There once was a single young man who aspired to be an Imam, but the Muslim religion strictly dictated that a man could not be an Imam unless he was married. It just so happened that there was also a widow in the same town as this young man, who was madly in love with him.
So, she boldly knocked on his door very late one night to ask him for his help. As he was single and she was a woman alone, he was unsure of what to do, so he did the only thing most Moroccan people would do - he invited her in for a cup of tea.
When he finished the preparation of the tea, he returned to where the woman was waiting - only to find that she was completely naked, with a baby and a full bottle of wine on the table.
The widow said to the young man that she was in love with him and knew that he needed to be married to become an Imam, so she said to him, "If you choose not to marry me, I will kill the child. If you choose to drink the entire bottle of wine instead of marrying me, I will scream and cry to your neighbors that you have raped me."
So the young man, knowing that it was against his religion to kill, but also knowing that rules regarding alcohol were a little more vague, decided to drink the entire bottle of wine, whereupon once he finished, in a drunken state, slayed both the child and the widow.
Our very long drive today takes us through the agrarian portion of Morocco, where 50% of the fruit trees are olive trees and where produce & flowers grow year-round in the very agreeable climate. Everywhere you look, there are acres & acres of fields in varying shades of green. We are informed that most of the olive presses are Italian & that the oil carries an Italian label, and that the French were mainly responsible for introducing the vineyards.
On the way to Meknes we stop to check out the cork oak trees involved in the 9-year cycle of cork production. The process involves stripping the bark from the lower portion of the tree and then applying olive oil to the stripped bark.
Cork oak tree after stripping.
We learn that:
1. 65% of Moroccans are Berbers;
2. that the Shiites thought Mohammed's cousin should succeed him to the throne according to the hierarchy, whereas the Sunnis thought Mohammed's successor should be democratically elected by the Parliament;
3. that we were crisscrossing the Salt Route, as precious to the Moroccans as the Silk Route is to the Orient. Salt was traded for gold, pretty much ounce for ounce - hence the expression that someone is worth their salt, and that the word "salary" originates from salt.
We also learn about argan oil (AKA Moroccan ironwood) & its medicinal uses as we continue along the Atlas Mountains where it is endemic. The fruit is gathered by hand, its nut is cracked open & 1-3 kernels containing 50% of the oil are removed, roasted & ground to extract the oil. This process takes about 15-20 hours to crack 4.5 pounds of nuts required to produce
1 Liter of oil. Argan oil is rich in vitamins A & E, antioxidants, and unsaturated fatty acids, including omega 6. To protect this valuable source, UNESCO declared part of the argan forest, approximately 130 square miles,an international biosphere reserve.
As part of our cultural experience we went to an outdoor market to buy tangerines & bananas. Apparently the sellers expect customers to taste the fruit before they buy it - an idea that really appealed to me. If you don't like the taste you just move along until you find a vendor whose produce is acceptable. (I imagine you could continue to do this until you've consumed enough fruit to satisfy your needs without paying a dime). There are no trash cans for the peels so people are expected to throw their peels on the ground. When the market closes they have goats roam the grounds, eating everything that lies on the ground - cheap, easy & well organized!
Aziz shows us how it is done.
We spend about 24 cents for 2.2 lbs of incredibly delicious tangerines and $1.00 for 2.2 lbs of bananas.
Back on the bus we continue on our way, noticing little roadside stands with eggs, carob nuts, fruits, water, chickens & roosters along the road.
Workers harvesting & preparing
black olives for the markets.
The gated entrance to Meknes.
Tagines, earthenware cooking vessels for traditional Moroccan food,
are everywhere in abundance, as are olives,
fresh meat (buzzing flies at no extra charge) and people.
We arrive in the walled city of Meknes, passing through the gates of the onetime home of the Moroccan sultanate & another UNESCO World Heritage site. While in the city of Meknes, we explored the marketplace - taking in the myriad sights, sounds & smells. We especially enjoyed the colorful variety of olives - but not so much the quantity of bees circling & enjoying the candies, cookies & other sweets. (We later had some of these sweets for our dessert at lunch) ha ha!
After the market, we walked over to a shop of silver damascene work, where thin, silver threads are slowly tapped into designs on pieces of steel, then attached to pottery. It is a craft unique to Morocco and the pieces are exquisite. I purchased a medium-size vase that is absolutely beautiful.
After the market, we walked over to a shop of silver damascene work, where thin, silver threads are slowly tapped into designs on pieces of steel, then attached to pottery. It is a craft unique to Morocco and the pieces are exquisite. I purchased a medium-size vase that is absolutely beautiful.
One of the craftsmen taps the silver threads
into the pottery. (I love this man's beautiful smile).
The Roman ruins of Volubilis (Latin for "morning glory"), another UNESCO World Heritage Site, are the most impressive in Morocco. Archaeological evidence may even point to its existence during the Neolithic period during 3rd century B.C., but it was under the Berber Mauritanian King Juba that Volubilis began to flourish (45-285 A.D.). Under the Romans, the city grew to about 20,000 people who mainly exported vast quantities of olives & wheat, and even some wild animals, particularly the Barbary lions that fought in the Colosseum.
Because Volubilis was on the edge of the Roman kingdom, it was abandoned by Emperor Diocletian in the late 3rd century when he withdrew his troops from the coastal areas, giving neighboring tribes the opportunity to take over the settlement.
French excavations & reconstruction of the 99-acre site began in 1915, with most activity occurring in 1962, revealing some Forum columns, houses, triumphal arch, an olive press, the main road & entry gate, & many beautiful mosaics.
Volubilis ruins: top (L-R) mosaic, forum, olive press, triumphant arch; bottom (LR) forum, triumphant arch; aqueduct.
***We have 2 vegetarians in our group of 15 and it is pretty clear that the Moroccans don't exactly know what to make of them at mealtimes. While the rest of us are enjoying tagines of chicken, pork, lamb & beef, they are usually staring at the same collection of vegetables - in portions that could feed an army of 4-6 people. We have gotten in the habit of eagerly awaiting the removal of the tagine lid to see if there will be something different underneath, but it has become such a joke that I am starting to keep a count of this ubiquitous meal for my readers.
Here is the count so far: llll (2 lunches + 3 dinners)
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