An Outrage in Fez
Trip Start
Feb 16, 2006
1
7
17
Trip End
Feb 28, 2006
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Fez,
Morocco
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Fez - 6:30pm and Midnight
Dear Readers:
Before I commence commentary about today, please allow me for a moment to hearken back to the heresy of yesterday. Before I sullied the point of purification we were all standing in front of the entrance to the Palace, and Mohammad (our guide, not the Prophet) pointed to a large building to the right hand side and indicated that that was the institute of religion, and that it was from there that all the sermons spoken by the Mullahs from the pulpit of every Mosque were written there, and that all over the country from every pulpit the same thing is read, and the ministers are not allowed to deviate from the script one tiny bit, or to add or subtract from what is written. This policy was instituted after 911 when the King realized that one way to stop the spread of fanaticism (and therefore terrorism) is to govern fully what is spoken from the pulpit. It is about as far as one can imagine from our ideal of freedom of religion, but in this case I tend to think it is a good idea to ensure that hatred is not being preached from the pulpits in the mosques. Sorry for backtracking, but I forgot to bring it up yesterday and I thought it deserved a mention.
Several groups are checking out of the hotel at the same time this morning, so to avoid confusion and congestion in the lobby, we decide to delay our departure by 30 minutes. Even so, our planned 9am departure doesn't really get going until about 9:30am.
01 Entering Meknes
We are racing to Meknes in order to arrive before the mid-day closure of the stables of Moulay Ismail.We enter through the Bab (gate) El Khemis. Meknes was so fortified by King Moulay Ismail that three walls surround it, and this is one of the main gates. We photograph the Aguedal Basin, and then head into the Heri as Souani-the royal granaries and stables. The king was ready for siege at any time, and these high-vaulted rooms held the treasures of the kingdom, including enough food and water to enable the inhabitants to survive a long conflict.
Passing by the tomb of Moulay Ismail, we stop at his grandly designed Victory Gate, the Bab Mansour, which was not completed until the reign of his son. It is decorated with ceramic tiles, and flanked by two square bastions supported in part by marble columns taken from Volubilis. We stop for a panoramic view over the old city of Meknes on our way to the Roman Ruin of Volubilis.
We arrive at the ruined city, leveled by an earthquake, just as the heavens open and the rain begins to pour down. Undaunted, we continue with the tour anyway, and soldier on even though it is very wet and cold. The good thing about the rain is that it wet all the mosaic tile art, with brings all the color to life. When I was here before the guide had to wet just a corner of the mosaics to give us the impression of how they once looked, but now we could see them all much better than would otherwise have been possible.
The rain ends about halfway through our tour, and the guys particularly enjoy the brothel area, which has one remarkable feature that becomes a favorite photo op. We pile back into the bus for the hour-plus ride to the Imperial City of Fez. The Jnan Palace is to be our residence for two nights. It is the nicest place we have stayed in thus far, and we are to enjoy two nights here. (And, the WiFi connection is FREE, hooray!)
Dinner tonight is in an amazingly ornate Moroccan restaurant which includes wonderful music and dancing. There is a first course of many appetizers, there is a Bastice (sp?), which is thin pastry drizzled with powdered sugar and honey, and filled with chicken and almond paste (yummy), couscous with roast beef for the main course, and a custard for desert.
Meanwhile the belly-dancing ladies are calling people up from the audience to dance with them, and of course you know who gets summoned to perform. I hide behind a big pole while she is rounding up some more men, but then the sensuous music that the men are playing behind me takes over, and I begin to do a pole dance, much to the delight of the entire restaurant (and especially my clients). I am quite likely to be arrested before I leave this country!
Big hugs,
Dan
