It’s Friday. It’s Morocco. We’re next to a mosque. The first call to prayer was about 5:30am, and I’m sure he sang the whole Koran. Went for over twenty minutes. Can’t get back to sleep after that.
Tried a different walking tour company this morning, and they turned up early, and in the right place. Was a city medina tour, but kind of ignoring the main square, because that’s the subject of the evening tour which we are also booked on.
Very similar to the narration on the Fes medina tour. Saw the mosques, the bathhouses, the riads (enclosed courtyards), the market stalls. Heard about the doors and door handles, the UNESCO funded restoration, the wooden roofs, the Moors, the French, the different dynasties and moving capitals. As usual, a very knowledgable guide whose livelihood has been decimated over the last couple of COVID years. As 80% of the GDP is tourist related, and there was once 14 million tourists a year, the impact has been severe, and they are trying hard to get back on their feet, smiling at every tourist that makes the effort to come.
Random facts. Morocco always has a king – it’s a hereditary male monarchy, but not a constitutional monarchy like the UK. He wields real power, writes the constitution, appoints the Prime Minister, heads the military, owns most of the businesses, and is also the religious head. Consequently there is no queen. His wife is a princess. Something about being his partner, but not a ruler.
Women’s rights is a thorny issue. Great strides have been made to give them equality under law. However, equality in the work place and in education is still lagging. Our guide assured us that all was well with gender equality, as a Moroccan woman was the first African woman to win an olympic gold medal back in 1994.
In the evening we walked back to the main square and did the night tour. A completely different feel. Many of the shops were still open, but a lot of food, drink and entertainment stalls had been set up in the main outdoor square. Same guide as this morning, so he must be really sick of us, and the same English couple we’d toured with both this morning and in the Fes medina.
Not sure I’d really like the Moroccan street food offerings – snail soup and sheep’s head snacks.
Several types of entertainment were being performed with roots from the various cultural groups that have settled in Morocco over the centuries – Berbers, Moors, African slaves, but sadly no Can-Can from the French.