Morocco (Part 1: Casablanca, Rabat, Chefchaouen)

We’ve been in Morocco less than a week and we’ve already done so much.  We met Grandma Martha at the Casablanca airport at 1am so we only got a few hours of sleep.  But it was worth it because the next morning we saw the amazing Hassan II mosque.  We’ve repeatedly heard the history of this mosque and how it seemed ill-advised at the time because of the cost, but how it has been critical in supporting the rise in tourism and protecting crafts in the country.  It was also really interesting to learn more about Islam and to recognize so many similarities with Judaism.

We explored the medina** and bought some incredible Moroccan pastries. We had an incredible guide who was a real match for Dennis and the kids with puns! But there was no doubt that the highlight for the kids was playing with the pigeons.  Mira achieved a lifelong goal of holding a pigeon.  After the adults anxiously watched and tried to stop them, some quick googling revealed that pigeons are not “dirty rats with wings” but actually super clean animals and there’s a pretty interesting history about how they’ve been mischaracterized.  

We spent the next night in Rabat which we hadn’t originally planned but turned out to be wonderful.  We went on a food and medina tour which ensured everyone met their 10,000 steps goal.  We tried so much food (mostly sweets), wandered through the jewish area, skipped eating the cows’ heads, and then had dinner at a beautiful spot outside the walls.  Our guide had both jewish and muslim family so was able to teach us even more about the history of the jewish community in morocco.  

The next day we kept things moving and headed up the Rif mountains to the beautiful city of Chefchaouen. Lately, it has become known as the “blue city” and frequently appears on Instagram.  When we arrived, the street into the medina, however, was closed and we had to walk with our luggage all the way up.  And then our rooms were up many flights of stairs.  Grandma Martha is impressing everyone with how well she’s doing.  The climb was definitely worth it though.  We had an amazing view and the call to prayer floating over the valley from the roof was really beautiful.   In the morning we did a walking tour of the city and meandered through the various small alleys.  We learned about how every community within a medina must have five things: community water access; community ovens; hammam for bathing; mosque; and a school (a madrasa).  The kids especially loved that there are cats and dogs everywhere and they are cared for by the community.  Dogs have tags on their ears showing if they’ve been vaccinated and everybody leaves out food.  We did a lot of stopping to pet cats and take photos. So many photos…. 

After several hours of meandering the streets of Chefchaouen, including stopping at a few “Instagram” streets, we are off to Fes!  

**Medina means “city” in Arabic and it’s also used to mean the “old” city or part of a town that has, so far, been surrounded by a wall.   

(Click on the photos for a full sized sideshow)