Remember Peter O'Toole's beautifully intense face as he demonstrated how to ignore physical pain by snuffing a candle with his forefinger and thumb, slowly, slowly? And then, right before it went out, the flame metamorphosed into a blazing sun punishing Lawrence of Arabia and his Arab guide as they desperately struggled up to a well in the middle of a vast desert emptiness. Water at last! But out of the blindingly bright distance a dark figure began to take shape and the Arab guide became unaccountably frightened at least it was not clear to Lawrence why the guide was so terrified. But when Sharif Ali reached the well, the guide's behavior became understandable. Sherif Ali coldly announced that this was a Harith well and shot the man dead without further ceremony. He discounted Lawrence because he was not an Arab and did not know the customs of the land—tribes do not use one another's precious water! Then he wheeled his beautiful black Arab steed around and rode back into the haze, leaving Lawrence to his fate.
That magnificent scene in the movie “Lawrence of Arabia” fascinated me as soon as I first saw it. Though from that time on I studied T. E. Lawrence as a writer and as a figure in history and even wrote my Master's Thesis on his book, “Seven Pillars of Wisdom,” I knew that one day I would have to see that desert panorama in person, to experience the vast reaches of the rolling golden waves on that gorgeous desert ocean. Middle Eastern politics and fundamentalist Islamic cultures have rendered Saudi Arabia & Syria where Lawrence's real life adventures transpired very unattractive to an American woman. But the movie was made in Morocco and there I knew I would be able to ride a camel through the desert which starred in David Lean's film.
So that was my primary motivation for this visit to North Africa. We four had explored Buddhist and Hindu countries together in the past so isn't it natural that we would want to experience Islamic cultures and nations next? At least I surmised that to be my fellow travelers’ primary motivation for this almost month long exploration. So we decided to choose places that seemed stable and safe for American tourists and learned quickly that Morocco and Tunisia in North Africa were obvious choices. And who knew maybe we would even climb at least a couple of those “pillars of wisdom” and understand something of Islamic architecture, history, religion, and philosophy.
We got more than we anticipated however! Certainly, we rode in the desert and we learned quite a bit about the two countries. But our visit was rewarded with much more a deeper understanding of how these areas were entwined with the history of the Roman Empire, a glimpse into Arab and Jewish relations prior to the first World War and the establishment of the Palestine Mandate and the State of Israel, and recognition of the indigenous peoples of the area the Berbers. A memorable and thoroughly enjoyable fulfillment of a longstanding dream for me and a satisfying travel experience for us all!
COUNTRY BACKGROUNDS
TUNISIA
This North African country is small, slightly larger than Georgia. About 11,000,000 people call the country their home. And of those folks about 98% are Arabs with a very few Europeans and Jews making up the rest. The median age is 29 years and life expectancies rival those of European countries: 74 for men and 78 for women. 98% of the people are Sunni Muslims. However, it is quite interesting to note that a tourist island, Djerba, is home to the 2nd holiest Jewish site in the Middle East. This synagogue is the focus of a religious pilgrimage for many Jewish people once a year at Passover. Part of what draws folks to the site is the 2nd oldest Torah in all Judaism which is sheltered in that synagogue. Don't you hate it when writers cite this and that as the 2nd oldest, biggest, driest, wettest, or whatever and then never tell you what the first one is? Well, I am not going to do that to you the holiest site is Jerusalem and the oldest Torah is found there too.
Small though the country may be, its geographic position has made it important throughout recorded history, beginning with the Carthaginians (Phoenicians) and later the Roman Empire. The Phoenicians were a sea-faring people who established many centers around the Mediterranean Sea spreading out from their home base in what is now Lebanon: Sicily, Tyre, Sidon, and Carthage among them. Their enormous success in trading gained them enemies in Greece & Rome. Successive battles were fought with both ancient cultures and Carthage withstood the attacks of the Greeks effectively. However, with the three Punic Wars against Rome, the Phoenician culture and Carthage were destroyed. Everyone remembers the epic tale of the Carthaginian General Hannibal who attempted to defeat the Romans by crossing the Alps with his elephants to attack Rome by “the back door” so to speak. However, fate was not with Hannibal and his legions that were defeated.
The remainder of the history says that Roman forces sacked Carthage, killed its residents and sowed the land with salt so that nothing could be established there again. That part of the story is considered apocryphal by modern historians. But it is true that though there are extensive Roman ruins in Tunisia, very little remains of the great city of Carthage. However, proof that the Romans did not destroy the land around Carthage exists in the fact that the Romans built their own city atop Carthage and utilized the fields for their food production.
At any rate, once Carthage was destroyed the Romans established themselves in what is now modern Tunisia. Its nickname during those long ago days was “the granary of Rome.” Because of its relatively temperate climate and rich soil, many kinds of grains thrived there as well as olives, fruits and vegetables. So Tunisia provided much of the Roman diet ingredients. Because of that connection, we found many Roman ruins to explore and there were many more that we did not see. Tunisia's long coastline was also strategic to control of the Mediterranean. From Roman times onwards, opposing interests have wanted to possess the seacoast. Most recently, Frances virtually annexed Tunisia in 1881 as part of its effort to counterbalance its rival Italy.
Besides the long coastline, the geography and topography of this country are interesting too. There are mountains in the north but they are fairly low in elevation: the highest place in the nation is Jebel ech Chambi at 4632 feet and its lowest point is 51 ft. below sea level. There is a hot and dry central plains area and the Sahara desert in the south. It's that central plain that grew the grain for the Romans. The Romans really ignore much of the rest of the territory except for some forts at various ports for shipping. Quite intriguing is the fact that today the central plains area is exclusively used for olive production and the area is prodigious: 100 square kilometers devoted to this single monoculture with 55 million olive trees.. All these olives are destined for either domestic consumption or exportation to the European Union. Too bad for us: Tunisian olives are scrumptious!
Even though there were many nationalistic efforts within Tunisia in modern times, the country did not gain its independence from France until 1956. Somehow the country retained its neutrality during World Wars I & II so its freedom was not gained through participation in the European wars. However, though the Tunisians did not themselves send troops to fight in World War II, important battles of that war were fought on Tunisian lands. The campaign to liberate North from Axis control took 6 bloody months while the US, British and some French divisions learned to work to together and how to fight in desert countries with poor infrastructures. That campaign started in Morocco and ended with Allied victory in Tunisia. The French held on to their possessions after World War II however. The United Nations helped France in its decolonization of Africa though the real reason had to do with the economic and emotional exhaustion of the
French after the wars; it required too much treasure and too much more war to stifle the North African struggles for freedom. Tunisian Independence Day is celebrated on March 20th.
The first president of Tunisia after its independence was Habib Bourguiba, a man who had been held in French prisons earlier because of his nationalistic activities. Mr. Bourguiba had been educated in France and had very forward-looking ideas for his country. First and foremost, he wanted to expand the roles and freedoms available to women: for education, professional working lives, inheritance rights, divorce, custody of children, and the like. Remember, this is an Islamic country where women usually are sequestered in home duties & activities and not encouraged to be seen outside their own doors. As President, he proposed and was able to pass laws really emancipating Tunisian women for the first time in the history of the country. Bourguiba was also interested in improving Tunisian education, fighting poverty, and westernizing his country in a manner similar to Mutafa Kemal's efforts in Turkey. He also combatted Islamic fundamentalism on many fronts, succeeding in making Tunisia secular rather than a country run by Imams and Ayatollahs under sharia law. He was removed from office in a bloodless coup d’état in 1987 engineered by his Prime Minister, Ben Ali, who impeached him due to old age and ill health 23 years ago. Ben Ali replaced him as President and has held that office up until today. Though Tunisia is identified as a republic, Ben Ali has engineered changes in the tenure rules for his office and is now considered a president for life. This year he is 71 and is apparently grooming his son for the office when he finally leaves it. But there are national elections coming to Tunisia soon so who knows what will happen after Ben Ali. Anyway, Tunisia is more secular than most Arabic countries and women still retain the rights secured for them by Bourguiba's efforts. His economic reforms have also helped all his country and only 3.8% of the people are considered to be living below the poverty line. Despite his ignominious removal from power, he is considered the founder of modern Tunisia and a hero to the people.
MOROCCO
This interesting nation is also blessed with some excellent Roman ruins, particularly the beautiful city of Volibulis. But because it is more religiously oriented than Tunisia. Morocco seems more dedicated to its Arab heritage. After all, the Romans left the area during the breakup of the Roman Empire back in the 300s A.D. whereas the Arab invasion and conquest started in 788 A.D. and has never ended to this day. The indigenous peoples of this area were the Berbers, a fascinating group of human beings who can trace their lineage back to prehistoric times as proven by the findings of cave drawings and artifacts in the area. They include the genetics of the Phoenicians as well and probably some Roman blood too since it is generally conceded that the Romans are responsible for the current name of the folk: the word Berber comes from the Latin for “barbarian.” Berbers have also been known as Numidians and Moors during their history. More will be revealed about these people later in the journal.
Morocco is a bi-coastal country with an Atlantic coast and a Mediterranean one too. The country is trisected by three mountain ranges, the Anti-Atlas, the Middle Atlas and the High Atlas. It is slightly larger in area than California and has a population of 31,285,000. The highest point is Jebel Toubkal at 12,495 feet, also the highest point in all North Africa. The lowest point is 165 ft. below sea level. In the late 1990s, the nation virtually annexed the area known as Western Sahara and the issue of its status is still unresolved. That area has enlarged the territory claimed by Morocco, but it is not included in any estimates of land area or political influence because of the moot situation.
Twenty-five is the median age of the population, making Morocco a “younger” country than Tunisia. Male and female life expectancies are about the same as those in Tunisia. Literacy is less than Tunisia's at 66% for males and 40% for females. This difference may be accounted for by the emancipation of women and the improvement in education for both sexes begun by Tunisia's progressive first president, Habib Bourguiba.
Indicating the effective mingling of the Arab and Berber peoples nowadays is the fact that the government gives the official ethnicity of the people as 99% Arab-Berbers. 99% of the people are Sunni Muslim as well. The official languages are Arabic, 4 Berber Dialects, and French. Only a very few Jews live in Casablanca (about 3,000), most of them having emigrated to Israel after the Six Days War (just as the Jewish population of Tunisia left for Israel following that seminal event). In both cases, it appears that there was pressure for them to go. Sad to say, in both our guides we detected animosity towards Jewish people. The expression of the prejudice was not outspoken, but nuanced derogatory comments usually centering on familiar stereotypes. We sincerely regretted recognizing anti-Semitism but were not surprised given the present political tensions.
The government of Morocco is listed as a constitutional monarchy but the kingship is hereditary and the king has final authority over all government decisions, programs, and laws. He even gets to appoint the Prime Minister as well as a substantial number of the members of the two-chambered legislative body. There are three taboo subjects in orocco transgressing which can get a Moroccan citizen a lengthy prison term: criticism of Islam, criticism of the monarchy, and discussion of the Western Sahara situation.
Economics seem more stable in Morocco even though a greater percentage of the population lives below the poverty line: 15% compared with Tunisia's 4%. In Tunisia, 67% of the populace is urbanized while only 56% of Morocco's is urban-based. This factor no doubt impacts the poverty rates as well. The natural resources of the two countries are quite similar as well: both list iron ore, lead, silver, zinc, phosphates and salt. Tunisia produces some oil while Morocco claims manganese as a resource. Both nations have very dry climates and both have sections of the Sahara Desert as their southernmost territories. Thus, their arable land is small: 17% for Tunisia and 19% for Morocco.
Both countries boast large amounts of the same types of agricultural products, mostly olives, grains and citrus fruits and most of these go to the European Union as exports, chiefly to France.
The countries also share a fairly similar history, especially since the Arab conquest of Northern Africa beginning with 788 A.D. They lived for periods under the Turkish and Egyptian Caliphates with governors (beys, pashas) appointed by the ruling Caliph. Together with Libya and Algeria, the two countries make up what is called the Maghreb: the reach of the Arab conquest across the top of the African continent. Both countries had considerable contact with Spain, with Morocco having been under Spanish domination for about twenty years at one period. Most of the Arabs who were expelled from Spain after the Reconquista in 1492 by Catholic forces also crossed the Mediterranean to occupy North Africa. Tunisia seems proud of this Andalusian connection while the Moroccans discount it in their history. And it is true that Spanish is not widely spoken there. Finally, both countries were under French influence from the 1800s until the l950s. However, Morocco was allowed a certain amount of autonomy with leadership positions still in the hands of Turkish appointees until after World War I. Even after that conflict, Morocco was governed in part by Moroccan kings. Tunisia was more closely governed by the French as a Protectorate. In both countries, French is still an official language. Education is conducted in both French and Arabic in both countries as well.
THE PEOPLE
THE JEWS OF TUNISIA & MOROCCO
When the Spanish Inquisition became the “governing” influence in Spain and Portugal, most Jews fled or were expelled and many of them settled in North Africa as well. For a while there seems to have been a fairly peaceable coexistence, though prejudice against Jews was also present even though Mohammed considered Jews and Christians as “People of the Book” meaning they are monotheistic faiths like Islam. After World War I and the Palestine Mandate for Israel as a homeland for the Jews, the tensions between Arabs and Jews in North Africa became as fraught as in the rest of the Arab world.
Before the 20th century, there were 400,000 Jews living in North Africa, or about 3% of the population of the four countries: Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia. In Tunisia there were 68,000 Tunisian Jews, 3200 Italian Jews, 16,500 French Jews and 1660 Jews of other national extractions. In Morocco there were 200,000 Jewish people: 180,000 were Moroccan Jews, 12,000 French Jews, and the rest were foreigners.
When we visited antique shops and art galleries in Fez, in particular, we found it disturbing that so many of the items displayed for sale were of Jewish origins. Dishes, jewelry, decorative arts with religious themes, furniture, even ceramic stoves. Of course we wondered if the people who had owned them in the past sold them or were forced to leave them behind. It was just too reminiscent of pictures and memories from the Holocaust in Europe.
All this is very controversial, of course, and also ironic since historically there have been many Berber Jews in all North Africa. Berber Jews flourished there and the numbers of other Berbers who embraced Judaism grew steadily until the end of the 1st century. Then the numbers leveled off as the Romans brought in Christianity and Berbers began to convert to that religion, whether out of convenience or necessity, it is difficult to say now. Nevertheless, the Berber Jews persisted in the region. When the Arabs brought in Islam, the numbers of Berber Christians and Jews plummeted; whether because they were genuine converts or in order to co-exist with the dominant culture is a question. Now historians and ethnologists constantly debate whether or not the Berber Jews were Jews by descent or conversion.
Whatever, after the Six Days War, the Berber Jews emigrated out of North Africa right along with all the other Jews. So they obviously considered themselves Jewish and were deemed so by the Arabs around them. It is clear that there is a complex history in this part of the world because of the waves of conquests in North Africa all along the Mediterranean coast. The Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Vandals, the Ottoman Turks, the Egyptians, and the French, Italians and Spanish all have helped the create the cultures and the peoples who make up the Maghreb.
THE BERBERS
It is believed that the people who became the Berbers in North Africa originally migrated from west of the Nile and even, perhaps, from what is now Yemen. And it is a given that the Muslims who entered the Iberian peninsula in 711 A. D. were Berber. Before the 9th century, most of North Africa was peopled by Berbers.
Rather extensive genetic studies of the Berbers have been conducted in the recent times and their chromosomal markers are widespread. There is even evidence that they share some genes with the Sami from Sweden though how the two groups met and coalesced is a mystery unsolved as yet. Famous Berbers include St. Augustine of Hippo and today's soccer hero, Zindane Zidane. The Berbers are very well assimilated into Moroccan religious, political, social and cultural life, probably because they early embraced Islam and continue to be practitioners. The Moroccan government continues in the effort to more completely integrate the Berbers into Moroccan society by making the 4 main Berber languages “official,” by creating a written alphabet for the Berber tongues, and by teaching Berber culture and history in the schools.
Obviously in the past, there have been Berbers who were Christians and even Jewish, but there are very few Christians or Jews of any ethnicity remaining Morocco today. This absence is largely due to the political pressures of modern times the estrangement from France following the fights for independence as far as Christians are concerned and the stresses in the Middle East between Arabs and the Jews of Israel as far as former Jewish residents are concerned. However, though there very few people who would identify themselves in Tunisia as Berbers, in
Morocco they comprise at least half of the population and it is difficult to suggest there is such a thing as a pure Moroccan without Berber blood or a pure Berber without Arab genetic inheritance.
COUNTRY PROBLEMS
THE DESERT
There are several problems common to both countries due chiefly to their geography. One of the biggest of these is the growth of the Sahara Desert. Global warming has contributed to the rapid invasion of North Africa by the dry sands of the desert. The Sahara grows larger and the water becomes more scarce in both places. There is no known method of combatting the growth of a desert though the Chinese are trying to stop the encroachment of the Gobi Desert through a program of planting millions of trees as a barrier to the sands. Whether this will work for them is not clear at this point. It does not appear that either Morocco or Tunisia has a plan similar to China's, or indeed any program to stop or slow the desertification of their territories.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Both countries have antiquated transportation infrastructures, especially with regard to good highways connecting all parts of their territories. Morocco is ahead of Tunisia in their efforts to provide an improved system of moving goods and people around in the country. The world economic woes have had significant impact on North Africa and so progress has been slowed considerably in solving these and the other big problems: inadequate sewage treatment and chronic water shortage. These two are closely linked as the former contaminates many of the available water supplies. As yet, there has been little investment in desalinization since it is still a very expensive process because it is hugely energy voracious.
POLITICS
Morocco has the unresolved Western Sahara situation to contend with and it appears that no real settlement of the issue is obtainable in the near future. The UN is attempting to help with an acceptable solution, but that body is rarely able to “fix” much of anything that is controversial.
ANIMAL LIFE IN NORTHERN AFRICA
Though all of us are always eager to view wildlife in its natural setting, we knew that this trip would involve very little opportunity of seeing native creatures. Nonetheless, we did learn some interesting things about domesticated animals during our visits to Morocco and Tunisia. The most astonishing and easiest to observe phenomenon involved cats! Both countries must have more cats than people or, indeed, any other animals. Cats live everywhere in the souks, medinas and kasbahs they are present everywhere and all the time. Apparently people feed them and they probably provide some of their own provender by being excellent mousers and ratters. In general, even though to our eyes they appeared to be strays, we saw only a few who looked ill or underfed. Like the Arab people, they are slender but healthy looking. However, it must be admitted that we saw more sickly cats in Morocco than in Tunisia.
CATS
We learned Mohammed approved of cats living in homes. In the Koran. He is to have said that angels often visit houses where cats dwell. So cats are honored in these Islamic countries. Since they are “on the streets” so much of the time, the cats have interbred so much that there is a “typical” cat: a very colorful calico coat, narrow face and very long and somewhat bushy tails. There are other color patterns, but orange patches with black stripes intermixed with much white is the most consistent look.
DOGS
Dogs are rarely seen in the rural areas or in the cities. Mohammed evidently didn't care for dogs and so there is no religious imperative to keep them. Nowadays some shepherds do use herding dogs, but it was fairly rare to see a dog who was obviously a pet. The few dogs we did see were often ill-unkempt and not very attractive. In Tunisia, according to Chokri, dogs are rounded up and vaccinated for rabies for the protection of the people rather than to keep the dogs healthy.
OTHERS
Animals kept for human needs such as food, clothing and transportation included: horses, burros (by far the most numerous), camels, sheep, goats, some beef & dairy cattle. Chickens were strangely rarely seen yet we had eggs at breakfast and eggs are ingredients of Tunisian and Moroccan recipes. We never saw any pigs but then Islam forbids consumption of pork. We learned quickly that animals are not given names even when treated as pets but we never learned why. A lad who brought his mother and baby burro for us to see and photograph (for a tip of course) seemed genuinely surprised when we asked their names. He said simply they are donkeys.
EUROPEAN STORKS
The only wildlife we saw in any numbers were the European storks who nest in North Africa. We were delighted to see so many with their chicks in the nests at this time of year. They were everywhere evident in Tunisia where the power companies even build nesting platforms for the storks on the power lines. In Morocco we saw storks in all the Roman ruins and anywhere else they could balance their large nests. Many pictures were taken of these very large birds, clear cousins of our native wood storks. Chokri told us that in Tunisia the nickname for these storks is “dividers of inheritances” pretty clever, since the more children in a family the smaller the individual legacies will be.
FENNEC FOX
Of some interest is the fact that the Tunisians are trying to preserve one of their native animals which is greatly endangered: the Fennec Fox, a desert creature with enormously tall ears and a coat close to the color of the lighter of the Sahara sands. To show the commitment of the government and people to this conservation effort, whimsical statues of the foxes, painted blue and clothed in human dress and in family groups of male, female and offspring, are positioned prominently on the main streets of every city, village and town. Of course, we never saw a live fennec since they dwell in the Sahara far away from human habitations.
CAMEL SMUGGLING STORY
The best animal story we heard in all our travels centered on the smuggling camels of Tunisia. Near the Algerian border, enterprising Tunisians have taught their camels to cross over line to get contraband oil at cheap prices to bring back home. Because human beings would be caught and severely punished on either side when conducting this activity, the camels do the smuggling. They are brought over the borders with no smuggled items until they learn the route back and forth. Then they are given water at the beginning of the route and of course get none until they reach the other side. The sellers in Algeria load the camels with the oil and gasoline products, water the camels, and send them back through the route back to Tunisia. There the camel is fed and watered while being unloaded. No human being is caught crossing the border in the smuggling operation. Young camels are often tied to their mothers until they too learn the route and can become smugglers on their own. Isn't that a wonderfully inventive way to get cheap gasoline?
MUSEUMS OF TUNISIA
THE BARDO MUSEUM IN TUNIS
We did not visit many museums though we probably could have requested to see more had we wished to do so. The biggest and most renowned one we visited was in
During our visit, it was undergoing extensive renovation and enlargement so that only 10% of its collection was on view. Primarily known for its ancient Roman mosaics, it did not disappoint. Many that we saw had been floors for Roman homes, government buildings, temples, and bath houses. Some were displayed on the floor of the Bardo but most had been mounted as
pictures on the walls. They were all quite large and impressive. Tiny tiles less than ½ square were used in creating imaginative and beautiful scenes of the activities of the gods, particularly the antics of Bacchus and his lusty followers. Animals in lifelike detail figured in many of the designs in quite superb representations. Plants, fruits (especially grapes), vines were used as decorative details and borders. The colors were so amazing to see even after all the centuries that have passed. And we were all astonished to see and finally believe that tigers must have once been part of the African scene because they were so often depicted in the animals designs.
In addition to these magnificent mosaics, there was statuary on display, also taken from the many Roman cities in Tunisia. The most impressive of the statuary to me were the twelve busts of Roman emperors who had been involved closely with North Africa. All 12 have been identified personally and the busts are clearly portraits of the actual emperors since all of them are quite individual looking.
It's very sad to think how late in our history these treasures were taken into museums for safeguarding. How many wonderful things must have been looted over the years after the Romans left North Africa. Only now are they viewed as important contributions to a nation's history. But, better late than never is always true, even in these cases. But, as we were to see in our visits to the Roman ruins themselves, there are still many mosaics left in situ and pretty much unprotected from thieves or the elements.
ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM IN DJERBA
On the island of Djerba (Tunisia) was Musee de Guellala which also quite enjoyable since it depicted scenes of life among the Tunisian people. There were depictions of weddings, circumcision ceremonies, family life, traditional arts and crafts, celebrations and feasts, native costumes in various parts of the country for different tribes of people, and even funeral arrangements.
The scenes were presented as tableaus with manikins dressed appropriately for the topic and “props” set about to make the scene realistic.
We saw collections of weaponry, cooking utensils, fishing gear, olive oil production machinery, weaving equipment. The building housing this museum was quite impressive too. It was a sprawling complex blindingly white in the island sunshine and beautifully surrounded with local landscape plants like bougainvillea, lantana, and oleanders.
ARABIC MUSIC MUSEUM IN SIDI BOU SAID
In Sidi Bou Said (our first town in Tunisia) was a modern palace built by a German turned Tunisian who made his money in banking in Germany and England. When he married an elegant Italian lady, he built this beautiful home for her and after their deaths it was left to the state as a museum. Though modern, it echoed the older Arabian designs with added comforts like electricity, indoor plumbing, and running water. The wooden decorative panels, shelves, cabinetry were very impressive and we all enjoyed the subdued and beautiful lighting effects created by using fine alabaster as shades and window panes. Also lovely was the extensive use of mother of pearl (nacre) in so much of the tile and mosaic work. Today, the Palace is the home of the Arabic Music Museum so it is also a site for live performances of traditional music and song. Quite a marvelous venue for concerts.
No interior photos were allowed
On display also was an interesting collection of musical instruments, both Arabic and European, gathered by the Baron himself who wrote music for many of them and was reputed to be a fairly proficient musician himself. The Palace was also surrounded by lovely gardens showcasing the many flowering trees and shrubs of Tunisia as well as other native plants. We really enjoyed our explorations of this impressive spot built on a hillside overlooking the Gulf of Tunis!
LIVING MUSEUM: A TROGLODYTE HOME IN TOUJANE
Some of the most fascinating places we visited were indoor/outdoor “living” museums. The first one we saw was the troglodyte home in Tunisia in the village of Toujane. Troglodyte in North Africa is a term for cave-dwelling people; it is not a pejorative description. This family and its ancestors had occupied their dwelling for more than 300 years! Where we stopped to make this visit, it was impossible to see any hint of a home. Then we spotted a woman, Halema was her name, drawing water from a well for her burro. We approached her and she was obviously expecting Chokri and his tourists. She welcomed us to her home but we still could see no house.
She walked us to a square hole in the earth, about 25 ft. x 25 ft. square and about 75 ft. deep. There was an open courtyard with a lone green bush at its center and to one side an elderly lady sitting near one wall. Draping over the walls down towards the courtyard were two flimsy and worn ropes, but they didn't look like any “elevator” we wished to try. Smiling, Halema led us away from the hole in the ground around towards some twenty steps leading down and around a small hill. At the bottom of the hill we saw an archway surrounded by some wooden framing decorations. Through that arch, we entered the troglodyte home.
Around the courtyard were many doorways leading into rooms carved into the walls of earth; there were spaces for sleeping, for food preparation, for storage, for living and visiting. There were even some upper stories reached through the rear of some of the rooms. The complex was very clean and tidy too. There was some wooden doors to rooms and some were simply curtains over the openings. Halema & her sister, the sister's husband and their two daughters (ages about 2 and 4) plus the mother of the two sisters lived in the home. The matriarch's husband had died about 6 months before. Halema told us that the family would continue to live here until the old lady was gone. Then they would move into a town or city to make possible more modern opportunities for the two children.
The older lady who had the typical Berber tattooing on her face running from the middle of her bottom lip to under her chin was sitting before the cooking area: an open fireplace with an oven in place as well. She was baking bread and
preparing mint tea (the traditional beverage to welcome people into a home) for us. The bread was fresh and warm from the oven and it was served with olive oil and honey. It was absolutely delicious as was the mint tea.
The family opened their whole house to our explorations and we much enjoyed their hospitality, even though we knew that the family was being paid to let us see their unique home. The two little girls sat on a sofa playing with some dolls. The four year old was very guarded and unfriendly towards us she even kicked out at Micki when she tried to show her a picture she had taken. The two year old was much more outgoing and friendly. She giggled and laughed with us and smiled shyly at her picture on Micki's camera.
MUSEUMS OF MOROCCO
BERBER WOODWORKING MUSEUM IN FEZ
No photos allowed in museum
In Morocco, the two museums we visited were much smaller in both size and subjects. The first was in the Medina at Fez and featured Berber woodworking techniques and styles. The displays showed cabinetry, door making, shelving, furniture, utensils for cooking, spinning, and decorative wooden pieces as well. The exhibits were interesting but there was very little in English to explain what we were seeing. Most of the pieces were like sculpture to be enjoyed as seen. We did enjoy the visit and it was valuable as we went through palaces and even hotels to see & understand the Berber influence on Moroccan woodworking.
The other was further south and centered on Berber culture prior to the assimilation that has taken place in more modern times. The little museum had been assembled by locals in a small town and it was both touching in its sincerity and informative with pictures and text explaining such things as festivals, traditions in Berber tribes including Berber Jews, living conditions in the 1800s after the French had shown up to take photos of the natives. Perhaps once it appeared exploitative, but now we can be grateful to the intrusive photographers for documenting a way of life that has largely disappeared..
EL BAHIA IN MARRAKECH
A palace museum in Marrakech called El Bahia was also interesting since we could see the traditions of architecture and decorative arts in situ. Today the palace is used as a residence for visiting dignitaries (such people as Jackie Kennedy have stayed there), meetings and presentations by local artists and musicians.
The tile work was beautiful from floors to domed ceilings. The mosaics recalled those we had seen in the Bardo Museum and in the Roman ruins themselves.
The painted woodwork around doors and windows was particularly beautiful and bright. The design of Arab palaces was clearly demonstrated here with the public rooms, the private family area, and the harem section.
Since this palace had been used by the king and his ministers there were two public waiting areas one for the common people who had petitions or grievances to air before the government (these had tiled floors) and another for higher status visitors, such as ambassadors and important guests (marble floors in these rooms). The gardens werealso beautiful and fully private. There were flowering trees and shrubs and many kinds of citrus as well as pomegranates and pears. Because of all the shade provided by the various trees, it was cooler in the gardens than out on the street just beyond the high stone wall.
LIVING MUSEUM: A TROGLODYTE HOME IN BHALIL
Another type of troglodyte dwelling was opened to us in the Moroccan town of Bhalil (meaning “Charm of the Night”). We visited this city and were welcomed to the home of a very shy young man named Kareem. His home was not obviously in a cave since it was on one of the town's streets. The front of his house looked like an ordinary block residence, but as soon as the street door was opened the kitchen area was on view.
To the right of kitchen stretched the “cave” part of the home. This was the combination living/sleeping area that extended deep into the side of the mountain. The clay walls were painted a creamy beige and were lined with benches which doubled as seats and beds. Micki decided that the area could seat about 30 people, but sleep fewer of course. Kareem told us that in summer this room stays about 20 degrees cooler than the outdoor temperatures averaging about 72 degrees.
In winter, the house is warmer at about 60 degrees average. It was clear why these people have lived in this home for some 12 generations. Bhalil was interesting for other reasons as well. First were the splashes of color that enlivened the otherwise rather plain looking town. The fronts of the cave dwellings were whitewashed except for the steps leading up to the houses and the entrances.
These were painted with bright, even garish, splotches of hot pink, chartreuse green, blazing orange, blood red, deep marine blue. It almost appeared as if the inhabitants had gotten the most brilliant paints they could find and then just thrown the paint against the steps and doorways! It made quite an impression.
The other interesting things going on outside in the streets were people working at various crafts. Women sat on their doorsteps making things with beads necklaces, handbags, anklets, shoes, robes, statues all the while chatting and laughing while they also watched the children playing in the streets.
THE OUTDOOR MUSEUM OF KASBAH AIT BENHADDOU
The last “living” museum we visited was also in Morocco Kasbah Ait Benhaddou, a spectacular fortified village with houses piled up around several decorated kasbahs, all seeming to defy the laws of gravity as they cling to a steep slope. A tiny stream stands between the vendor stalls lining the street approaching Kasbah Ait Benhaddou and we forded it on burlap bags filled with sand.
This complex has been owned and inhabited by the same extended family since the 12th century! The flat roofed houses stair-stepped up the hillside while the people climb many stairs to reach the top of the village.
The clay bricks which form the houses are deep red but the whole village changes hues under the magic of the sun moving across the sky. The view from the top of the city was 360 degrees of desert scenery—quite beautiful in its austere simplicity.
Scenes from the movie, “Gladiator,” were shot here.
MOVIE-MAKING CITIES
TATOUINE, TUNISIA
Both Tunisia and Morocco have a flourishing movie industry both close to their respective Saharan territories. Tatouine is the city of movies in Tunisia and its famous Ksar Hadada figures in the Star Wars movies.
The city of Tatouine in the movie obviously takes its name from the Frenchnamed city where the movie folk work. George Lucas may have made the first internationally successful movie utilizing this area.
A “Ksar” is a complex which includes residences and granaries used by the Berber nomads for centuries. The granaries sit atop the living quarters and the whole “castle” is utilized by a tribe for about 6 months or until the grass surrounding the area plays out. Then the tribe moves its sheep, goats, and camels away looking for fresh pasturage. Meanwhile, some tribe members remain at the Ksar to guard the grains for use during the “hunger” time of year.
The Ksars look a little like our forts in that they have residences and mosques and stores inside walls that are guarded. We saw many Ksars in the hills as we approached the Sahara, but Star Wars made Ksar Hadada the most famous. Lucas even renovated some of the ruined entrances in the Ksar to “modernize” its appearance for his movie. Today Tunisia has a homegrown movie industry as well as welcoming foreign film companies to use its facilities. Quarzazate, Morocco
In Morocco, the old French garrison city of Quarzazate is the center of moviemaking and it seems a more prosperous and international movie industry than Tunisia's. In the little desert city, 75% of the inhabitants work in the movies in some capacity or other. Even folks who prefer to live in Marrakech maintain homes or condos in Quarzazate. There are two major studios: Oscar Studios and CLM Studios, both occupying large land parcels with back lots including sets for Roman sword & sandal movies, ancient Egyptian sets, even a “western” town.
The town symbol as seen in its roundabouts is a reel of film. Most recent of American films made in “Moroccowood” as it is nicknamed is “Caspian, Prince of Persia.” Other well- known movies made in part here are “Lawrence of Arabia,” “The Sheltering Sky,” “Jewel of the Nile,” and “Spy Games.” French, German, Syrian and Italian movie companies also come to Quarzazate to film their movies.
VISITING THE MAGHREB
North Africa from the Egyptian border with Libya west to the Atlantic Coast, thus embracing Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco is described by western and Arab historians as the Maghreb: the extent of the Arab conquest which was born with the rise of Islam. At one time that title would have extended to parts of Spain and Portugal as well. But now the term is used only to delineate the four North African nations. We explored only two of them, but since the history of all the area is so similar we felt we were experiencing a true flavor of North Africa by gaining an understanding of these two. It is pertinent to note that even before the Arab conquest of the region, the territories were similarly impacted by other invaders. Just seeing the map of the Mediterranean countries makes the proximity of Sicily and Rome to
Tunis apparent. Even Syria, Turkey, and Egypt are not far away.
Geographically, North Africa was an obvious “area of interest” to the big Empires of pre- Christian times: the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Romans. In the A.D. era, that same nearness kept the attention of the Byzantines, the Vandals, the Ottoman Empire, and the Arabs. In modern times, big and powerful countries have been concerned with North Africa: the British and French, Italy, the US, and Germany stamped the territory with their peculiar brands of influence. Spain and Portugal also impacted the area, not so much through conquest or attempted conquest, as through their various expulsions of peoples who retreated across the Mediterranean to establish new homes in the Maghreb due to the activities of the Spanish Inquisition and the Reconquista of Iberia by the Christians, sending Arabs and Jews back to North Africa.
Therefore, though both countries count themselves as close to 100% “Arab,” their genetic backgrounds contain input from many ancient and modern cultures as do their architectural styles, their artistic leanings, and even their music. Their near 100% embrace of the Sunni branch of Islam is also a bit of glue that makes the countries so similar. Neither country has adopted the Sharia law as have other Islamic nations, like Saudi Arabia. So their brand of Islam is not so restrictive and it actually seems to recognize women as human beings with somewhat equal rights. Because of this fact, we saw women dressed in everything from full coverage to modern jeans and tshirts. The differences in dress did not stem from age alone either. What we did not see, however, despite the heat already beginning to envelope the area, were women in any of type of shorts or tight-fitting clothing. Modesty seemed to be the rule. Our first few days in Tunisia, I felt compelled to wear a jacket which the weather did not dictate because I saw no women with bare arms, even bare forearms. However, as we went further south, began to see that women did bare their forearms, so I wore my shirts without a jacket. It was certainly cooler that way.
In both countries, we did a sort of circular route that allowed us to see much of the characteristic topography and geography of each place. Those routes also introduced us to the larger cities as well as small towns in each country. The similarities were striking. Oases in both countries are an outstanding
feature because of the enormous contrast between the brilliant green of the thousands of date palm trees and other foliage against the dull greyish-tan of the stony deserts around them.
The declivities where the riverine oases were thriving were surprising features given the otherwise generally flat plains we were driving through. When we were traversing the olive producing areas (central plains) the millions of trees, with their silver gray leaves lifting lightly at the occasional soft breeze, also contrasted effectively with the ochre sands around them. Needless to say, in the arid countryside, any shade of green stood out remarkably.
The typical cities and even larger towns were similar in design and development. The older parts were surrounded by walls of impressive thickness and height, originally for the defense of the city and the people. The enclosed area was called the “medina” and inside that section were the “kasbah” and the “souks” as well as residences and mosques and synagogues. The “kasbah” turned out to be not nearly as romantic as Hollywood movies had led us to believe. Actually, the kasbah is an area where buildings of similar purpose are located within the medina, today those buildings are usually governmental. In earlier times, that collection of buildings could have been palaces of local officials and influential people, or even commercial collections. The “souks” are aggregated shops and vendor stalls where the marketing goes on: butcher shops, fruit sellers, vegetable dealers, fishmongers, clothing stalls, spice shops, jewelry stores, hardware stores, shoe shops, rugs dealers, housewares, CDs & DVDs nowadays, some souvenir shops (depending on the size of the town/city). Anything a shopper could dream of wanting is to be found in the souks, somewhere in the labyrinthine, narrow alleys, too small for a vehicle to pass through in many cases, and too twisted for a novice to visit on his own unless he did not care how long he was lost in the maze. In Tunisia, our guide told us that souk was originally not a term for general shopping opportunities but a word to designate a particular type of product being sold, i.e., the jewelry souk, the veggie souk, the cloth souk. But the word has gradually become an all-purpose term to denote the whole market area.
The Sahara was another of the highlights we had anticipated where we were not disappointed. The dunes in Morocco were higher than those we traversed in Tunisia, but the beauty of those wonderful hills of sand was similar. The color which alternated from pinkish to deep red orange with the changing light and level of the sun were as spectacular as the movie “Lawrence of Arabia” had portrayed.
The knife- like tops of the dunes created by the winds and ripples in the sands below the sharp- edged arête were just sublimely beautiful. Some of the ripples looked like ruffled beach sand when the waves retreat, rolling and soft. Others were more sinuous and more defined. When we were riding our camels with their side-to-side rolling gait, it often felt to me as if I were on a small craft on a gently billowing sea.
The bright blue sky above with the fascinating white clouds playing over the horizon altered as the day began to die, constantly creating whole new images in the dunes. Hearing the camels groan and protest and feeling the uncomfortable saddles made me wonder how the caravans could keep moving for hours every day, hauling dates and foodstuffs as well as people. Like any other saddle, I suppose the people get used to them finally and the moaning
and groaning of the camels becomes just a background accompaniment on the way. The desert was truly lovely, but its beauty disguises a menace to the people and creatures there. It is a harsh environment for any living thing and its relentless growth is alarming. Will the remaining land at last be covered with the fine and dry sand with no water resources and therefore no plant life either?
HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Hotel Dar Said, In Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia
We had been forewarned that tourist infrastructure in Tunisia was not as advanced as that in Morocco, but we were not disappointed in our accommodations at all. However, it must be admitted that those in Morocco were more impressive, that is to say more opulent. Our first stop in Tunisia was the little resort suburb of Tunis called Sidi Bou Said (happy sainted father) on the Gulf of Tunis. The whole city reminded us all of the Greek islands like Mykonos because the predominating colors were white and blue. Very occasionally a different color door would grab our attention; in fact there is one yellow door that manages to make it into everyone's pictures as well as on the postcards and advertisements for the resort town. That tells you how rare that color is! We learned from Chokri that the color scheme is mandated by the city council.
Our hotel there was called the Dar Said (Happy House) and it was cool and comfortable with an airy atmosphere which was a pleasant complement to the sound of the waves only a block away from the hotel's front door. Surprising to us, there was Wi-Fi in our room. As we learned was a common architectural style, the rooms were arranged around open courtyards with flowers and fruit trees. Very pretty touch, really. And there was tile on the floors of our rooms & bathrooms as well as carved stucco decorations throughout.
There were two breakfast areas: one was inside and it was pretty basic but the service was attentive. The other was beside the pool and it was very pleasant with flowering plants and comfortable seating. Service here was also very good. It was at this hotel that we were introduced to North African breakfasts (at least the ones served to tourists).
The first course was always fresh-squeezed orange juice and it was always delicious tart and sweet with plenty of pulp. Of course there were coffee or tea and then a selection of excellent breads and pastries, followed by an egg, if wanted, done to order. Yogurt was also on offer and it was quite refreshing not so sweetly cloying as in the US. Sometimes a meat would accompany the egg, usual cold cuts but sometimes bacon or sausage. Strange in a society whose religion forbids pork. Of course, Islam frowns on alcohol too but it was always available at lunch and dinner in both countries, for the tourists, I'm sure.
Eating Out
One night while we were still near Tunis (a city of 2.2 million residents), we were taken to dinner at a 19th century Ottoman palace now converted into a restaurant. Something odd we noticed there was to be repeated several times in Tunisia and Morocco we had the dining room entirely to ourselves. The waiters were dancing attendance on us though it was never intrusive service. The meal was served in several courses and was good but not outstanding. The dining area however was gorgeous so much color and so much marble. The Arab touches were everywhere, of course arched doorways, columns in both Portuguese and Roman styles, carved stucco crown molding, and tile work. It was in the Kasbah and while walking to the restaurant we felt like we were exploring a movie set the streets were narrow and twisting and dark a great spy movie could be made there AND perhaps one has.
One thing we all noticed about both Tunisian and Moroccan restaurants they are like French restaurants in that the service can be really awful, especially when dinner is over and you are waiting for the check. Even when the service has been pretty good before and during the meal, getting out of the place can be a trial of patience. But it must be the French influence since we have all four had that experience in France. Perhaps the French people like to linger longer after eating than we Americans and perhaps the restaurant management does not worry about fast turnover of the tables in order to serve more customers? At any rate, eating in Morocco and Tunisia was also a great teacher of “willing waiting.”
La Kasbah Hotel In Kairouen, Tunisia
All the hotels where we stayed in both countries were interesting and some were downright outstanding! For example, our next overnight in a different place was in the holy city of Kairouen where we stayed in the La Kasbah Hotel which was inside the city's medina. Kairouen is the 4th holiest city in Islam because it is believed that the Angel Gabriel instructed Mohammed that Allah wanted him to build a city there and Mohammed's disciples did so around 670 A.D. The walls of the medina are at least 1300 years old and this new hotel is built using part of that wall.
It is built in typical Arab fashion, with huge wooden doors decorated with metal studs, hands of Fatima metal sculptures, and some Arab letters carved into the wood itself. The entrance is otherwise rather plain though impressively large. However, when the door opens, the lobby and the pool areas are immediately visible and both are lovely. The rooms were large and well-appointed with wonderfully comfortable bedding, crisp and white but still cuddlesome.
The restaurant where we ate the first night at La Kasbah was a huge buffet room with every kind Tunisian food imaginable none of it as good as the private restaurant we enjoyed in the kasbah in Tunis. But one certainly had a choice of lamb
fixed in many ways. Tired of huge meals, we tried to go out into the city to find a restaurant where we could get just a sandwich or a pizza or something else light (at least compared with the hulking meals we had been eating). At this time, we all realized that we felt unwelcome. People were not hostile not at all and we certainly did not feel threatened. But there were only men in the streets and in the small cafes and restaurants. We walked a few blocks still intent on finding a suitable place, but the darker the sky became the more uncomfortable we all admitted that we felt. So we turned tail and escaped back into the tourist “bubble” of our hotel.
The Desert Resort: Pansea
The desert resort, Pansea (French owned & mostly French patronized), provided only a one-night stay, but it fulfilled its purpose affording us a stay so that we could enjoy our evening desert camel ride conveniently. The tents were large and rather comfortable considering the heat in the Ksar Ghilane oasis. Moreover, the Air Conditioning in the tents was amazingly effective. And we enjoyed our private bath in the tent as well. The beds were hard but then so were our camels' backs. So we enjoyed our desert accommodations with no complaints. The restaurant there was buffet-style and the food was adequate but not particularly memorable.
Tamerza Hotel And Spa Near Tamerza, Tunisia
One of the two best of our Tunisian hotels was the Tamerza Hotel and Spa, situated near the Algerian border and overlooking the ghost town of Tamerza, rendered thus by a devastating flood in 1969 caused by 22 straight days of heavy rains!
The ruined city across a wide dry river bottom was beautiful in a macabre sort of way as the sunlight played on the ochre sands of the remaining walls. In the evening the city fairly glowed with a golden warmth. The hotel restaurant served delicious food and its best dish was a dessert date mousse! It was just marvelous and so unexpected! Subtle and yet really tasty.
Park Inn Hotel And Spa On The Island Of Djerba, Tunisia
On the resort island of Djerba, we stayed in a Park Inn Hotel and Spa, which had only recently known life as a Movenpic Hotel. It was very nice as modern hotels go, but there was nothing particular to commend it over other such facilities. Just a typical beach resort hotel that could have been dropped down on a beach anywhere in the world.
Our last night in Tunisia was spent in La Residence Hotel in Tunis and it was really quite spectacular! Wonderful architecture, gorgeous appointments, impressive service and attention, beautiful gardens with flowering plants and trees.
Comfortable and luxurious rooms too, even our “junior suite” was large enough to have a separate sitting area from the bedroom. So elegant was the hotel that we all felt underdressed just to cross the lobby. The restaurant there was also as good as the rest of the hotel services would have suggested. We were all so comfortable there that we were reluctant to leave it and head for Morocco in the morning.
However, Morocco's hotels did not disappoint. Many were magnificent palaces and grand homes that have been fairly recently converted to provide facilities for tourists and even important official guests of the country. Some were just amazing in their beauty and opulence and all were fascinating and delightful to stay in. None were standard or even superior hotel chain type tourist spots. It was evident that much care had been taken in the restorations to conserve the charm and quaintness of the buildings and yet modern comforts were also added, like air conditioning & Western style bathroom facilities.
Riad Kalaa In Rabat, Morocco
The first one we encountered was Riad Kalaa in the Rabat medina. It was amazingly well hidden in the narrow and twisty alleys admitting no cars. We had to leave the main street and enter the medina and then make several right and left turns until we were in front of a handsome door which gave only the smallest hint of the treasures inside. Our guide had explained to us that Islam directs that there be no ostentatious shows of wealth in dwellings since there will always be richer and poorer people around. So the affluent people hide their fine possessions and architecture behind humble walls.
The Riad Kalaa had been a private home of three stories before the renovation which made it into a pleasing and comfortable B & B. The 1815 structure had been changed to include 11 double rooms, 7 suites, and 4 single rooms. The rooftop was graced with a small swimming pool and outdoor restaurant and the lobby also could double as a restaurant, where we ate dinner one night.
We were surprised at how much more flavorful Moroccan food is than Tunisian. Many of the same dishes, but created with more imagination and flair. The one consistent thing in Tunisian cooking was the ever present hot red sauce served as a side at every meal. Without that “heat,” Tunisian food was really quite bland.
One amazing and “indigenous” phenomenon we encountered at the Riad Kalaa was the experience of being awakened about 4:30 a.m. by the calls to prayer of the muezzins in the three different mosques surrounding this particular hotel. It seems we were in a sort of “Rabat Triangle” with the three minaret men competing to see who could chant out the prayer notices longest and loudest. Of course we never knew who the actual winner was but we can certainly testify to the effectiveness of all three! It was hard to get back to sleep after the “concert” as well. But as we would learn, this religious obligation was practiced all over the country. Evidently we never stayed as near a mosque in Tunisia as we did in Morocco.
Riad Fes
Our next palatial abode was the Riad Fes: it was really something special. This was actually comprised of three private, but quite affluent, next door homes which were linked together to create this very large “B & B.” Though their style was classic Arabian, they were really not all that old built in the 1900s.
As we again entered through a wooden door on a narrow alleyway, we were struck dumb at the beauty of the lobby area. Marble floors with mosaic patterning on the walls. Three story ceilings with beautiful carved stonework.
Some stained glass windows in a clerestory fashion creating pretty red, blue and green patterning of lights on the floors and walls. Rather uncomfortable, but quite attractive divans arranged around low tables. A grand piano in one corner of the huge lobby with a step-down to the lowest level. Really quite sensational. Micki and Dan had the Royal Suite which consisted of several different rooms and a huge outdoor terrace overlooking the whole city. Such a view under a starry sky. We had the Cadi (or pasha) suite which was also quite ornate and beautiful too no terrace however and fewer rooms.
However, our bathroom was something to behold: all marble with double sinks, a shower, and separate bathtub spa and bigger than Kay's whole bedroom and bath combination at home
Our bedroom area was also huge with very high ceilings and windows overlooking an attractive courtyard below. We also had a separate dressing room with plenty of space for the few clothes we brought and much more besides. The marble floors in the bathroom were handsome but treacherous. We had to be quite careful in the shower and even afterwards in front of the lavatories. The restaurant in Riad was also excellent with really elegant service to bring us the tasty dishes.
Hotel Kasbah Xaluca Maadid, Erfoud, Morocco
To visit the desert in Morocco, we stayed in the town of Erfoud at the Hotel Kasbah Xaluca Maadid. This was rather like an upscale encampment with several buildings housing different levels of accommodation as well as swimming pools and gardens blooming with bougainvillea and oleanders. The restaurant here was strictly buffet style, though the cook would prepare some special orders such as real French fries which were tasty and just what we wanted.
The apartment style rooms were roomy and comfortable as well. This place was one of the fullest we stayed in. The volcanic cloud from Iceland had greatly slowed tourist business in both Tunisia and Morocco up until this stay in Erfoud.
The Sultana Royal Golf Near Quarzazate, Morocco
The Sultana Royal Golf was one of the strangest places we stayed and it was certainly misnamed since they had closed their golf course over ten years before because of the scarcity of water. Since this property was very much “in the desert,” one would have thought the investors would have anticipated that little problem. Anyway there were several unfinished buildings sitting among the completed ones. These were 2 stories tall with 4 units in each. We were in the same building across from each other and the rooms were the same except that Micki and Dan's was a rather “loud” orange and ours was a particularly violent blue.
The weather was beautiful the one night we stayed and our dinner on the terrace of the dining room building was really quite delicious one of the best we had, but maybe that's because the night was so perfect. The Sultana Royal Golf was just outside the city of Ouarzazate which is the Hollywood of the country. Many movies are made there every year, both foreign and domestic. La Maison Arabe, Marrakech, Morocco
Our last “home” in Morocco was La Maison Arabe in the Marrakech medina with its 1000 year old walls. We stayed in this lush hotel three whole days and enjoyed every minute of our time there.
It was quite exotic and wonderfully comfortable. In this facility, Kay and I had an outdoor terrace which overlooked an inner courtyard filled with trees and flowers. Again, this hotel was hidden deep in the medina walls and was totally nondescript from the outside. There were three restaurants here, but we tried only the one called “the three flavors” because we liked it so much. We were able to sit poolside under the stars and the food was just delectable.
El Zipyar Restaurant, Rabat, Morocco
The restaurant we were taken to the first night in Morocco was probably the most memorable for several reasons. It was called El Zipyar (the entertainer) and was deep in the medina of Rabat, the capital city. Besides being impossible for anyone not familiar with its location to find, it was a “secret” restaurant where you had to knock at the door and be recognized to gain entrance. What a great introduction to romantic Morocco, being led by our guide through dark alleys with so many turns that we would have never found our way out, with mysterious figures seeming to lurk in doorways, cats slinking by on errands of their own, eerie music oozing from under some
closed doorways. And then the huge surprise when we were admitted to the beautiful inside rooms. Columns, mosaics, marble, waiters and waitresses dressed in typical garb, the ladies in silk robes and the gentlemen wearing fez hats, impeccable service, AND a gargantuan meal! None of us had ever been treated (or punished) with a meal this enormous. The really awful thing about the meal was that it was so incredibly delicious that we did not want to stop eating and yet we were in danger of gastrorhexis before the evening was over and we were disgorged into the narrow street grateful that Hicham was there to conduct us home.
Some description of this obscenely huge meal is necessary. It started with a tasty local bread and then came the Moroccan “salads” which are like Spanish tapas lots of little dishes filled with wonderful things all cooked in this case except one raw dish which we could identify as salad. The nine other items were such things as a sweet cooked carrot dish, greens, fava beans cooked with sweet peppers, eggplant so tasty you didn't recognize it as eggplant, veggies which we could not identify, and three different types of olives. Of course, we ate some of each, under the mistaken impression that this was the meal and, believe me, it should have been. However, as they cleared the table of those dishes, we saw a waiter laden with an enormous tureen approaching us. He put down before us the most delicious lamb dish I have ever eaten it was lamb stewed with prunes and spices: it was a gustatory delight!
And, of course, we filled ourselves with that dish too, still believing that finally we had reached the last dish. But no, such was not the case. As we were moaning and groaning over our dietary indiscretions, here came the waiter yet again with another huge dish with a silver domed top. Beneath that contrivance was a Moroccan couscous. It was all we could do not to groan aloud. A couscous is a dish based first of all on the Moroccan pasta that is called couscous a little like grits except that it is made of wheat, not corn.
It was a mountain of foodstuff covered in every kind of vegetable imaginable. We just could not fathom how we could possibly eat this amount of food on top of all the other things we had already stuffed into our now protesting stomachs. We just could not do it—we each tasted (less than a teaspoonful) of one veggie and that had to be all! We were embarrassed when the staff came to clear away that dish and saw that virtually nothing had been consumed.
And then, wonder of wonders, here came the desserts an assortment of pastries and cookies that looked so inviting. But we could not eat another bite and asked if we could take the dessert home in a “doggy bag” even though Moroccans don't really like dogs so very much. We had to heave ourselves out of the chairs and walk with a rolling, John Wayne, sort of gait to escape any further offerings of food. We all swore that we would not want to eat again for at least a week! Ha!
TUNESIAN ROMAN & OTHER RUINS
One of the biggest surprises this visit to North Africa sprang on me was the realization of how important the area was in the history of the Roman Empire! Of course I had heard of Carthage and knew that the three Punic Wars were between Rome and the Carthaginians/Phoenicians, but I did not know of the other cities and towns founded by Rome to help provide foodstuffs, mainly wheat and other grains, to Rome herself. The ruins we visited were completely unknown to me: really large cities with amphitheaters, forums, temples, long aqueducts, complex sewer systems, even one with a Coliseum, the biggest in the Empire outside Rome itself. There were garrison towns for protection of the agricultural properties and the trade routes to bring the products to the Italian peninsula. Tunisia actually figured more importantly in Roman affairs than did Morocco. There were more settlements in Tunisia after all. As mentioned earlier, Tunisia was considered “the granary of Rome.”
North Africa was known as the Africa Province by the Romans after the Romans had defeated the Carthaginians in the 3rd Punic War in 146 B.C. It roughly covered the area known today as Northern Tunisia, Northern Algeria, the Mediterranean coasts of Libya and Northern Morocco. The region remained a part of the Roman Empire until the great Germanic migrations during the 5th century. In A.D. 533, the Emperor Justinian recaptured the Africa Province which lasted 222 years after the fall of Rome under the Eastern Empire governed from Constantinople. However, the province fell to the Moslem invasion after 698 when now Roman Carthage was sacked and the Arab conquest was complete.
In both territories, it wasn't only Roman emperors, generals, governors, and workers who earned their bread in the North African colonies, the indigenous peoples, the Berbers, also toiled for Rome and realized their own livelihoods. Some rose in the ranks of Roman governance and management and made their own fortunes as did many of the Romans who came over to the area. As years passed, many former slaves, indigenous workers at all levels, and foreigners who came into the areas for work were granted Roman citizenship. Most of them started as 2nd class citizens with only some of the rights of Romans, but eventually most anyone who wanted the citizenship conferred on them andswore their loyalty to Rome became full-fledged citizens of Rome. That was how important North African trade and agriculture was to Rome.
Roman ruins in both Tunisia (Dougga, Djem, Sbeitla, & the rebuilt Carthage) and Moroccan ones (Sala Colonia & Volulibis) share many important traits: use of columns of All three types (Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian), a type of construction that included arches and lintels, walls built in a combination of Numidian and Roman techniques, grand temples built to honor both Numidian gods and the Roman pantheon, public baths with complex water treatments (methods used to heat and chill water for the baths), aqueducts of great length and size to bring water from distant mountain springs to the cities and towns as well as to the farm fields, private homes with beautiful mosaics for decoration on the floors and walls, public toilet systems to carry the waste away from the city, and impressive buildings for governmental functions.
Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of the ruins for me was the quality and beauty of the surviving mosaics, no matter where we found them out in the open among the ruins standing up to all nature could throw at them as well as vandals and souvenir seekers. The intricacy of the pictures of animals, gods, legends, plants, birds, and buildings was quite amazing. When water is thrown on the outdoor mosaics, the colors come back to their presumed original vibrancy. Many of these works of art have been rescued and placed in museums for their protection as well as to allow more people to see them. The Bardo Museum in Rabat is the best and most comprehensive of these “safe houses” and we were lucky to visit it before we visited the various ruins. It gave us an idea of what we would be seeing and some explanations of various themes and symbols in the pictures.
The Coliseum at El Djem
Another astounding surprise we saw was the huge oval coliseum in El Djem. This was the second largest such structure in the Roman Empire and it is very well preserved.
In some ways it has survived more intact than Rome's. A section of the seating has been restored making it easier to grasp what the crowds saw and how the place functioned. Unfortunately, it was used for most unpleasant purposes in its day: persecuting Christians and pitting drugged wild animals against gladiators for the amusement of the crowds.
The amphitheater was built between 230 and 238 A.D. of local sandstone. Because sandstone is relatively soft, there is not much in the way of carvings or dressed stone in the structure. 30,000 people could be seated in the stands, more than the total population of the city in Roman times. The internal dimensions of the coliseum measured 489 ft. long and 407 Ft. wide and the three arcaded stories rose some 100 ft. in the air. In 1979, it was made a World Heritage Site which has served to protect the ancient building from vandalism and local quarrying for stones.
Carthage Aqueduct
The marvelous remains of the gigantic aqueduct that fed water to Roman Carthage was also quite impressive. And a great deal of it remains intact.
The span was 87.6 miles long and it is considered the longest aqueduct in the world. The conduit for the water was covered so that the water was kept relatively pure on its travels and little evaporation took place. After the Emperor Hadrian visited Carthage, he saw that the city was doomed if it did not have a reliable water source and he ordered the construction of the huge aqueduct which was built around 125 A.D. Engineers are constantly impressed by the careful planning and construction which went into the building of Roman aqueducts. They are built to precise tolerances to withstand wind and weather and parts of some of them are in use today.
Carthage Ruins
Some mention must be made of the ruins of Phoenician Carthage which was founded about 200 years before Rome, about 860 B.C. When the Romans conquered Carthage at long last, they tore down much of the city and rebuilt in their own style and buildings that suited their own purposes. Therefore, there is really very little left of ancient Carthage to be seen. But there are some haunting reminders that a powerful people once lived there. Some burial chambers have been excavated along with some human bones and artifacts in those sites.
Punic Sanctuary
Some remains of private homes have been exposed under the Roman edifices atop them. The main street of Carthage remained the biggest thoroughfare in Roman Carthage and it is wide and long, passing through various ruins, though chiefly Roman. While standing on a Carthaginian overlook, it is clear to us that land has been created since ancient times and the sea itself pushed back from the walls of the old city.
The underground section of the Baths of Pius Antonius are well preserved but they too are built atop the Carthaginian ruins. Indeed, it is often difficult to determine which “bones” and “skeletons” of old buildings are Phoenician and which are Roman. Only the expert archeologists can make the distinction. The Punic Sanctuary is another reminder of the Phoenician heritage in Tunisia. The stones and stelae are still discussed and there is much disagreement regarding the function of the site, but it is definitely agreed to be Phoenician with no Roman intrusions.
Some historians believe that it was sacrificial place where the firstborn male babies of Phoenician families were offered to the Goddess Tanit (wife of Baal) to insure that more children would be born to the family. Other historians
dispute this version and feel that it was a burial place for children who had died a natural deal in infancy. Both versions suggest that some form of propitiation tothe goddess was being made.
Dougga
In Dougga sits a fine open air theater which is still used today for concerts, plays, and festivals. Imagine the sense of continuity one would feel attending a performance of an old Roman farce by Plautus or a drama by Terence there.
Perhaps even a Greek drama would be staged. To sit in the theater built in 168 A.D. watching ancient plays must be pretty time-warping. It is true that some restorations have been made so that the 3500 spectators can sit on flat stones rather than jagged and broken ones today, but still the authenticity of the site cannot be denied.
MODERN RUINS – FLOOD
OF 1969
During June of 1969 a “Noah & the Ark” kind of rainfall came down in the foothills of the mountains separating Tunisia and Algeria. Rather than 40 days and 40 nights, the people in these villages experienced 22 straight days of monsoonal rains. Because the structures there were built of a kind of adobe except that it is never baked, the “bricks” simply melted away under the continuous rains. The roofs had been created of date palm fronds and logs and they collapsed under the weight of the water. The dry river and stream beds filled to overflowing and took out whatever already wrecked buildings still remained with their reach. The result was “rain ruins” which were as ghostly and beautiful in their way as were the much more sophisticated temples and amphitheaters of Rome.
Mides
Mides still exists, both as the old ruined town and as a new town more removed from the dry stream-bed The area is a tourist attraction because of the “ghost town” and because of the wonderful gorge carved by the river over the centuries near there. It is about 2 miles long and is about 100 to 150 feet deep.
It is quite sinuous and beautifully modulated in varying hues of every earth tone imaginable. The old town sat on the side of the gorge which was an excellent barrier to foreign invasions. Today the vendors set up their stalls selling everything from scarves to sand roses (an interesting tufa formation found in dried river and stream- beds which really are shaped like roses) at one end of the gorge while the ruined city sits further down on the opposite side. The gorge is variously called the Mides Gorge or the Mides Ravine. The heat was oppressive on the day we visited and we were also on a time limited visit, so we were unable to hike down in the ravine. However, maybe we should all feel relieved that we were not tempted since the place would be a death trap for sure if unexpected rains filled the huge depression. There would have been no way to climb up the steep sides to safety.
The ruined city is haunting because of the shadows, the partially crumbled walls, the obvious fact that people were living here when the rains came. Some died as a result of the floods; others lost their homes and their livelihoods. Today you see a young boy, already wise to what attracts tourists, bring his mother donkey up into the abandoned roads of the ruined city with her adorable baby black burro trotting along beside her. Of course, we all rushed up to stroke the baby and speak endearing words to it. The baby was so fetching, so we asked the names of his burros. How surprised and
disappointed we were to learn that Moroccans do not name their animals. So the photographers in the group took many pictures of the boy, the mother, and the baby burro and gave the boy the tip he was working for.
The current city of Mides sits in a different part of the oasis and is more utilitarian than picturesque and Chokri told us that the townspeople are suffering due to the volcanic ash cloud preventing the tourists who usually are here at this time from arriving. Unlike having a rain “flood,” these folks needed a big deluge of tourists. Though it was unfortunate for the town's citizens, we enjoyed having the whole place to ourselves. The ruins appeared more haunted with no one crowding the half windows and doors around us. The quiet added to the atmosphere of the devastated town.
Tamerza
Tamerza was the other modern ghost village we visited across the dry stream bed fronting the Tamerza Hotel and Spa. All during the day the light played on the broken walls, collapsed roofs, snaky streets cluttered with sand brick debris, the faded mosque dome creating different views each time because of the ever- changing colors. Finally, Kay and I could stand it no longer and at dusk we strolled across the sandy stream-bed and entered the desolate ruins to explore. Dusty green palm fronds swayed along the back edge of the village, outlining the oasis which had no doubt spawned a town here in the first place. The sun was beginning its journey downward behind the stony mountains opposite the oasis. The flaming colors shot over to the spectral village and created pure gold from the straw bricks remaining in place. Reds, oranges, beiges and yellows were present as well; our sun is a brilliant painter when given an appropriate canvas to work on.
We walked through the village, exploring every street and house and imagining the people who had lived there. We saw the abandoned mosque now filled with so much sand that its pillars were short and the ceiling and dome were practically within my reach.
How many of those devout Muslims wondered aloud (or in silent prayer) whatAllah was punishing them for with the destruction of their village. The rains poured down like Noah's flood and there was no ark to lift them to safety either. Despite the melancholy that attached itself to the glowing village, we enjoyed that evening walk almost as much as anything other activity we pursued in North Africa.
UNEXPECTED PHENOMENA
Though we saw relatively clean streets in both cities and towns, one sight puzzled us very much and we never got an answer. The Moroccan streets, roads, highways, alleys, and dirt lanes all showed one thing in common: piles of “stuff” all along the way. Often it was stones piled up, sometimes trash, other times wood. It appeared to us that the Moroccans spent a lot of time stacking things up, tearing down the piles, and re-stacking the stuff somewhere else. We even watched some of the ever- moving piles being helped in the process. So we knew this was an ongoing task for the natives. The Tunisians didn't seem to be in the grip of this gratuitous work habit.
Also in Morocco we observed the awful presence of millions of plastic bags being tossed in the wind everywhere—cities and towns, fields, orchards, oases, riversides, gorges, pastures, and even the dry desert itself. This government needs to ban plastic bags entirely or make them redeemable for cash or Morocco will be soon be invisible under a heaving and billowing mass of plastic bags—like some sort of monster from science fiction! Again, we don't know why, but the Tunisians didn't seem to have this problem either.
GUIDES AND DRIVERS
Our contact with Tunisians and Moroccans was pretty much limited to our guides and drivers in both countries. English is not widely spoken in either country and none of us are fluent in French either. Therefore, conversation was only possible with the people we encountered through the tourist industry such as hotel registrars, waiters, bellboys, and a few shopkeepers. Of course that means that our impressions of both countries are largely shaped by Chokri, Bashir, and Foued in Tunisia and by Hicham and Mustafa in Morocco.
Chokri, the Tunisian guide, was professorial in demeanor and probably somewhere between 55 and 60, judging from his appearance as well as the ages of his children. He had been educated both in Tunisia and in England with his studies in England centered on the Romantic Poets and later on archeology. He had participated in some “digs” in Tunisia and Libya and had taught in college in Tunisia for about 10 years before retiring from education and joining the tourist industry, probably
because tourism pays better than teaching. He was married and had adopted his wife's daughter by a first marriage and had twin boys of his own with this wife. We know that his hometown was Sousse which we never visited even though it was on the coast between Monastir and the island of Djerba. Actually he was pretty reserved about his personal life but we were able to infer that he was not a devout Muslim but instead disregarded any organized religion.
When we visited one mosque in Kairouen however he did tell us his mother had visited that place seeking relief from ill health. She felt that her prayers had been answered and that her subsequent recovery of strength and good health was a true miracle. His skepticism was clear, though his affection for his mother was also obvious.
Chokri had considerable knowledge of the history of Tunisia all the way back to Carthage and Rome, but it was difficult for him with only 4 of us as “students.” Have myself taught before, I sympathized: lecturing a large group is much easier than a very small one. His knowledge was deep and our interest fairly shallow so the currents didn't always run well together. But he persevered and we did learn a good deal in spite of ourselves. If nothing else, he gave us enough new information to spur us on to individual research on our return home if the curiosity lingered.
Two things about Chokri were surprising to us: one physical and the other philosophical. When we met him at the airport, it was plain almost immediately that he had lost his left forearm somewhere along the way. Never did he refer to it so we never knew why and because he was so at ease with the situation himself we surmised that whatever had befallen him had happened in the fairly distant past. He never seemed at a disadvantage in handling his duties including lots of paper shuffling but he rarely went without a sweater on (no matter how hot). He was always accommodating to us and was perfectly fluent in English though he spoke with an accent which sometimes made words puzzling for a split second. Though he was not without a sense of humor it was rather restrained and never boisterous— probably an aspect of his professorial attitude.
Bashir, our first and best Tunisian driver, spoke only spotty English though we believed he understood much more than he let on. Sometimes we could see his face in the rearview mirror and he was smiling at something funny one of us had said. He too was very generous with his time, taking us to places not on the schedule and picking us up from restaurants during the evening hours. Of course, we were aware that he was working primarily for tips, but his attitude was still much appreciated and his tips reflected that. He was always polite and helpful with baggage, opening and closing doors, keeping the van floors clean. Most important to us, he was a very careful and safe driver and never frightened us on any roads in cities and towns or out on the very narrow highways connecting towns.
On the other hand, when we lost the gracious & sensible Bashir, we saw another side of drivers for tourists. As we started out for the southern half of our explorations of Tunisia, we were introduced to Foued (pronounced as though it was spelled Fwed). He was as opposite to Bashir (as a driver and as a human being) as it was possible to imagine except for one thing. Foued also could understand more English than he would admit to speaking. When we met him that first morning in Kairouen, Chokri told us that he was involved in desert car racing, as a pit crew member. I foolishly thought that this experience would make him a good driver! Oh how wrong can one be?
Foued was a hard looking man of about 50 who proved to be as implacable as his appearance. He drove at the same speed whatever the conditions. And that speed was FAST: no, not just fast, more like supersonic. We all expected to reach Mach 1 in two blocks. He did not care what the road conditions were, whether there were heedless children, jostling teens, timorous old folks, plodding burros, awkward camels, tiny motorcycles, skittish horses, huge lumbering semis, or slow-moving vehicles on the road in front of him or along the shoulders. We quickly surmised that he had very little, if any, peripheral vision because he nearly clipped so many people, objects or animals on the road sides.
He had all of us in full “flight or fright” mode. Dan usually sat in the front seat beside him and a couple of times had to grab the wheel because it appeared Foued had dozed off. We constantly plied him with candy, chewing gum, and water in our futile attempts to keep him alert. Because he spoke little or no English, conversation was not a useful tool in the fight against sleep. At the end of a leg of driving, we would all pile out of the van completely frozen up from all the muscle tightness we experienced while Fearless Foued rocketed through Tunisia. We did not just have white knuckles, our whole bodies were tensed and bloodless.
Any reaction on our part did not produce slower speeds or more careful driving if anything it exacerbated Foued’s addiction to speed. Chokri seemed to be more afraid of speaking to the grim looking Foued than he was frightened by his driving. So we never got any help from him either. We all spent quite a bit of time pleading with God, Allah, the Universe, or whatever that we might actually arrive alive ourselves, not having been part of killing anyone or crippling anyone or any creatures.
Foued's surly temperament, except on the last day when he suddenly turned ingratiating (knowing that the tip was due then), proved to be as intractable as his determination to drive though all of Southern Tunisia in just a few hours. He was never helpful (except on the last day) in any way. He just drove. He never smiled or greeted us in the morning. He was enraged one morning when we asked Chokri if we could leave one of the hotels half an hour earlier than previously announced the night before. All we wanted was to move the time from 9:00 AM. back to 8:30 AM. Yet he was standing with us when we asked
and he had finished his breakfast and seemed as ready as anyone to get on the road. But he remained nastier than ever that entire day. Our reason for the request seemed sensible to us; we wanted to use the earlier morning light for photography in the desert.
Our gratitude was boundless when we were finally dropped at the airport in Tunis by Foued for our flight to Casablanca. We could all breathe again knowing that Foued had not killed anyone during his time with us!
We were happy to have the same guide and driver all through Morocco. Hicham, pronounced as if it was spelled Esham, was young and still had considerable enthusiasm about tourist guiding, meeting new people, and sharing information about his country in an engaging way. He commanded excellent English as well but possessed the added advantage of speaking with little or no accent. Even better than those assets, Hicham was much more “in sync” with our senses of humor, sarcastic and quick, so that he clearly enjoyed our company. That in itself endeared him to us more rapidly and permanently.
He had a university education but not in classical history or literature. He shared little of his private life as well except that we did know he was married and had a toddler daughter. Mustafa was our only driver in Morocco and we were delighted with him. He was young himself, probably younger by a few years than Hicham, and he was a superb driver considerate of everyone else on the roads whether they were riding or walking, alert to the entire scene, and keeping safe speeds to match the conditions. He actually saved us from a what would have a terrible accident through his focused attention and his quick reactions. We were in heavy traffic leaving a tourist site, coming around on a hilly curve on the outside. A bus approaching us suddenly pulled out into our lane (and there was only one lane) and started towards a head-on collision. Mustafa reacted immediately and took our van out of danger by pulling off on the shoulder in a controlled manner. The bus driver saw his mistake and pulled back into his own lane but I think that Mustafa saved us even had the bus continued in our lane. For that bit of driving, we were all very grateful and happy to be with Mustafa at the wheel rather than the Mad Foued.
Like Bashir, Mustafa was always helpful, friendly, and generous with his time. We often saw him with a twinkle in his eye, reacting to the near constant bantering that went on in the van between the four of us and Hicham. It didn't escape any of us that he too understood much more than he could express in English. He always greeted us with a smile of welcome, even before the final day when the tipping would begin. We liked him very much, particularly his driving disposition and ability.
THE CLIMATE
Everyone congratulated us on visiting North Africa at the best possible season since the weather was relatively mild. While we did experience some heat, it was never so hot that we were really uncomfortable. Sometimes we were actually chilly but not cold. The temperatures went between the 70s and the low 90s in the days and the 40s at night. It rained on us only very occasionally and then it was quite spotty and over quickly. While the sun seemed to be quite intense through the bluest and clearest skies, none of us ever burned, even though we did not often use sunscreen Kay and I did not use it at all. Once we had an overcast sky all day (in Morocco, heading for the Sahara) but Hicham informed us that this was very unusual and did not presage rain. He thought it was due to the ash cloud from Iceland. While in Northern Tunis, we wore jackets every day so it was easy to understand why Chokri wore his sweater always as well.
The guides in both countries told us that temperatures in the summer months would be very, very hot, often climbing above 100 degrees. Both worried about Ramadan this year since it would fall in August. Ramadan dates change from year to year because the Islamic holy days are based on the lunar calendar. At any rate, both men foresaw health problems in their countries since Ramadan requires refraining from both food and drink during daylight hours of that month. The heat would make it particularly distressing for workers, older people, anyone who could not escape the weather and the sun because they cannot relieve their thirst until after the evening prayers somewhere between 5:30 and 7:30 PM
We chafed at the fact that women, especially older ones, and many of all ages in the countryside were swathed in so much clothing long skirts, long sleeves, and head covers. How on earth could they regulate their body temperatures under all that fabric? We saw the garment of choice for both men and women in the south of Morocco was a full-length robe and hood over whatever other clothing the people chose. So there must be something to preventing the sun from hitting any part of the body to avoid heat stroke or prostration. We were glad we did not have to wear all that clothing during the summer of Ramadan in either Tunisia or Morocco! Shorts and T-shirts sounded like the costume we would prefer were we to visit North Africa during Ramadan in summertime. No chance of that visit however nor of that clothing option
A TYPICAL DAY
While this sojourn in North Africa was busy in that we were doing different things all the time every day, it was not at all strenuous. We did less walking than we would have enjoyed and most of that “exercise” was strolling through market places in all the cities & towns we visited or wandering through the many ruined places in Morocco and Tunisia.
Following our usual practice, we never planned to meet for breakfast though it often happened that we did just because of the time schedule for meeting the guide and driver. The breakfasts were included in the hotel costs so we always had that meal there. Breakfasts always included eggs, bacon, usually potatoes prepared rather like home fries, fruit and fruit juices and bread and pastries. So, we can't really tell you what a typical North African breakfast for the locals would be.
Around 8:30 or 9 AM, we would be collected by the guide and driver and off we would go out for the day's adventures. Lunch had usually not been paid in advance, so we would go to local restaurants though obviously they were geared for tourists.
Some were better than others as you would expect. All would have foods that were familiar to us. The delicious olives appeared on every table as did the red hot sauce in Tunisia only. We could have fish, lamb, beef, sandwiches, soups, and breads. In Tunisia the lunches were more reasonably priced than in Morocco. Because we became quickly over-saturated with eating, we began to beg for places which did not serve such enormous meals, but we were not very successful in that plea. However, the food was wholesome and none of us fell victim to the “turista” bug. Lunch typically occurred between 12:30 and 2:00 depending on what we were doing around that time of day.
Generally, after our giant lunch, we would continue with sightseeing, rolling along through the medinas or groaning at all the food displayed in the souks. Never were we ever tempted to buy any street food because we were kept so stuffed at all times. The North Africans, at least the young women and all the men, are slender and lithe. Older women did seem to run to corpulence, at least the ones we saw on the streets. But the younger people must think that Americans and Europeans do nothing but eat at least if they made their judgments based on our “waddles” through the medinas after meals!
Tourist activities ended around 4 or 5 PM on most days. We would then return to our hotel to enjoy the amenities, get clean, read a bit, and then make our way to the hotel dining room for another meal thus vindicating the surmises of the North Africans about our eating habits. Usually we ate in the hotel but not because the meals were prepaid (though a few were) but because it was easiest. Finding our way around the circuitous streets where we stayed was difficult at best and we had no idea where we might find an appropriate restaurant. The one evening we did go out on our own, we failed in the quest and ended up back at the hotel.
Whether we were taken to a different restaurant by the guides and drivers or stayed in the hotel, the evening meal always took at least two hours to complete. Since we usually made the dinner reservations for time periods
between 6:30 to 7:30 PM, we were rarely back at the hotel until about 10 PM. That's why our days in North Africa seemed (and were) so very long. But that's what we were paying for long and adventurous days seeing as much as possible of the countries we visited.
CONCLUSION
This Caravan Trip was rich in every way tourists want. We had sensory overload in all five senses. Of course sight is our most dramatic way of encountering the world and there was so much to see that was different and beautiful and dramatic and sad and exhilarating and colorful that our eyes never rested from looking. As Kay's stepdad, Charles, once told us during a trip to Banff and Lake Louise, “our eyes were sore from all the looking.”
Taste was probably the most overworked of the five. Eating and drinking were a big part of the whole experience. The cuisines were different from each other and also different from anything we had enjoyed before. The only problem with that indulgence was the prodigious amounts of food we were served and consumed. Back to Weight Watchers was a must after we left North Africa.
Hearing was also gratified in many ways birdsong, muezzins calling the faithful to prayers, talk and laughter in the souks and medinas, unfamiliar music in the cities and towns, unexpected running waters in waterfalls, chuckly streams, even rapidly moving rivers rushing and slipping over rocks in their beds. The constant “music” of completely unknown languages which were so unfamiliar as to be unguessable. Even the sound of French in our heads, some of which we could parse out. The rumble of cart wheels and the clip-clopping of horse and burro hooves. Even the deep protesting groans of the camels as they would rise and couch to let us on & off their backs. Many continued their grumbling even during the ride. Sometimes even the quiet was a “hearing” experience. In the desert the silence could be profound, except when interrupted by the wind plucking at clothing or camel equipage. The ruined city of Tamerza was a very quiet spot.
The olfactory nerves were not left untingled either. So many different odors in the medinas and souks, emanating from the different foodstuffs on sale, particularly the freshly baking breads, the many spices adding their tangs and temptations, the fish markets and butcher shops with their half spoiled
aromas, even the really odoriferous scents rising up from the 11th century tannery enclosed in the medina at Fez.
At the restaurants there was always the delectable aromas of the foods being served. As anyone knows who has explored market places anywhere in the world, smells are part of the attraction and that was certainly the case in North Africa.
There were even plenty of tactile experiences particularly in the Roman and other ruins where we could feel the cracks and the breaks in structures, the textures of the surfaces of marble and stone. In the souks we would touch the fabrics and feel their softness or roughness. The coarse hairs on the camel's necks and heads were interesting as were the silkiness of the various cats we were able to stroke. The wonderful bedding in so many of the hotels constituted a great all over tactile experience too.
Suffice it to say, this visit to North Africa was completely absorbing and satisfying in so many different ways. Intellectually it was challenging because of all the new things to learn about the history of this place. Esthetically we were pleased because there was so much beauty and artistry around us. Philosophically our minds were broadened by exposure to a culture based on different values from our own. Emotionally we were delighted at the whole experience.
In this journal you will not find detailed descriptions of all the cities, towns, oases, and villages we visited because it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words. We hope that you will both enjoy and learn that North Africa is a wonderful area of the world in every sense of that word.
