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Datum: 20-01-2017    Sale and Rabat, Marokko Part 5
 From Christmas to New Year’s Day
It is a strange sensation to celebrate Christmas this year in a country like Morocco. Far away from family, friends and the Christmas-mood in the Netherlands. Rabat is a modern city, where a limited number of shops has made an effort by placing a Christmas tree and that’s it then. Not really cosy, no festively lit streets or nice Christmas music. Fortunately, I have taken some Christmas decorations with me and also some lights to make it a bit more cosy. Also because of some funny and cosy Christmas thingies a good friend sent to me, we are able to create a Christmas mood on board. We even have a mini-fake-Christmas tree we bought at the supermarket, which we set outside the cockpit with a few lights in it! The mood is there, but the feeling is different. We decide to fabricate some sort of dinner for Christmas Day. What we are going to have on Boxing Day…oh, we’ll work something out. We have hired a car for the time between Christmas and New Year’s Day to explore the hinterland.

On Christmas Day we have something sweet on the side at our coffee and in the evening we inaugurate our tajine with the cooking of a delicious rabbit. On the saloon table there are some Christmas decorations, the candles are burning and the Christmas lights are on. During dinner we play the Christmas CD sent by Mila (thanks for this!) Our first Christmas à deux on board in a strange land.

We very much want to see something of the midlands of Morocco and rented a car for 5 days. It is delivered to us on Boxing Day. The week before we figured out what the best place to rent was. Because the prices at internationally known rental businesses, like AVIS, are so much higher than the local ones, we decided to go into business with a local rental company. We went to YADOCH (www.HighWayCar-Rabat.com)in Rabat (16, avenue Fal Ould Oumeir, 2nd floor) and talked it through. From Boxing Day on we have a car at our disposal, a Peugeot 301. Unfortunately without gps, but we have a tablet computer and a cell phone with gps. Boxing Day we use the car to drive to the supermarket, to get some stock supplies and we drive around a bit along the coast of Salé. In the days to come we are going to explore the hinterland. Our neighbours, Petra and Martin will take care of Kit for one night, when we sleep over at Chefchaouen.

Day 2, to Fez.
Distance about 210 km, 2,5 hour’s drive. We take the highway A2, a pike, which looks fine.
Underway, again we see lorries stacked up real high and a group of bikers riding this highway! The landscape is varied: from flat country with shrubs, to barren meadows, turning into a beautiful green sloping countryside where cows graze. Long ago they disposed of a particular irrigation system (a concrete gutter on feet) of kilometres long. Now you only see the dilapidated remnants alongside the road, like some sort of art work. Slowly, the mountains come in sight, some of them barren with a shrub here and there, others like a beautiful green patchwork.

We near Fez and you can notice that immediately by the waste lying alongside the road. Fez of Fes is one of the 4 Royal Towns of Morocco and has around 1 million inhabitants. It is the 3rd largest city after Casablanca and Marrakech, but above the capital Rabat. Because of its rank of Royal Town, the city is visited by quite a lot of tourists every year. For Moroccans, Fez is the student’s city of Morocco and is known for the Karueein University, which has been there since 859. Of course there is the beautiful Royal Palace, Dar-el-Makhzen, for which we had no time; pity. Fez exists of two parts, a modern part with modern shopping malls, infrastructure, educational institutions, housing and hotels and lovely parks with gigantic palm trees. We see rows and rows of red taxis, every city has its own colour. The 2nd part consists of the old Medina. We prefer to visit this part. Around noon we come to the parking lot at the Medina, where a man will keep an eye on your car for a few DH.
We walk in the direction of the official entrance gate “Bab Bou Jeloud”, also called the ‘blue gate’, because of its beautiful blue mosaics. We have a drink on a terrace, before entering the Medina. It is swarming with tourists here and soon the tour guides are presenting themselves. We printed a plan in advance and try to find the way ourselves through this labyrinth of winding streets, dead-end alleys, half-lit souks and hidden gardens. When you enter the Medina, you walk into another world of narrow streets, full of small shops with clothes, herbs and spices, groceries and fruit, dates, figs and many sweet knick-knacks, pottery and all sorts of oil. They have a gift for piling in Morocco. Dozens of shoes, dresses, scarfs and headgear, neatly sorted out by type and colour. They are much more adjusted to tourists here, they all want to palm something off on you. Every few metres you pass a beautifully inlaid mosaic fountain, where they gather their water and wash themselves before going to the mosque to pray. By now I look at the Medina from another point of view, so to say.  Because when you look around you and throw a glance in a dark alley now and then, you see the poverty, the piles of dumped garbage, the ruinous state of some of the houses, neglected horses, who are standing there, tied up etc. It is a pity a lot of these things escape most tourists, because it is sad to see how careless they are here with animals and with waste and don’t give a hoot about the degradation of their surroundings. I often look up in the streets and see the decayed wooden balconies, hanging over the alleys, with ceilings on the verge of breaking down.
By now it is high time we had something to eat and we choose a very colourful restaurant that looks over the Medina and the hills outside the city. For that view we have to walk a lot of narrow steps upwards, but it is worth the trouble. And again, we see here a couple of young kittens walking about, begging for food. We meet an English couple (people, not cats), who come from Bangla Desh originally, with whom we have a nice talk. We have all the time in the world, since we have to wait quite a long time for our lunch. After this late lunch we walk on through the Medina.  Every now and then you have move to the side to make way for a heavily loaded donkey, a horse or a handcart with bright coloured tangerines.
Of course we want to visit the old ‘tanneries’, the tan yards/ dye-works, for which Fez is known. A young men offers to bring us to one of the spots where you have a good view of the dye-works. We walk through the endless streets and on our way see doors with several doorknockers. Our guide explains that every family in a house has its own knocker. We throw a glance at the small weaving mills and see how the carpets are made in an artisan way. Workshops where beautifully coloured vases are furnished with silver decorations. Than we come to the place where we can see the dye-works. Again we have to climb many a stair before arriving. Very interesting and the stench that goes with the washing and colouring of the leather, we take for granted. “Uncle” explains to us how everything works. Of course there is a shop established there and the guy tries to persuade us into buying something. We explain to him that we live on a boat and sail around the world and therefore have a very limited space. Our guide accompanies us to another shop (and another member of the family, of course), where someone tries to talk Fred into buying a leather jacket. In our opinion much too expensive and by the way, what do we need a leather jacket on board?  After that, the young guide shows us how to get out of the Medina. Tired of all the walkabouts, we have a drink on another up-high situated roof terrace. Back at the car we decide to drive up the hill to the old fort, “Bjor Nord”, where you have a beautiful view of the whole city of Fez. It is pretty late by now and we have to drive all the way back to Rabat. When we are almost at the Marina, we decide to have a bite at the local McDonalds. It has been a long day, but certainly worthwhile. Not much later we go down for the count on our saloon couch. Tomorrow is another day, so to bed on time.
 
Day 3, to Chefchaouen
Distance 250 km, almost 4 hour’s drive. It is too far to do this in one day and therefore we check out where we can stay the night. We don’t book a lodging, because there are enough possibilities.
We take the following route: N1 from Rabat-Kenitra-Souk Elarbaa Du Gharb-the the R408 to Ouazzane, and then the N13 to Chefchaouen.
The roads are passable, but you really have to watch out for your fellow road users. While Fred drives the car, I take off my shoes and sit there, relaxed, looking around at the scenery. With the camera on my lap I now and then take a picture of the passing landscape. We have just left the city, when we arrive at a roadblock, with even a spiked mat on the road (No, we are not checked out). We drive past tree nurseries, marshy landscapes, meadows full of large cactuses, green sloping sights, and in the distance we see the mountains getting higher with their alps covered in clouds. We see shepherds with their flock, strange three-wheeled carts, lorries hanging askew because of their load, cars of which the chassis is bent, abandoned houses, carts with donkeys and veiled women, old men sitting on the side of the road, kiosks with pottery, women with big bunches of wood, tied to their backs, playing schoolchildren or children riding home on a donkey.

And then, all of a sudden, a little lamb crosses the street, right in front of our car. Luckily, Fred brakes in time and the car behind us too. I jump out of the car and pick up the little thing, just in time for a too fast grazing and hooting bus. And there I am, on my socks on the right side of the road with a so sweet snow-white lamb in my arms (alas, no pics of this!). The poor thing can’t be much older than one or two days, as clean as he looks and so light in weight. Our cat Kit is heavier. No mother sheep in sight or a herd who has lost a lamb. On the other side of the road we see a shepherd with some sheep and Fred takes the lamb over to the man. It turns out not to be his, but he accepts it anyway. The driver of the car behind us compliments us for saving the lamb. Because of my swift action he will live at least a day longer! My day cannot be ruined from now on, I saved a little lamb! All day long I have a happy feeling.

Chefchaouen is the capital of the province with the same name. The city was founded in 1471, after the Spanish Reconquista, by Moorish and Jewish refugees from Spain. The mountain village served as a fortress against the Portuguese who invaded Morocco. The photogenic town lies in the Rif Mountains and is erected in blue and white and is also called the “blue Jewish village”. All the buildings in the Medina are painted light blue, dark blue, marine blue, indigo blue, azure and blue-and-white. It is a tradition that stems from the time the Jewish refugees used to live here. Nowadays you only hear the muezzin at prayer time. It is not only beautiful, but it also has an extremely relaxed atmosphere. Big chance that the reason for that are the nearby hemp plantations, something for which this area is well-known. Marihuana is, next to leather, goat’s cheese and wool the local speciality. It is not uncommon that a shepherd offers you drugs when you are strolling about. Chefchaouen is the Amsterdam of Morocco.  The beauty of it combined with the simple and relaxed style of living make Chefchaouen one of the nicest destinations in Morocco. Also, the location of Chefchaouen
is beautiful. The name of the town means: ’’look at the horns”. When you look at the surrounding mountains from the valley, it is said to have the shape of horns. Because we are in the mountains it is promptly much cooler.
When we near the town, we first go and look for our hotel “Madrid”. We park the car in a car park. Fortunately, the hotel has a vacancy and what a room it is! The whole hotel is very colourful from the inside with a lot of mosaic and of course the blue-white accents. There is a general area that is completely in red shades. But our hotel room is really special, you would think you are in a fairy tale. The only disturbing factor being the modern tv set. We walk into the Medina, which is right opposite the hotel. As said, it is much cooler here and we underestimated that, so that is why we probably caught a cold. The hotel, the houses and restaurants don’t have heating in them. At lunch we were freezing to death in the restaurant. We stroll through the blue-white streets, see colourful stands with hand-made bags, pots with powdered paint, jewellery, painted wooden stools and cabinets, carpets and wooden objects. We pass by some weaving mills. Although the prices are somewhat higher than in the large cities, the shopping is much more pleasurable here. The locals are less intrusive, maybe because they are stoned. I am on the lookout for a nice piece of cloth to make covers for our saloon couch. In one of the shops I see a lovely cloth and ask the price. 350 DH is the answer. Because it is customary to bargain, I tell him that’s too much. In the end I leave the shop, with the cloth for 150 DH. Did it again! This Medina looks special with all the shades of blue and the pots with plants in front of it. In between you see the cats, prowling around or rolled-up on a chair. But not all of the cats look too well. We find two kittens that are not likely to survive the cold night.  So sad! It is a wonderful town and the Medina is special, but we found it pretty cold. Let’s hope it is not going to be too cold in the hotel tonight. We are tired and decide to have a bite to eat in the restaurant around the corner. And again, it is stone cold here. Even the owner and the service are dressed in thick, quilted coats in spite of the big gas burner/ heating that is in the corner. I risk it and ask if they would switch on the heating. The gas bottle is changed over and somewhat later we are reasonably warm behind our dinner. In the hotel we take another cuppa to get warm and then get into bed.

Day 4, from Chefchaouen back to Rabat
We want to see as much of the countryside as we can, so we take a different route back, making use of the not-so-touristic roads. But first we drive to a viewpoint where we can oversee the town from above. Via a little road, we pass by the local dumping ground, another example of “just throw your shit anywhere, we don’t care”. We find hundreds of little Egrets (white herons) here. But we do have a view of the city. Then it is time for the voyage home.
From Chefchaouen the R412 to Derdara-then the R412 direction Ksar-el-Kebir – then P4404, P4208, P4200, P4202, then P4214 along the coast in the direction of Rabat and the last part on highway A1.
This tour is really an adventurous experience. First we drive on so called ‘normal’ roads, but they turn worse and worse and almost impassable. From smooth asphalt to holes in the road to roads made up of rocks, sand, mud and water puddles. It is really a challenge. We have an ordinary car, no SUV, which would be quite handy now….but we get to notable places, anyway. It is tiring though for Fred to try and avoid all the holes in the road. Some are even so big, that we have to get off the road to pass them by. People turn their heads as we drive passed the muddy roads of their villages. We wave to them and they wave back enthusiastically. We drive through strayed sheep, crossing cows and chickens, passed lovely cacti with fruits on them, hills with beehives and lonely donkeys, walking freely on the road. The countryside is beautiful, the high mountains in the distance, who are even covered in snow. The hills with small rivers flowing through them, which make the earth fertile. The land is being ploughed by hand or, when you are richer, with the help of a donkey or an oxen. The larger rivers go through the valley in between the mountains. Alongside the road we see shy shepherd-girls in costume with funny colourful straw hats. Every now and then there is a kind of bus stop shelter, painted blue-white. Finally we come to a tolerable asphalt road and we near the coast. The last part is ‘normal’. Tired but satisfied we arrive at the Medina and park the car next to a little restaurant. After dinner we let all the impressions pass us by again. In spite of the hardly passable roads, we would not have missed this for the world.

Day 5
On this last day Fred takes the car to the carwash, to get rid of all the mud, because the car looks bad… Or else they might want to know where we took the thing, you never know. We deliver the car cleaner than we got it, anyway. In Morocco there are no car washes as we know it, everything is by hand, manpower is much cheaper! Fred also drives to the gas station to fill the jerrycans with diesel. Then we drive the car back to Rabat and the man from the rental company drives us back to the marina.

New Year’s Eve on board
We have a date with Petra and Martin from the “Bravelander” to pass the evening together. We take care of the dinner, a starter of crab salad with avocado and a roast rabbit as main course. Petra gives this evening a Dutch flavour by making ‘appelflappen’(apple turnovers) and a delicious salad for later in the evening. We watch the New Year’s Eve show of Claudia de Breij (well-known Dutch comedienne) together and listen to ‘Vrienden van de Amstel’(‘Friends of the Amstel’, a musical show). Thus creating a little bit of a ‘Dutch’ atmosphere. At 23:00 we send out our New Year’s wishes by WhatsApp, because it is already an hour later up north. A soon as it strikes 0:00, we toast with champagne on the new year and we wish each other lots of boating fun in 2017! Outside it is strangely silent….they don’t even celebrate the changing of the year in Morocco (because they have a different calendar; translator’s note). It feels so strange, no fireworks, no nothing, what a difference with last year, when we were in the Rotterdam Marina! The only thing you hear is music from one of the restaurants on the quay, where they have a kind of disco.

2017
We have been underway almost 8 months by now and are really used to life on board. We don’t miss Holland for one minute, but we do miss our friends and family! And of course little things, like liquorice, peanut butter, peppermint and chocolate sprinkles. Fortunately we have nice family and friends who send us parcels now and then with titbits! We hope this sailing year will again be one with friendly encounters, sailing or non-sailing. We go for it!
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