16 November 2007

Two of three, collect them all.



Le Tour Hassan, the second of the three Almohad minarets. It was begun in 1195 and was never finished. The mosque was destroyed by an earthquake and so, just like in Sevilla, the only thing that remains here is the minaret.

Rabat



Street food in the capital of Morocco. Here they have done away with any kind of broth or purée and you get your chickpeas and fava beans straight up. Still the fava beans are called fuul and the chickpeas hummus.



An unexpected sight in the Moroccan capital, an interesting church.

15 November 2007

Fes



The only truly extraordinary place in Morocco so far, The Medina of Fes.



Fes tanneries



Merenid tombs



Fes is a city of satellite dishes



It's also a city of trash


Street snacks in Fes



The Moroccan version of fuul. It's called Bessara here. It's made with fava beans of course but it's completely different from the fuul in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen. It's more like a soup here than in the other countries. I rate it fourth out of the five countries.



Lots of different breads are available, many made with corn flour or other grains



In the evening guys push pastry carts around the streets. These were the best.



Harira, the traditional Moroccan soup for breaking the fast during Ramadan. Also available at other times of the year. Made with tomatoes, onions, saffron, corriander leaves, lentils, and of course chickpeas.



These look like nuts but are actually a kind of fruit with a seed in the middle. Eating them is the reverse of eating sunflower seeds. You do a little chewing to remove the seed but then the seed is the part you spit out and the rest you eat.



Some kind of berry. Depending on who you talk to it's either good for the stomach or will give you diarrhea.



It just looks like cereal but is actually couscous in some kind of milk, certainly not the kind of milk you get at the food store back home. Just the kind of thing I like to try off the street in a Third World country!



I found Caliente here. It's different though, much thicker both in size and consistency.

12 November 2007

The Wedding Party



Briouat, the Moroccan version of the South Asian Samosa. Here it's stuffed with ground nuts, and meat. It may just look like a starter but is actually the first of three courses.



The second course, a Tajine of chicken with lemon and olives. The sauce was really tasty but there didn't seem to be enough of it to eat with every bite of chicken.



The third course, a Tajine of lamb with prunes. The prunes had absorbed most of the spices and were absolutely delicious. I ate more prunes than lamb.

Building blocks of the Third World



Terracotta breeze blocks. In smaller towns and outside the big cities you will see almost all buildings are built with these. Mostly they don't even bother to stucco the outside.

11 November 2007

Volubilis



The Roman ruins of Volubilis



I've seen a lot of Roman ruins. Most notable for me here were the houses. From the ruins I got a really good idea of the size and opulence of a Roman house. This was the section with the best ones.



All the floors were decorated with these amazing mosaics.



I walked about 20km to get here. This was typical of the views along the winding way.

Chefchaouen food

I did manage to find some good food in Chefchaouen, when I found that the street food only comes out at night.



Called "Caliente" by the vendors (unless taking to tourists, when they then refer to it as a "Moroccan pizza") like all good street food in the the Arab world this is made from Chick Peas. Its the tastiest thing I have found so far. A slice costs 12 cents US and it is totally delicious. I imagine based on the name that this is probably only found in the Spanish region of Morocco and that I probably won't see it again when I head south to the French part.



The most common street food in Morocco so far is snails, and the vendor usually also sells chick peas. I finally tried the snails in Chefchaouen. It's more of a social activity, standing around the cart and picking the snails out of their shells while you chat with your friends.



Chick peas by themselves are called Hummus. Anything made with chick peas is said as being made with Hummus. They are served on the street in a tasty broth. Here they are with the broth from the snails but I think they taste better in their own broth.



These doughnut like things are sold in the morning. Two for about 12 cents US. They are tied together with the green leaf strings (next to the doughnuts in the picture) so that you can carry them home without getting your hands greesy. Kids on their way to school will stop in the shop and eat them there, dipping them into sugar.