I just came back from an exhausting overnight weekend trip to the town of Asilah and the city of Tangiers in northern Morocco, which is about only 70 kilometers apart from each other, but both of which are a good five to six hours away from Fes.
Five of us caught the train leaving Fes yesterday (Saturday) at ten past seven in the morning and we arrived at Asilah around noontime, just in time for lunch. The train ride was straightforward enough but since we left early, we did not have time to eat breakfast. Hence, we were really hungry by the time we got there. We decided to settle for a cheap seafood lunch right outside the medina walls. I had a filling calamari plate with rice and vegetables.
Asilah is basically a beach town. According to the countless travel guides I’ve read, it is famous for the beach (it faces the Atlantic Ocean) and the whitewashed houses against colorful walls inside the medina. In other words, it is for all intents and purposes, a Santorini spin-off. Look at this one…
Lunch was entertaining enough with the huge bunch of umbrellas providing the necessary protection from the harsh noonday sun. We decided to head for the beach after lunch since it was still too hot to walk around the medina. I rented a beach umbrella for 20 Dh (about 2 USD) and laid underneath it while reading my Kindle as the rest of them (three of whom brought swimwear) rushed to the water, though but not until after feeling the cold water with my feet first.
After an hour, we headed inside the city walls and looked around the shops and had coffee. This is what it looks like inside and outside the medina walls.
Two people from our group headed back to Fes and caught the train at around seven in the evening, leaving me and my two guy travel buddies, Colton and Andreas to wait for our own train to Tangiers. I was actually excited for this part of the trip. For me, Tangiers evoked real-world espionage, cosmopolitan gateway to Europe/Africa, East meets West, Truman Capote and Paul Bowles, not to mention the fact that parts of the movie Inception was shot there as well. Whereas Fes would be considered culturally traditional, Tangiers is the exact opposite. Sure enough, bright lights greeted us as we rode the taxi from the train station to the heart of the city.Unlike other Moroccan cities, Arabic is a secondary language it seems. In the train station alone, Spanish was the most prominent language that caught my ear. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to get an alcoholic drink while there. (Actually it looks like it will be a very dry six weeks. The first order of the day when I get back to the US is to get an ice-cold Sam Adams summer ale). We were dead tired when we arrived, and at that point, food was more important than alcohol. We ended up getting pizza and lasagna near the main square.
Our lodging for the night was a triple-bed room in a very cheap pension house (250 Dh a night for the room) right across the five-star hotel El Minzah. The mattress and pillow were rock-hard, but we just needed to a place to sleep in. The shower would have to wait until we get back to Fes. The location however is perfect and within a stone’s throw from the Place of the April 9 announcement (the name of the main square where Mohammed V announced Morocco’s independence from France) and where you can find attractions such as the Cinema Rif and the entrance to the Grand Socco and the medina.
We spent the following morning and noon just walking around the medina, wandering around the shops, eating good kebab and humuus (the only one in Morocco, it seems) in a Lebanese place. Since the American Legation museum was closed on weekends, we could only go to the Kasbah to see the Mediterranean and squeezed in a stop by the Saint Andrew’s Church, an Anglican church done in a Moorish style. The interesting thing about this church was that it featured the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic by the altar, and the first sura of the Qur’an was inscribed along the arches.
We took the CTM bus at around half past two in the afternoon, for the six hour trip back to Fes. And by the time we got back, I was starving again. This time, sleep was more important than food.
Today, it’s back to the grind again with Arabic and all. Tomorrow, I will be taking a trip to Ifrane, an Alpine ski resort/town built by the French for their own recreation during the period of occupation, about an hour away from Fes in order to interview an American professor who works at the Al Akhawayn University for my dissertation. In my view at least, twelve days of not thinking about my dissertation, i.e. since I submitted my first chapter to everybody, is more than enough of a break. This guy wrote one of the books that I read when I was preparing for my first colloquium. It seemed like a good coincidence that he works here, of all places. He offered to take me to lunch in the faculty dining hall. At the very least, even if the interview doesn’t turn out to be very helpful, I’ll have good food. We’ll see, insha’allah.
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