Morocco Moments #3: Another city, another place, another life

Subject: #3: Another city, another place, another life

Date: Sunday, 15 June 2025 at 11:33 PM 

Hello again, 

I stopped keeping a daily diary so now it’s just these weekly blogs that record my prominent thoughts of the week.

The weekly overview 

- Monday was a public holiday so I went surfing in the afternoon and made some friends and that was all fun.

- Work Tuesday to Thursday though you wouldn’t know it by how little time I spent in the office. Instead I was shuffling from police station to police station. All up, I think I visited 7 different stations. 

- On Friday I went to Fes. It is about a 3 hours train trip away, and it is now, Sunday, as I am on my way home that I am writing this all down.

Breakfast

Bread, bread, everywhere but not an ounce of protein for me to eat post run :(

This is such a two sided coin. I am so happy to be back running each morning before work despite how tired it sometimes makes me for the day, but I am coming to worry about my diet because all that there is to eat for breakfast is bread. Msemmen, harsha, round Mococcan bread (khobz) and pitas (batbout), krachel, croissants, and donuts, all these different types of bread, but fundamentally it’s all bloody bread and I am sick of it. Me, I, a major lover of bread. 

On the flip side, bread with olive oil is GOOD. This golden, liquid, flavourful goodness contained in a greasy 5L plastic bottle is a fusion of flavour and moisture on the otherwise dry, flavourless bread. Dripping and coalescing in the corner of my little plate as I dip my morsels of bread into fluid gold. 

Yesterday in Fes I think I ate a sandwich that had about 3 animals in it. A sandwich panaché, or mixed sandwich, from one of the stalls all over the Medina, where the chefs chop and grill the meats on a little hotplate in front of you, sort of like getting eggs from the dining halls at Princeton.

Something I like is that people do not waste food here. I learnt that if you won’t finish something you can just leave it outside (only in certain places) and the cats, birds or people who really need it will eat it. A giving, perhaps linked to Islam, is built into this culture and while it can manifest in some less than savoury things like a reliance on begging, the cats and people on the street are pretty much taken care of.

For example, the other day I was at the beach and a girl was walking around selling tissue packets. I had a bag of dates and she just wanted some food so I gave her a handful of dates. It was so easy and she seemed so happy. And this is a story I only heard, as I was absent, but the people I was traveling in Fes with were asking a group of women where they got their snack from, and because it was sold out or gone or something like that, one of the women chased them down and gave them the rest of hers. (Apparently it was good, I still don’t know what it was) -- see, so kind and so easy.

Warrior cats 

Now, if you know, you know. There are cats everywhere in the cities in Morocco and every time I see one all scraggly, or cute, or pregnant, or sleepy, I remember Warrior Cats. Especially those that are by the cliffs overlooking the ocean and when I hear them fighting at night.

Oh and Fes. 

Fes 

I arrived in Fes on Friday afternoon. The oldest city in the country and perhaps the continent, set amongst dry hills in the middle of the country. My spirits rejoiced for the freedoms and opportunities alone in a foreign city with few plans and a curious mind.

To get to the accommodation I was instructed to meet 'a young guy' near the Blue Gate I anxiously hypothesised who it might be. His name was Ahmed and he became a fast friend. 

We were the only guests in a beautiful apartment in the old Medina. Summer is not the most popular time to visit due to the heat so we were the only guests. There is a terrace at the top with beautiful views over the city and to the surrounding mountains. Every morning I've been awoken by the chirping of the birds that fly incessantly in circles amongst the ramshackle roofs of the old city. I've googled what that means and found it is to conserve energy by using thermal air columns and aid to gain altitude and navigate. Not as spiritual or cute as it appears when they swoosh and chirp all around you in a chaotic harmony. 

The atmosphere at Fes is very different to Rabat. The air, the vibes, the birds, the nature, all far more old-school and traditional. 

On reflection I have two main highlights of the city. Being woken by the chirps of the birds and watching them fly about from the terrace, and the coffee I drank with Ahmed on the first day. It was a spiced coffee, Arabic style, heated on hot sand and flavoured with honey and cinnamon and other delicious spices that smelt similar to Sellou. 

And that's a wrap. (I think they call wraps tacos here… I’m a bit confused by this )

I hope you enjoyed my newsletter.

<3 

Emma