Touring Ancient History

So after a day of resting yesterday, we ventured out today and went to the Supermarjane first (the grocery store). Sorry, we took no pictures. But this store had everything - food, clothes and even some furniture items. It was actually within a little mall that had other stores, pharmacy, etc. Then we went to Chella. Here is a little bit of historical information about Chella.

Chellah is considered to be the oldest known human settlement along the banks of the Oued Bou Regreg (Bou Regreg River). The site is perched dramatically above the fertile river plain of the estuarine portion of Oued Bou Regreg, two kilometres from its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean. The site is thought to have been originally a colony of Phoenician and Carthaginian exploration as early as the third century BC, but the earliest recognisable architecture dates from Roman occupation circa 40 AD. In any case, the site is one of the earliest clearly identifiable settlements of man in Morocco; the site is now at the edge of the city of Rabat, the present day capital of the Kingdom of Morocco

Jenny dropped us off and we ventured in. We had a guide who walked us through with some explanation, then we wandered back through at our own pace shooting more pictures. We probably have about 200 between us. I will skip the detailed pictures of mosaic, old wood, and plants. But, if you are interested, just ask and I will be happy to share with you personally!!

                                                       The front entrance. Philip with our guide.

Just inside.

                                                   The outer wall.

The view across the river.

A closeup of that same view across the river. This shows two of the mauselums that were on that hill side.

Lots of buriel sites to see and we were often told who was buried there and many of course, were important people. I cannot remember any names told to us, unfortunately.

The three arches are on the wall just above these three tombs. The one on the left was a king, the one in the middle was a sultan and the one with mosaic on the right was the wife of the sultan who converted from Christianity to Islam when she wed.

At the start of the trip, we were pretty fresh.

At the end, pretty hot and sweaty!!

By the way, Dave Piper, you can now show that your sandals have been in Morocco!

This pool houses some small eels. Our grandson wanted to make sure we saw them. We tried, but to no avail. There was even an elderly man there who threw pieces of hard boiled egg into the water so the eels would come eat. This pool of water was where the young women of the times would come here to bathe in the waters in the belief that it would help with fertility problems.

One last beautiful doorway on the way out. A beautiful green color.

We made it home via la petite taxi again. Our driver tried to teach us Arabic on the way. Our daughter's housekeeper had cooked a great dish of vermecelli, chicken, carrots, cabbage and a million other things.  It was delicious. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it. That's it for now. More to come.

Out On Our Own

So..... Jenny dropped us off this morning near the new marina with a cell phone set up to be able to reach both her and Michael, written directions and a hand drawn map to give to the Petite Taxi or Blue Taxi driver (this is the taxi that takes no more than three people at a time as opposed to the one that takes multiple fares) and a pocket full of dirhams.
And you know what happened? Not only did we survive the day, but we made it home safely. We toured the new marina, crossed the Boureigreig River in a rowboat, and were given a personal tour through the kasbah and the Medina. We were exposed to more history of Morocco than I could possibly remember. We took a million pictures, but I will just show you a few.

The new marina looking out toward the bridge and  then to the river.

It is hard to see in the picture, but all of these boats were displaying the Moroccan flag. Turns out - all of these boats belong to the King!

 Philip is walking down the sidewalk bordering the river just past the marina. This is just one of the rows of the new buildings going in along the marina and along a great deal of the river on the Salle side of the river. These will be shops and apartments/condos. Investors are from many different countries - Saudia Arabia, UAE, etc.

Salle is the town on the opposite side of the river from Rabat.

So, we needed to get from Salle to Rabat which meant crossing the river. And so we did...

This was the little boat that picked us up and our captain rowed us across. The whole ride took us about 5 minutes and cost two dirhams each.

There were many, many colorful little boats tied up in this area.

Once we made it across, as we walked toward the buildings on the Rabat side, we accidently met up with a gentleman who was to become our personal guide and history teacher. So for the next few hours we walked through the kasbah, the walled area of the city where 300 family dewllings are. At the top of the walled area you can see the fortifications that existed, the cemetaries, the lighthouse and the beach (and of course, a great view of the river and Salle).

Here, we left the casbah area, walked across the street and entered the Medina. Many people have shops in the lower level of the property and live in the uppper levels. Some, simply have homes here and no shops. We were cautioned not to take pictures directly of people out of respect. It was hard to take pictures without getting people in them, so we don't have as many shots here.

This was just the beginning. The main part of the Medina was crowded. However, we were there on a Monday which is a lazy day. Apparently the later in the week, the more crowded.

So, then our guide helped us hail a little blue taxi. We gave the driver our written directions and I did use some of my resurrected college French and we made it home okay!

Sunday on the Town

So, today, we went out to eat and we went to an artisan "enclave". I cannot remember the name of the restaurant and at the moment, but we all piled in the car and drove downtown somewhere. We parked, as usual here, parallel on a narrow street and up on the sidewalk (well, at least halfway). The restaurant had outside dining which works best when dining with three little boys. The food was delicious and it came complete with "le chat" (the cat).

After lunch we drove to an area of town where local artists/craftsmen live and work. This is in the town of  Salle, which is actually across the river (the Boo Reigreig). We were able to wander through their shops and see some of them at work and view their wares.

Ervery size and shape pot you can imagine!

We watched several potters at work. This guy was cutting out big chunks of clay from one mound, then adding to a second mound and "working" it with his feet. This has got to be the ultimate Pilates exercise replacement!

The kiln was either a really short container or one that had been cut down.

Metal work

.... and furniture.

Family Day

Today was a school celebration at our eldest grandson's school here in Rabat. So, since we are still thinking on the cautious side of things,we thought that might be a pretty safe thing to do. It was a very low key event, but it was nice to see how familiar everyone is with each other. Local Moroccan children as well as children from other countries attend this school. Many of the kids whose parents work within the embassy attend, as do children whose parents may work in an international business here in Rabat.
The kids played, the parents talked, the teenagers had booths and book sales set up to raise money to enable them to visit another school (sorry, I got a little lost in what the effort was all about). Hot dogs and hamburgers were served.
                               


After the festival we took a drive through the eastern part of the city which took us over by the coast. Lots of folks were out in some areas to enjoy the sun.I don't think anyone was getting in the water until we came up to an area set up to teach surfing. Some areas of the "beach" were under some kind of construction. None of us were exactly sure what this was going to eventually look like.

Lots of motorcycle traffic and motorcycle use when getting to the lake.

Directly across from the water front were a real mixture of homes, apartments, very poor housing, restaurants and businesses. It seemed like lots on construction was going on.

There is a huge marina/development going in. A big new bridge has been built. Lots of money is being spent by someone!!

First Outing

                             As promised, here are some better pictures of our excursion from yesterday.
                             This was part of the display at the veggie vender on the side of the road.

This pumpkin was on display at a second vendor's shop. It was as big as the four year old grandchild's body!

These were dried figs squashed into a circle and stung together.

This was a cool butcher shop. Jenny had to order in her best broken French. We were given free samples of some differnt kinds of chicken which was delicious. This was a very clean and modern shop! It was on a main street in a business area. You could stand outside of the shop and watch all kinds of city life go by. Philip brought dates home and Jenny's housekeeper cut them open and stuffed them with chopped walnuts. Quite a treat.

The Trip Begins

Ok, so if you are a customer or friend who has had to listen to us talk about our upcoming plans, you know we were headed for Morocco, so you might want to know, we are HERE!

I started this entry earlier today and it sounded decently upbeat. I was interrupted by the need to greet a grandson getting off the bus from school, help with supper plans, etc. Ordinary things. Today, while our son-in-law went to his job at the U.S. Embassy here and, as I said, one grandson went to school, the rest of us even made a short car trip to the vegetable vendor and the butcher shop. Ordinary things.

But as the day finished up and the evening began, we listened to what Michael had to report and we watched the news, I'm not sure what to feel. I am in the home of a member of the diplomatic security service. Everyday procedures are in place for embassy families that make me feel that my daughter and her family are decently secure. Morocco did not have a regime change. The citizens of Morocco are not allowed to own guns. Things have been mostly stable for some time. So, this country is probably as good as it gets in Africa.

But, am I worried? Of course. Because this trip took so long - over 24 hours really, I am still a little confused about what time it is. In all honesty, I have to concentrate to get the day of the week straight. Now, as I watch the news, all of the unrest and violence that is occuring so much closer than if I were in Boerne, also seems unreal. Is is worrisome? Hell, yes. All of our plans for what we were going to do while here are going to have to be reconsidered. We will probably have to decide each day based on what is happening around us, as to what we will do.

So, I will try to post every day. We have to play "charge shuffle" with computers, IPAD's, etc so that might delay things a little. But please feel free to comment if you do check in. I did take pictures today when we were out, so I will post a few. They do seem to represent ORDINARY activities which is comforting.

Philip was out on the street taking pictures at the places we stopped.

Here's three little ladies out waiting for the bus and another on the way to join them. The ladies' clothes are amazingly different. No burkas, but many are fully covered in layers like these women. Others were in pants and shirts, totally western style. I didn't see any females in shorts or revealing shirts of any kind, however.

This was the vegetable and flower vendor where we shopped. I have more pictures that I will add at the next posting of the yummy food both here and at the butcher shop. Pictures are taking a long time to upload in this house. There are only certain rooms in which you can sit to get internet and still things can take a long while!

I am not downloading pictures of the grandkids, our daughter and son-in-law out of caution for the work our son-in-law does, but it is probably ok if I show you a picture of the real boss of the house.

Stella.

Catching Up

As I write this, Philip is in Midland at September Fest. Our lives have been a whirlwind of activity these last couple of weeks. We spent the middle weeks of August helping our oldest daugther, Carla, and her family move. And it wasn't just a short move. They are now living in West Lafayette, IN. Our son-in-law is now coaching at Perdue University. Dave and Philip survived a truck drive (big truck and trailer) all the way up.

 Carla and I  drove her car with both grandchildren, a dog and two cats!! They are settled in now and getting to know their new surroundings.

Three days after Philip gets home from the Midland show, we will fly off on the longest treip we have ever taken together. We will be starting our journey to go visit these two bells:

 These are Jenny's bells and they are hanging on the porch of her family's house in Morocco. We will be gone for about 18 days. I have been practicing my college French so I may at least be able to communicate at a basic level both in the Paris airport as well as in Morocco. We will take lots of pictures and I will try to post on the blog while we are there if the internet is accessible.

Now, you know how it is in life when you have 2-3 sets of visitors that come to see your family all at the same time or perhaps one right after another. Then you go for the rest of the year with no company?  Well, this is kind of the same thing for us but with us being the people going somewhere. Within days after returning from Morocco we pack up and go on a two week scuba diving trip to Bonaire. We are meeting up with other divers and hope to see the coral spawning. We will be diving with two other couples, one of which takes photos professionally of everything underwater. If you want to see some of their great photos, go to - http://feraldiversmedia.com.

Although there will be someone here on the property while we are gone, he will not be selling any bells or taking any orders. We will get busy filling orders and getting ready for mid fall shows just as soon as we return.

So.... keep checking for photos from afar!!