Oh My Awesomeness: Morocco

Geoff gave this description of the bus ride from Chefchaouen to Fez:

We started in mountains like the South of France, with rocks and green shrubs, then descended through pine trees and have spent the last hour along a flat valley with green rolling hills on either side. This is still a very pastoral society with sheep, goats and shepherds every 300 meters, people riding donkeys and using them to haul produce, and men in the villages wearing long, flowing, hooded robes of the Berbers. Green, green everywhere. This valley is well cultivated, in organized rows, while the mountains were cultivated anywhere they could find space – among the rocks, pines and olive trees. There are olive trees everywhere, both wild and cultivated. They seem to let any wild one spring up that will survive – often several in the middle of a field at odd locations, with rows of wheat or mustard swerving left and right to miss the tree.

He added this:

The people are very kind and gentle and there is a peaceful feeling. Ceci and I keep commenting on how good and peaceful it feels, which is also what I remember from when I was here for a month while I was at Harvard. (Geoff spent three week working on a housing development there for his thesis paper in grad school.)

In Fez they visited the Bab Jou Jalud (the gate at the Western entrance to Fez).

They explored the Bou Inania Madrasa (the oldest university).

They toured Nejjarine Fondouk, a merchant house...

And Al-Attarine Madrasa (where they didn't take many pictures).

A quick walk through the market let them know the bigger cities are definitely more in-your-face. The mentioned wishing they had spent more time in Rabat or the Blue City.

This next beautiful door and tile work caught my eye, but mostly I noticed the jewelry stands. If Adele was with them they would have stopped for an hour!