Morocco trip, Dec 2007 - Aït Benhaddou

Aït Benhaddou is fortified city (kasbah) along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech in present-day Morocco.

It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 and several films have been shot there, including Lawrence of Arabia, The Mummy, Gladiator and Alexander.

Can you recognise where in the movies did Aït Benhaddou appear?














The place is actually more a tourist attraction than a real village. There are only a few families living in the actual kasbah. Most of them live in the modern village across the river!

And if you are to visit the place, make sure you don't fall for the "entrance fee scam" at the main gate. There are no entrance fee to get into the city!

Morocco trip, Dec 2007 - Essaouira

When we returned from Meknes to Marrakesh, we went to the souk square for dinner and we bumped into the people from our tour group. They have spent some time at Essaouira and they highly recommended it. As we have a couple of days to spare, so we booked ourselves onto the bus the next day.

Essaouira is a coastal town located in western Morocco. The island of Mogadar protects the bad of Essaouira against strong marine winds, so it has long been one of the best anchorages of the Moroccan coast. It has been a trading post for almost 3,000 years, starting with the Phoenicians.

The present city of Essaouira was rebuilt during the 18th Century, when King Mohammed III directed his slave, a French engineer, to design and build a modern fortress and city. The fortress was named "Souira", which means "the small fortress" and the name was later changed to "Es-saouira", which means "the beautifully designed"

It was a 3 hour bus ride (with Supratours) from Marrakesh train station, with a 30 minute break in the middle, so it wasn't too bad.

Sadly, it was cloudy when we arrived. We were also very hungry by the time we got there, so we quickly found a place to stay and head out looking for food.

Essaouira is on the atlantic coast, so we weren't going to miss out on the seafood, esp. daddy has been fish-deprived for so many days. We headed straight to the fish stalls and place our lunch orders.

We picked what look the freshest and the bill came to around 300Dh for the 4 of us, which isn't too bad.

Sadly, the weather was pretty bad and it started raining mid-afternoon. So we went for a quick walk around the markets and had dinner, then head back to the hotel for a early night.

I spent the rest of the day wishing that the weather will be nicer next day. However, we can hear the rain throughout the night so we didn't have high hopes.

The next morning, SP woke me up and said, "The weather is great today. There's blue sky!" I thought it was a trick to get me to wake up but no, the weather really had a 180 degree turn around!

Look. Not a cloud in sight!

We went up to the Skala de la Ville and walked along the ramparts. The Skala de la Ville is the fortification built along the cliffs, with all the brass cannons lined up to defend the city from sea attacks.

A little trivia: The opening scene of Orson Welles' Othello was filmed on the Essaouira's here.

Here is another photo of the city with the famous bright blue boats.

The local fisherman would gut their fish on the shore, with the cats getting the choice over the leftovers. The sea gulls are not that far behind.

We went back to the fish stalls for more seafood. This time, daddy was to show his culinary skills, so we picked our seafood and waited for them to arrive, while daddy "directed" the kitchen crew.

Lots of fish to choose from!


Love those big scampis. Very delicious!

Here is daddy serving his dish.

I prefer to focus on the eating... hehe

A group photo before we had back to the bus stop for our return trip

Essaouira is famous for thuya handicrafts and argan oil. We both a couple of thuya wooden items there, The workmanship was quite good and the wood looks really nice. We also bought some argan oil product, but after 1.5 year, I still haven't unwrapped the box! That reminds me, I must try out this skincare miracle!

An additional note: Essaouira is also very famous for its beaches. The strong wind makes it a good spot for windsuring and kitesurfing. We weren't into watersports so we just walked pass it... without even taking a photo (it was cold!)

Morocco trip, Dec 2007 - A little summary of our culinary journey

Morocco cuisine is very diverse, as the land has been influenced by a number of cultures. It is essentially a mix of Arab, Berber, Moorish, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, African, and Jewish food culture.

Here are some examples of the food that we've had in Morocco:

Harira. It is a semolina-based pasta served with a meat stew like soup . The soup is usually served with a wedge of lemon, which is squeezed into the soup right before eating. By custom, this is the dish to break the fast in Morocco during Ramadan. The soup is thick and rich and it can be considered as a meal in itself.

Chicken tajine with dates. It is cooked in a special tajine pot, which consists of two parts: a base unit which is flat and circular with low sides, and a large cone or dome-shaped cover that rests inside the base during cooking. The cover is so designed to promote the return of all condensation to the bottom, so that the flavour stays within the pot. We have tried a number of tajine during this trip and it is a "reliable" dish to have in Morocco.

Another chicken tajine



Another chicken tajine



Couscous with vegetables. The broth is very sweet and tasty. I could drink it as a soup!

Pigeon and almond pastilla, made with a combination of sugar, almond and cinnamon with pigeon meat. It is a signature dish of Fez and it has Moroccan-Jewish origins.

The pastilla is a pie which combines savory meat slowly-cooked in broth and spices and a crunchy layer of toasted and ground almonds, cinnamon and sugar, all housed in a crisp layers of crepe-like pastry. It is a very tasty dish and I highly recommend that you find a good restaurant to try this dish.

Paper-thin crepes

Having some crepes for breakfast. They are usually served with honey, but I just had it with butter.

Beans as a snack. You can get them all around the market. SP reckons it is nothing special though.

B'sara, a Fassi specialty. We got this creamed butterbean and garlic soup at a hole-in-the-wall kind of shop just outside the medina of Fes.

Best to serve with lots of olive oil and bread. It was tasty, but personally, it was too strong for me.

We had a brief chat with the locals while having this dish. They were all interested in how we found the place!

Back in the market, the sweet vendors have everything that a sweet-tooth will ever need: giant blocks of nougat!!

You cannot possibly go hungry when walking around town. There are food stall everywhere. This one sells sfenj, which is a kind of doughnut.

This is what it looks like when it comes out of the wok. But then the regular Morrocans will sprinkle sugar all over it or soaked it in honey. Seriously, if you look sweet stuff, this is heaven for you!

But of course, there are something for the people who prefer savory snacks. What's better than freshly fried chips. This guy made his own potato chips on the side of a road! Not exactly cheap (L5 for a small serving), but it was soooooo fresh and yummy. Judging from the colour of the oil, I know it can't be good for me. LOL.

As soon as I had the chips on my hands, all navigational activities stopped. All of course to protect the guidebook from getting oily!

Back in the market, what do you think this is?

Here is a hint to the above question :-)

Spain is quite famous for their Valencia oranges so by its historical and geological associations, Morocco's oranges should be pretty good too. And as we observed, the streets were lined with orange trees. The fruits smell good. Yet, all the oranges remain on the tree. I thought to myself, the Muslims hates thiefs, so no one would dare to pick the fruit from the government's trees. Then, when we walked past the palace in Meknes, we talked to the guards (with sign language of course!) about the trees. They said that the oranges are not for eating. OK, I understand that. It is for decoration only. It seems like a waste though. The guard then plucked a fruit from the tree and asked us to try it. My dad quickly peeled the orange and we all had a piece. Then we realise, the oranges are extremely sour and it was impossible to eat!! It might be a good source of Vitamin C but there is no way I can eay any more of it. So, there you go, my dad left the orange trees alone for the rest of the trip :-P

Another interesting citrus fruit related fact: tangerine is named after Moroccan city Tangier, which the port from which the first tangerines were shipped to Europe in 1841.