. The Grande Mosque in Casablanca

Next 13. Morocco’s King Mohammed VI

Apr 2 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 11. The Grande Mosque in Casablanca

This is a big attraction of Casa;

Its huge, its one of the biggest houses of worship in the world.

I was stunned when I read up about it later. They started building it in 1986 and didn’t finish until 1993 and cost over 600 million Euros (it was built a French construction company Boygues) they used a lot of Morocco’s very talented artisans to get all the detail exactly right with the style of architecture in this country. When you think people in this country probably earn 30% or so of salaries in UK this is a colossal project, that stratospheric price tag could be even bigger for the equivalent build in UK, US, France or wherever.

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These collection of archways across the plaza look quite nice, they look similar to the collection of arches at the Al Asqa mosque on the temple mount in Jerusalem, so I guess its a characteristic of these.

With a couple of rare exceptions, the mosques in Morocco cannot be visited by non-Muslims.

The Mosque looks out to the Atlantic Ocean. Apparently, another 50 million euros were needed to fix structural problems to do with the steel bars in the concrete rusting.

I only ever thought that Morocco was just another Islamic country, but actually Fatima, the grand daughter of Mohammed came here, this place has far more significance than I realised. Around peoples business, homes and cars, you see an obvious devotion to their faith. Some message of the Koran was in this taxi which I traveled to the station later.

Previous 10. Frankly my dear…

Next 12. Catholic church of Casablanca

Mar 31 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 10. Casablanca – Frankly my dear….

Ok, I bought this film, but I haven’t seen it yet 🙂

Casablanca is a huge place, and very industrious. Its night and day compared to Tangier, – like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv or London and Birmingham.

This place has 3.3 million people, its the 5th largest city in Africa.

Often this place is simply known by the locals as ‘Casa’

I only spent two days there, it looks pretty modern, more like a large French city. Perhaps a little cruelly, the guide book I had tells people its not worth visiting. I did get to see a few surprises though.

Looking closer at some of theses posters, I noticed something that seemed more common as getting further down away from Europe;

These symbols show one of the Berber languages, that’s native to Morocco. Actually theres at least 3 of these, and more types of this in the other north African nations.

Apparently, only 10% of Moroccans are pure Arabs, most of the people are ethnically Berbers or a mix of Berber and Arab.

The city centre looks quite fresh and modern, and this lightrail tram looks really similar to the new one in Jerusalem.

Government buildings, grand, bold, beautiful and unmistakably Moroccan.

Previous 9. Getting the train to Casablanca

Next. 11. The Grande Mosque

Mar 30 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 9. Getting the train to Casablanca

So, only one night in Tangier and I’m off on my way to Casablanca….

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I get a taxi to the railway station, I’m excited about leaving from the most north west corner of Africa by train. This station has its a sort of unique Moroccan charm about it.

The railway system here is pretty good, trains are fairly modern, and clean. Some white overalled women come along and remove rubbish from your carriage ever so often.

The journey is quite slow though, with some long stops at some isolated stations and at signals.

Oddly, Google doesn’t show lines for Morocco’s railway, so only given me time and path for driving. I think it was maybe 4 or 5 hours for this journey.

Previous 8. Crap car spotting

Next 10. Frankly my dear…

Mar 28 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 8. Crap car spotting

Driving in Morocco, how can I describe this? Energetic maybe, a lot of roads have fairly liberal approach of where the boundaries are of which lane you should drive in aren’t clearly defined. For civilians crossing the road, being able to make eye contact with motorists heading your direction, being able to run across is a must. I’ve no idea how elderly people or disabled managed to get across, there is very very few traffic lights.

I wonder if instead “D” for drive symbol on an automatic could be replaced with the first Arabic letter of the word Yallah…. 😉

Favourite cars of Morocco.

The Petit taxi

These are small taxis, designed to be economical and get round tight narrow street corners that big Mercedes can’t. They are always red, and have a cage roof rack. Usually a choice of a Fiat Uno, Peugeot 205 (or 206, 207 or 208) or Dacia.

Last time I rode in a 205 was in the early 1990s as my friend’s parents took me to a party in a car that was quite new. This one has done 250,000kms but its worth pointing out it looks like its been crashed several times and had the bumpers/grill etc pulled out but not quite straight meaning it all looks a bit crooked and the boot doesn’t close properly. Note this car has had the rubber over the steering wheel worn down to the bare metal. In the UK the legendary 205GTI is now rare and mint ones are worth £7000, so it would be interesting to find if any 3dr 205s with tidy bodywork could be shipped over to form the basis of a restore job.

Grand Taxis

These are the bigger taxis used for airport and long distance driving. The African favourite, is the Mercedes 240. Reliable, tough and simple to maintain. All of these are cream, and probably early 1980s models.

Its worth saying without a shadow of a doubt, taxi drivers will quite certainly try and rip you off if you are foreign. Excuses of the meter broken, or different prices if you don’t speak French or Arabic will exist, so its best to agree a price before he gets moving.

Miscellaneous ~~automotive rubbish~~ I mean classics

The Renault 4. My mum’s friend had one of these and took us to school twice when it was raining. This boxy utilitarian thing was meant as a an upgrade from the rival tin-shed Citroen 2CV with similar charm. I remember the rain would make a loud noise on the roof of it. Strangely enough, the Renault 4 which was made from the 1960s until 1990s was actually built in Casablanca, so I saw quite a few of them. This highly well worn corroded heap is dubious if its actually capable of moving on its own. It has a hole in the side large enough to put your hand in.

The Batmobile

No I’m not joking, well almost. This brand of vehicle is called ‘Batman’ which I think is from the city of the same name in Turkey. Not a Indian Tuktuk, but an odd hybrid of motorcycle and van parts probably built in someone’s shed.

The Renault 5

Theres a few of these I’ve seen in really good condition. I haven’t seen any since the one I saw used to transfer meat in Nazareth. This early one would make a nice classic to drive around.

The Dacia.

The car is often part of a running joke on Top Gear. Pronounced “Datcha” this is a sort of Tesco value car, a no frills brand of vehicle built in Romania but owned by Renault. They’ve been around since other Soviet era type rival motors like Lada, FSO and Yugo, but they are a bit better these days. The modern day Dacias are ok, and there’s absolutely loads of them in Morocco as they are also built there, and I’m guess sold to the rest of African continent. In Israel I’ve seen them but with Renault badges on, but the middle east prefers the different range of Renault cars built in Turkey.

Local police also drive Dacias

Learner cars with TWO steering wheels

What. The. Heck.

A Fiat 127 (my Dad had one of these) which are still also popular with Palestinians in Bethlehem, lands that rust forgot. And another hybrid bike van thing. Very large pizza delivery?

This is Rabat. Only saw a glimpse of this city when changing trains. Taxis here are blue for some reason.

Previous 7. Tangier (een) dream

Next. 9. Train to Casablanca

Mar 28 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 7. Tangier (een) dream

If Jaffa oranges are Jaffa in Israel (or British Mandate of Palestine before that)

Then Tangerines are from Tangier right?

That’s what I was thinking, turns out when I read up this was true!! Seems like adding “in” to a word in Arabic, is like “ים- / -im” in Hebrew or “-s” in English to make a word a plural. Citrus fruit is quite a crucial part of the economy here, I saw Moroccan tomatoes in Morissons near my house last week.

Tangier feels like quite a bit like a traditional middle eastern city although of course this is northern Africa. It feels ancient busy and hectic with narrow passageways, its been in a few movies, one of the mid 80s Bond films The Living Daylights and the third Jason Bourne film The Bourne Ultimatum. I now need to watch these again!

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Chickens, seems rather buying them frozen, you can get them slaughtered in front of you, and cleaned up prepared and ready to take home to cook. Lots crammed into this cage and also some just calm sitting on the floor, I guess they have their legs tied up and doped as well. Later on, when I visited Casablanca, I was amused to see a hippy French couple who the yound woman was wearing a “I support animal rights” tshirt, although actually animal lovers might be a shocked what happens around here.

Yes there are some some quite weird things here as well!

The food market is both outdoors and indoors. It did feel a bit warmer then it did when I was in Gibraltar although it doesn’t seem that far away.

Fishing is a big thing here. I got some sardines to put on a pizza back in London, which came from Morocco. I’ll write more on the food a little later.

I didn’t spot many other Riads around here, although the exotic place I stayed looks pretty plain from the outside.

I started to see more of these amazing shaped doorways and lattice type balconies, think this is an ancient house that’s being restored.

The sad I thing I noticed, was a lot of poverty, there are plenty of people begging, some are blind or disabled.

Previous 6. Jewish Tangier

Next 8. Crap car spotting

really odd things for sale in this market too.

Brit In Jerusalem

A Christian discovering the roots in the holy land….