Morocco - part one

Visiting Morocco was a great adventure. It is unlike other cultures I have experienced, a few things reminded me of Thailand, but most  aspects were fascinatingly  new for me.  The day we left  (28th Dec) I was coming down with a cold and still almost a month later the snot and cough are persisting,  so that created a degree of difficulty I could have done without.   As colds do it also took the pleasure out of food and for a number of days I couldn’t taste all those marvelous spices Morocco is famous for.

Of course Giorgio got it too, but not as badly - weird  I know, as Australian men always have a worse cold than any woman does. New Years Eve we both were in bed at 10pm feeling crappy. I promise alcohol had nothing to do with it.  In fact we had dined in a no alcohol restaurant, as most are in this Islamic country. Some places  sell alcohol, mainly servicing the tourist market, but we did not seek them out  opting instead for an authentic Moroccan experience in places with decor like this.

Having visited and worked in Morocco over the years Giorgio knew the best places to visit and chose a great itinerary that took us from cities teaming with locals and tourists, over the Atlas Mountains, south to the desert edge and then across to the Atlantic Ocean.

We flew from Rome to Casablanca arriving late afternoon.  I felt overwhelmed by the  chaos, dust, dirt and incredible traffic … and that’s compared to Italy!!    Red lights are just a suggestion that is often ignored. People, horses and donkeys pulling carts, motor bikes, bicycles, cars, trucks all fighting for a piece of the narrow potholed road.  The drivers of beat up taxis seem to have no fear and push their way in front every time.  Yes, we did brave a ride in a taxi several times in preference to driving in that chaos ourselves! 

Each area/town had taxis of a different color: red, white, beige, yellow, blue, green...

Our little black Kia hire car was returned minus panel remodeling thankfully,  due to Giorgio’s skilled and patient driving … I am not sure what damage those giant potholes we fell into a few times done to the suspension though!

In places where the road has hazards there are no signs... but rock piles like this indicate a problem such as an extra rough surface in this instance they signal a steep embankment right at the edge of the bitumen, which here is wider and smoother than most areas.

Our exploring began the next day in Marakech  known for it’s a vibrant,  chaotic, seething, colorful, dusty, fascinating, huge city square.  One evening in  that square I saw a monkey in a grubby pink tutu (sad), 2 snake charmers, various acrobats, story tellers with a spellbound audience, fortune tellers, assorted music players, henna artists, food and drink options galore and ofcourse sellers of an astounding assortment of familiar and weird and wonderful merchandise.

A birds eye view of the square from a cafe, after dark it is packed with an amazing array of people and activity.



I am a little partial to reptiles, but felt sad for the life the snakes and assorted lizards must have centre city

The dried fruit was often crawling with wasps or bees

Piles of mint leaves were being dropped in the square where stalls are set up selling mint tea later - hopefully the boiling water kills any bacteria it has gathered from the ground.

I found plenty of colorful pottery to photograph to inspire my own creations in the future

When wandering through the central city areas where only locals usually venture I felt like I was having a little peek into where and how people live and shop.  Narrow dirt lanes, deep cold shadows from the taller buildings, a constant dust haze, veiled women, many with babies tied to their backs, motor bikes winding their way between the pedestrians. And such rich colors and smells stimulating my senses: carts laden with oranges or fresh green herbs, carpets, fabrics, spices.  And women wearing a rainbow of colorful robes. A feast for my eyes after weeks of the dreary winter wardrobes  the majority of Italians prefer.

We joked about finding a fruit cart cat after meeting so many cafe and restaraunt cats. They were all well mannered and appeared well fed, perhaps they have scraps supplemented by nice mice meals.



Lentils... what would our  health inspectors say?



I watched people handling several loaves of bread as they chose which to buy. Notice the dust haze.

Most women had their hair covered, about a ¼ covered the lower half of their face and 5-10% show only their eyes. Giorgio said this had increased a lot since his last visit and he believes it is a fashion or political statement. Women in rural areas only covered their hair and were quick to return a smile if I caught their eye. Every where they  were wearing long robes with the styles varying in each area we travelled through. Sometimes they were similar to our bath robes, of plain or patterned  fleecy fabric, but many times they were beautiful colors, rich textures and patterns, silky or lacey fabrics that I yearned to touch and photograph.

The days were sunny but  in those deep shadows and after dark naked ears quickly wished to be tucked up in a colorful hat or scarf. The chilled air must flow down from the snow capped Atlas Mountains which can be seen from Marakech.

The local people (men and women) often wore these colorful flat backless shoes 



Grass or reed weaving was practiced in many villages we journeyed through -  baskets, furniture and  fences, roof tops

Next time  the Atlas Mountians and rural areas of Morocco, plus some great experiences with the local people.




A Memorable Christmas

Happy New Year   (Buon  Anno)

The lead up to Christmas was been quite delightful with wining and dining and of course an expanding midriff to deal with now it's post festive season.  I have been welcomed by Giorgio’s friends to multiple Christmas and birthday celebrations and enjoyed some massive meals that go on and on and on in that typical Italian way.

One of the interesting things I have noticed is the wide variety of Christmas trees  here, many are far from traditional and not only the colors.  One shop window tree was  bright red tinsel with only silver spring clothes pegs decorating it. A  friend recycled last year’s real pine tree which was dead and yellowed, gave it a spray paint and tied scraps of pink and blue organza all over it.  Her house is full of interesting art and ceramics, and has a stunning view over Florence. I love to visit her savouring it all. I attempted to impress guests at her Christmas party with an upside down pear cake.

As Christmas neared each community created a unique nativity scene. Here are a couple of the extra special ones I discovered:

This was high up on a wall above a narrow street, with a part of the scene in each arch. It is at Urbino.

This next is at Piobbico, a little village we explored on boxing day as we journey home. There must have been some early morning comraderie around this fire and it still had enough warmth to take the chill off my cold extremities. My bum is perpetually cold! (Is a bum an extremity? Maybe that depends on the size of it? )

Don't you just love those mountains in the background!  Have a closer look.

Friday 23^rd we travelled north over the mountains to Faenza, this is where I spent a few weeks in a ceramic studio 2 years ago. The girls in the studio gave me a wonderful warm welcome which was especially delightful in a country where I know so few people.  

Three bella ceramic artists:

Aperitivo and prosecco, a champagne like wine, at the bar with 10 others was followed by a birthday/Christmas dinner at the home of  Anna-Rosa. Most of the other 15 guests I had met previously and being remembered and welcomed back by some was a comfortable feeling I don’t get to enjoy often here.   

Saturday morning we drove across to Urbino, 30kms from the east coast. Our destination was Fermignano, the village where Giorgio grew up, and his 84yo mother still lives.  This area had good snow falls a few days earlier and was still quite pretty.

I was hoping for more snow overnight so I could have a proper white Christmas, but instead there was rain followed by a frosty morning. The mountain tops were still very pretty as they gave the air an icey chill.

Hee hee! This snow has been having some fun!

Christmas at Giorgio’s mother’s house was "interesting" and not much fun overall.   I now understand why Giorgio hates Christmas so much and disappears to the desert in North Africa many years avoiding spending it at his mother's.

Phew... in that house fun is rationed into very tiny doses. She talks of little other than catholic religion all the day. Thankfully I understand little Italian, and when I do understand her preaching sometimes I pretend not to!!!

The only Christmas decoration is a nativity scene which is began Christmas eve and miraculously all the other characters appear along with the baby Jesus  over night.  She insisted that I helped by making those marvelous green towel mountains … be prepared to be impressed!

The food was bloody awful, so, so, so tasteless and  bland.  The homemade pasta was sort of okay, served in a very plain clear broth. 

The meat (beef, turkey and chook) that made the broth was then served cold and bereft of much flavor having been boiled a day or 2 earlier. Soggy boiled potato and green beans, 'fresh' from a deep freezer were served with it.  A tube of mayonnaise and jar of tartare sauce were all that accompanied this cold food.  Plus some room temp white wine.

Sweets were all commercial except for my homemade anzac biscuits. Panforte a yummy traditional heavy fruit and nut cake from Sienna along with  panettone, a yeasty  flavoured fruit cake with a sprinkle of sultanas which is the traditional xmas cake in Italy. And then dinner in the evening was those cold veg and meat recyled!!

Panettone

Christmas eve food at Mama’s was fish and more fish as is the Catholic tradition here. The seared tuna that followed a prawn/tomato pasta cooked by Giorgio’s brother was fabulous, especially after  lunch had been  a version of fish fingers.  Yep,  like those from our childhood served with commercial  potato croquets. In retrospect  it may have been better than risking Mama actually cooking!

One bright spot was that the 8yo nephew was sick so we swapped beds and I got to share Giorgio’s room after all. A little snuggle (only) in a squeaky tiny single bed was pleasant and reduced my home sickness pangs a little.

Dario loved the car racing game on Giorgio's tablet computer. It is a cool game!!

The bit of time we spent with extended family was fun.  Brother Alessandro is a nice guy that spoke some english to Giorgio's surprise and my delight.  We rugged up for several walks in the village and  it was nice to see Giorgio greeted so fondly by friends from his youth. Aperitivo in the cafe/bar Christmas morning is popular to my surprise as most places close Xmas day at home.

I hope your day with the family was lots more fun than mine... and it was sure to be warmer for most of you. The lovely warm coat Giorgio gave me as a Christmas gift is keeping me snug in the wintery weather.  However any toe warming tips  will be appreciated.   He was amused by the superman  undies and T-shirt I found for him (plus Morocco flights) … but I haven’t managed to convince him to model them for a photo yet.  Private viewings only sorry.

Socks  and aftershave (for a bearded man?) from Mama... it's the same every year. He pretends surprise so well!

We left prior to lunch on Boxing Day (phew) and meandered home over the mountains of Marche stopping to explore several small villages.  And at a very unlikely looking café ate the most magnificent  late lunch cooked by someone’s wonderful Italian Mama, washed down with vino rosso. 

Giorgio's lovely work colleague gave me this
colorful scarf for Christmas

Wishes for a happy, healthy, fun filled 2012 to my precious friends near and far.