Week 5 began as our halfway point through our Moroccan journey. Having spent the first half of our time here learning about and acclimating to Rabat, we began spending more time developing a small curriculum for future volunteers versus simple daily lesson plans so a lot of our time during the week is dedicated to creating plans for each of our classes and how we would expand on them if we had more time.
We had our last local excursion with the volunteers this week to the Chellah Ruins near the Rabat medina. This walled area overlooks the river separating Rabat from Salé, and is home to many very large storks. What makes the Chellah ruins so unique is that there are two sets of totally separate ruins built on the same site. The newer ruins (14th century) are Islamic and consist of a mosque, a medersa, the tomb of a former king and his wife, a hammam, and a pond (formerly used for ablutions) in which women wishing for fertility still toss coins into. The second set of ruins, the Roman ruins, are much older and date back to the second century. While much less complete than the Roman ruins we saw at Volubilis, these ruins were still exciting to walk through and gave us another idea of how the Romans lived.
We had our last local excursion with the volunteers this week to the Chellah Ruins near the Rabat medina. This walled area overlooks the river separating Rabat from Salé, and is home to many very large storks. What makes the Chellah ruins so unique is that there are two sets of totally separate ruins built on the same site. The newer ruins (14th century) are Islamic and consist of a mosque, a medersa, the tomb of a former king and his wife, a hammam, and a pond (formerly used for ablutions) in which women wishing for fertility still toss coins into. The second set of ruins, the Roman ruins, are much older and date back to the second century. While much less complete than the Roman ruins we saw at Volubilis, these ruins were still exciting to walk through and gave us another idea of how the Romans lived.
On the weekend we took the train 4 hours north to Tangier, the most European city in all of Morocco. When we first got off the train, we walked straight out of the train station, through the many taxi drivers trying to persuade us that we needed a ride, and headed straight for the beach. The beach in Tangier is on the Strait of Gibraltar and despite arriving just before sunset, we could still see all the way across the strait to Spain. It was a very nice change of pace to arrive and not have anything to do right away, so we took some time, enjoyed some ice cream on the beach wall and watched as the sun disappeared behind the hills.
We walked from the city to our hotel, perched high on a hill to the east, which allowed us to look back and see the city light up at night and gave us an idea of how wonderful the views would be once we made it there. Once we arrived, instead of sitting in our hotel's bar and enjoying the atmosphere, we got to our room and found a channel playing movies in English. They were celebrating Brangelina (and Johnny Depp, it seemed) and we ended up watching parts of The Tourist, Moneyball, Troy and Edward Scissorhands throughout the weekend. The next morning we woke up early with the intention of visiting the Hercules Caves about 15 miles outside of Tangier, learned they were closed for renovation, and then set out to explore more of the city. We spent most of the day cafe-hopping along the beach enjoying the best beer (of three) from Morocco: Casablanca Lager, before heading back up to our hotel for a swim and sunset views.
Our guidebook described Tangier as "seedy, but charming" and we can't help but agree. The city’s history is rich and has been influenced by many civilizations, in particular from our English speaking countries; it used to be a place where millionaires such as Malcolm Forbes and Barbara Hutton would throw world-class parties; and William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac of the Beat Generation and international writers and playwrights like Paul Bowles, George Orwell, and Tennessee Williams would visit for inspiration; but sometime after Tangier’s reunification with Morocco in the 1950’s, the entire city went through a massive decline, and hasn't until recent years begun to move forward again. Our walk from our hotel to the city took us by one of the larger renovations happening throughout the city: an entire rehaul of the waterfront to be completed in 2016. Our walk along the beach was filled with three things: construction, nightclubs with swimming pools, and creepy catcalls - literally the same hissing sound that they use to call cats. "Tsstsstsstsstsstsstss!" While we really enjoyed the number of cafes right on the beach, the long row of nightclubs really caught our attention - the laws of Islam prohibit the consumption of alcohol, and although it is discreetly sold in expat communities in other cities – here in Tangier, it was everywhere. It wasn't until the next day we found the city's charm.
We began our morning looking for the only US National Historic Landmark found abroad and learned about the longstanding relationship between Morocco and America. It is easy to understand why this international city has relations with Europe as it is so close in proximity, but it took us by surprise that it has had relations with the US (since our independence). In 1777, Morocco was the first overseas power to recognize the United States as an independent body and its Sultan Moulay Slimane offered the US an ambassadorial residence located in the old medina. This residence still stands today as America's only National Historic Landmark located abroad and it houses exhibits on the city's history, early relations between the two countries and in particular Moulay Ben Abdallah and George Washington, along with artwork donated from Malcom Forbes and photographs and written works by author Paul Bowles and many other noted US playwrights and authors.
The medina here in Tangier is different than the rest (and specifically, so charming), not only because of the steep streets, but also everywhere you turn you can feel the 1950's. There is an amiable and classy feel to the streets which, much like the rest of the city, is influenced by the close proximity to Western Europe.
The medina here in Tangier is different than the rest (and specifically, so charming), not only because of the steep streets, but also everywhere you turn you can feel the 1950's. There is an amiable and classy feel to the streets which, much like the rest of the city, is influenced by the close proximity to Western Europe.