Story and Photos by Ashok Khanna.
On an Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) tour of Morocco with 11 fellow travelers from all over the US, I found the culture and melting pots of the medinas (bazaars) noteworthy, particularly in contrast with the isolation of the desert. Busy as the medinas were during the day,they came especially alive at night when small bands played local music, and some people danced. By morning, the contrast was striking with just stray cats and dogs scavenging for food, while small delivery trucks resupplied restaurants and shops.
My first visit to Morocco was in 1963, when a classmate from my boarding school in India, whose father happened to be India’s ambassador to Morocco, invited me. At that time, my girlfriend and I hitchhiked from London through France and Spain and took a ferry from Seville to Tangiers. I don’t remember much about what we saw in Morocco. We were in Tangiers for a few days, spent some time at a beach, and then took a train to Rabat to stay with my friend. After a few days, we traveled with his family to Casablanca where we were comped at a fancy boutique hotel with a pool because we were traveling with the Ambassador. I recall that all the main arterial roads in cities were named Hassan II, the reigning monarch, or Mohammad V, his father. I was drawn to Morocco by the movie “Casablanca” and by the abduction and ransom of the heiress Barbara Hutton in Tangiers, which was in the news at the time. William Burrows wrote his famous novel “Naked Lunch” there. Most of all, though, was the attraction of Fes and Marrakech, where hippies had congregated. Sadly, we never made it there. Missing those legendary cities left a sense of incompleteness that has lingered for decades, which I sought to quench with this current tour visit.
Morocco was a different country in 1963 than it is now. It had then just disengaged from France’s colonial rule of 44 years, just 7 years before my visit, and was ruled by the monarch Hassan II. It had a population of around 13 million and a per capita income of just $208. It was a poor country. In 2024, Morocco has 38 million inhabitants and a per capita income of $3,500, making it a middle-income country. It has also become a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature and an independent judiciary. Now, its roads are excellent, as are the rest stops, which have restaurants, convenience stores, and clean toilets. These facilitate tourism, the second largest foreign exchange earner after phosphate exports.
Because of its strategic location at the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, Morocco has been populated since antiquity. It had Phoenician settlements and later became a part of the Carthaginian empire. The earliest Moroccan state was a Berber kingdom annexed by Rome in 44 AD. As evidence of Rome’s presence, on our tour, we visited Volubilis, where the remains of a Roman city lie situated among rolling hills planted with olives and dotted with Cypress trees, much like an Italian landscape. The well-preserved mosaics at the site are impressive, and the arched Roman gate at one end is reminiscent of so many others in Italy.
Berbers are the area’s indigenous people and are thought to be related to the Saami of Scandinavia. In the 7th Century, Arabs started streaming in and changed the demography and religion. They are now the most prominent portion of the population. Added to the mix are people from Sudan and West Africa who were brought as slaves and soldiers by the chieftains through the centuries. These cultures seem to have melded in a way that no racial discrimination is readily apparent. Morocco dominated the Iberian Peninsula for several hundred years in the 8th Century and created the Andalusian civilization. The Inquisition drove the Moors of Andalusia into Morocco. Now, people speak Moroccan Arabic, a Berber language, and have also assimilated French from the short period of its colonial rule.
Culture: It’s hard to generalize about a culture from a two-week tour visit, but I have impressions. For a Sunni-Islamic country, Morocco feels more accepting of other ways of life, although women’s status and dress codes are still evolving. The OAT tour organized meetings to expose us travelers to local culture. We met with a middle-class family where the mother worked in human resources and wore a hijab, but her elder daughter, a doctor, did not and was dressed in trousers and a shirt in a photograph. The younger daughter, an optometrist, chose to wear a hijab. Within the family, these choices of clothing were not an issue.
Women’s clothing choices appeared more problematic in poorer, less educated families. A young lady we were introduced to told us of her struggles to break free from tradition, get an education, and move into the modern world. Another young woman, our tour guide in Meknes, also related her effort to become the first female in that role. For the two nomadic Berber families we met, the choices made by the parents for their children will dramatically affect their future lives. In one case, in a shepherd family, the mother left her children with her family, who had a fixed home to enable them to attend school. She did not want them to have her nomadic life. In contrast, another nomadic Berber family decided to keep the children as nomads and not send them to school because they wanted the children of different ages to stay together and not be separated.
A brickmaker’s family we met had traditional roles, with the man making the bricks and tending the farm and the woman looking after the small, clean house and cooking. They served us bread stuffed with spicy vegetables and the ubiquitous green mint tea in their adjoining farm by a stream, followed by a couscous lunch indoors. Later that afternoon, we met a women’s organization in that village, which was partially funded by our tour company. It gave women a place to meet by themselves and learn skills such as baking and henna painting.
In other ways, too, the Moroccan practice of Islam seemed tolerant. Christian churches stood close to mosques, and Jewish temples thrived in medinas (bazaars) before most Jews migrated to Israel. The Jewish Moroccans were traders in salt, sugar, and gold. Many migrated there when they were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. The rulers of Morocco harbored them at that time, and the French colonial officers also protected the Jews from the Nazis during WW II. Several Jews rose to prominence as advisors to Moroccan monarchs.
Conveniently for tourists, alcohol can now be consumed openly. However, other stringent Islamic laws remain. Homosexuality is illegal, and pre-marital sex is a crime. It is also illegal to proselytize for any religion other than Islam and defame the monarchy in any way. As a visitor, I have no idea how rigidly these laws are enforced.
The Tour: Most tour members flew into Casablanca and were transferred by bus to Rabat, the French colonial capital. On the way, I noticed many modern housing developments, especially on the shoreside of the highway, a sure sign of a middle-income economy. We stayed in Casablanca for a couple of days, walked through the Kasbah (fortress), and drove through the Royal Palace and the modern part of the capital which was built by the French. The French Quarter had elegant shops and cafes with outdoor seating. We also stopped to visit a modern Islamic mausoleum for the present king’s grandfather, Mohammed V. Nearby, there was a striking El Burj-like tower named Mohammed VI designed by Rafael de la Hoz, a Spanish architect, and an elegant opera house designed by Zaha Hadid, the famous architect from Iraq. Leaving Rabat, our tour route took us in a wide circle, moving east and over the Atlas Mountains to Fes, then south to the Sahara, back north for a western approach through the mountains to Marrakech, and finally ending up back in Casablanca.
En route east to Fes, we traversed past undulating hills planted with wheat and barley. Soon though, the landscape became barren, with struggling shrubs growing out of hard-scrabble rock. That vegetation finally ended in the desert. This soon may be a bit of an exaggeration since the government is making an effort to “green” arid areas by providing incentives and infrastructure to farmers. We drove through townships that looked completely new and had clusters of date farms. Generally, villages consisted simple brick and cement or mud-covered small houses or huts, and the villagers walking around were distinctly poorer than in the northern cities. Between villages, we now and again saw an isolated date farm fed by water from artesian wells. We visited one such date farm in the Sahara, where the farmer also planted herbs and vegetables.
Most of Morocco’s agriculture is grown by the ocean and sea in the north. It employs about 40 percent of the country’s labor force and provides the bulk of Morocco’s food except for cereals, which are imported.
Fes, Meknes, and Marrakech: Fes and Marrakech (my missed destinations from my 1963 trip – 60 years ago) and Meknes were the historic capitals of Moroccan Arab kingdoms. Today, Fes and Marrakech are large populous cities that are important for tourism. Each has modern sections, but our lodgings were in the medinas, which remain the main tourist attraction.
Growing up in India, I was used to bazaars, crowds, noise, snake charmers, performing monkeys, music, and dance. But the bazaars of Fes and Marrakech are huge, on a scale very different from my memories of India. Historic parts of many medinas date to the 9th century. Miles of narrow winding alleys with small shops on both sides neatly display goods. Sections of each bazaar are divided by type of product— clothes, food, spices, perfumes, woodwork, brass, etc. Although it was crowded in the alleys, especially with scooters and motorbikes inching their way through, I didn’t feel pressed, people were polite and motorbikes somehow managed not to injure anyone. As shopkeepers outnumbered customers and seemed to be sitting around all day looking at their phones, chatting with each other, or simply looking bored, we wondered how so many shops plying similar goods survived.
Madrassas, synagogues, mausoleums, gardens: Karaouine mosque and university, and the Bahia palace were embedded in the maze of medina alleys in Casablanca. The synagogue was decorated simply but had an ancient Torah. Other buildings were covered from floor to ceiling in colorful tiles, cursive and symmetric calligraphy, painted cedarwood ceilings, and heavy decorated wood doors. This type of artistry was the core of the Andalusian civilization in Spain, which in turn influenced that in Morocco after Spain expelled the Moors and resettled in Morocco. Indeed, some rectangular gardens, called Andalusian, are entered with narrow pathways and lined with places to sit and admire the profusion of colorful citrus fruit amidst the aromatic environment.
Sahara: Leaving Fes, our route took us over the mid-Atlas Mountains covered with pine and cedar trees. Suddenly, we found ourselves in Ifrane, a replicated Swiss town littered with chalets and red tile roofs. It has an upscale university, but we just stopped for a short break in the main square. Our long drive down through arid hills ended in Erfoud. There, we overnighted before a two-day excursion into the Sahara in four-wheel drive Toyota Land Cruisers that slid through the desert sands into a comfortable OAT tent camp.
The scenic beauty of the desert was impressive. We also experienced a tourist camel ride, for which getting on and off was hazardous and the riding experience unusual. Sand-boarding tracks, in addition to camel and Toyota tracks, were in view in the desert sands. That sport, I did not know existed.
For me, a Sahara highlight was listening to Gnaoua music in the village of Khamila. Many of our tour members had listened to a “60 Minutes” segment about this music genus which was created by African slaves who used their metal shackles as castanets. African American musicians have come to Morocco to participate in this music and publicize it. Inspired. we did a group dance at the end of the performance. Tourist kitsch, but fun. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate for us to view either a desert sunrise or sunset.
As our tour wound its way north out of the desert, we stopped in Tinejdad, a village with a Berber museum. Unusual, it was just a few connected huts with low ceilings and small rooms displaying how homes were made, how food was cooked and stored, and a display of clothes and jewelry for normal use, and then even much more for elaborate weddings. The next day, we stopped at a 12th-century village, Ait Benhaddou. Here, a local guide related how the village was built along a former caravan route which traded salt and gold from modern Ghana across the Sahara to Marrakech. The village represented a great example of picturesque earthen clay architecture.
Casablanca: Our tour ended with a short stop in Casablanca, just an afternoon and evening before an early morning flight the next day. The highlight was a private tour of the huge Hassan II Mosque. Construction took 7 years to complete and can accommodate thousands of worshipers. The architecture and decorations are executed in an elaborate Moorish style. The mosque currently employs about ten thousand workers and craftsmen to foster the dying artistic skills in tile, calligraphy, and cedarwood painting. That evening, we had dinner at Rick’s Café, which was made famous by the movie Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The line outside was long with about 50 East Asians preceding us. This let me to assume our visit would be a touristic disaster, but it turned out to be quite a pleasant evening with good food (see below).
Shopping: A tourist visit is not complete without shopping for local souvenirs. Throughout the tour, our guides selected reliable artisans to give us demonstrations of their crafts while allowing us to browse the offerings without pressure to purchase. We visited studios and shops for pottery, leather, rugs, spices, and fossils. Sadly, as I was in the process of downsizing, I decided not to buy anything on this trip. One pottery workshop made colorful designs, which we saw in our residences (see below) and in some restaurants for the decoration of tables, fountains, and walls. A well-established tannery cured the leather and then used it in their designed handbags and elegant clothes. A carpet store laid out carpets with a flourish and endless colorful rugs in many sizes. In one medina, a spice store regaled us with the virtues of many spices. Finally, near the Sahara, fabricators cut and smoothed stones embedded with fossils and shaped them into plates, table tops, and statues. As these fossils are millions of years old, I overcame my resistance and bought a cheese plate for my daughter.
Hotels: In Rabat, Fes, and Marrakech, we stayed at former joint-family homes called riads in the medinas. These riads have been converted into small hotels. Most have a central rectangular courtyard surrounded by rooms going up several stories. The ground floor is usually tiled with elaborate, colorful mosaics. In Rabat, I had a large room with a high ceiling, which was comfortable but not easy to heat. In Fes, my room was tiny, with the opposite issue of being too warm. In both places, running hot water was an issue. I Fes, our guide showed us a large Riad (Salam) that combined several old mansions. The decorations were elaborate and colorful, almost overwhelming. Everything worked well in Marrakech, and sitting in the comfortable and peaceful courtyard of the riad was a pleasure. Hotels in other cities were fine, and the Berber Palace Hotel in Quarzazarte near the Sahara was remarkable for its Egyptian motif. The OAT’s desert tent camp was surprisingly cozy and had ample hot water thanks to solar panels that provided electricity.
Food: Having eaten several times in Mourad Lahlou’s two restaurants (Aziza and Mourad) in San Francisco, I expected food in Morocco to occasionally match his Michelin star level. I was disappointed. My pescatarian dietary preference was taken to be vegetarian, and so I got endless tagines with couscous. It was fine, but often, it was topped with over-cooked mushy vegetables that had no taste. Still, the starter salads, like mezze, especially those made with lentils and eggplant, were tasty. I liked the baked egg omelet with spiced mixed vegetables inside, especially at the village restaurant near the Berber Museum and also at the OAT’s desert camp. Crème brulee at a village restaurant was quite creditable. Our farewell dinner in Marrakech at the stately and elaborate Red House was memorable. Surprisingly, my last meal of the trip, a seafood pasta, at Rick’s Café, a complete tourist place, was quite delicious, especially with the strains of “As Time Goes By” playing in the background. I tasted a couple of local wines, a Volubilis Rose and Medallion Red Blend. Both were eminently potable to drink with or without food.
IF YOU GO: The following links may be helpful: Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) tour; Morocco Tourism; Volubilis; Casablanca, Fes-Meknes, Rabat, Marrakech, Gnawa musicians, Ait Benhaddou, Ifrane, Bahia Palace, Hassan II Mosque, Berbere Palace Hotel in Quarzazarte, Red House restaurant in Marrakech, Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca.