Asilah, Morocco

Asilah, Morocco

March  28, 2014

We woke up at La Maison Blanche, in the Casbah in Tangier, and made our way down three flights of spiral stairs, heading for the main level with its lovely fountain. This guest house was originally a traditional Muslim home and our host, Aziz grew up here with his 3 other siblings.  He has recently transformed it into a guest house with all the modern conveniences, but the feel of tradition.

Notice the lovely carved woodwork.  This was all over the house. The key hole window in the back of the photo has a wooden grill over it. That's so passers by can't see the women inside the house.

This is a view of the fountain from above.

Aziz had set the table beautifully and was eager to show us all the wonders of a Moroccan breakfast.  

Aziz Begdouri

We had fresh squeezed orange juice, a choice of coffee or mint tea and seven kinds of bread!  We had warm Berber bread which was very rustic.  We also had Arab bread, a fried bread that looked like a doughnut, croissant, pain au chocolat and a loaf of whole wheat bread.  Aziz also offered argon oil mixed with ground almonds, peach jam and butter.  We both finished an entire chunk of the Berber bread.  I think it was cooked on a griddle, and was kind of like a thick chewy pancake.  It was very tasty and the almond/argon mix was delicious.

We each have a slab of Berber bread on our plates.  The orange juice was freshly squeezed. There are 4 more kinds of bread on the sideboard.

After this heavy meal, we met Mohammad for a drive to the small fishing village of Asilah.  Asilah  is a few hours south and west of Tangier, on the Atlantic Ocean. It was originally a Portuguese fort built in the 1400s. Like Tangier, it is a walled city. We spent most of our time in the Casbah.  It is also a beach town and is probably quite lively in the summer. We walked through the Casbah with Mohammad, and he explained about the traditional Muslim windows – the women can see out, but we can’t see in.  He showed us how people are restoring the homes and turning them into elegant second homes.  It was quite lovely.

The house on the left has been gutted and is in the process of being remodeled.

Typical view while walking down the Casbah lanes.

This house has two different styles of traditional windows.  Women can see out, and get some fresh air, but the general public can't see in.

Mohammad showed us the tomb of an important saint.

Stairs from the ocean to the saint's tomb.

The dome is over the tomb of the saint.  Other graves are on the area that looks like a patio.

Taylor and Mohammad.

The ocean meets the Casbah walls.

This man insisted I take his picture.

For a special treat, Mohammad informed us that we would now have free time!!! Free time?  What in the hell is free time?  Initially, we panicked.  What would we do by ourselves in a small town where no one speaks English, there were no visible women and we had no Moroccan money?  Mohammad traded us some MADs for some Euros, so we had some money in our pockets, in case we wanted to have coffee, etc.  We then soldiered up and started off on our own.

We re-toured the Casbah, since we already had a feel for it.  We walked along the sea wall and enjoyed looking back at the town and fishing boats.

We checked out the caravan park . It occurred to us that sometime in the future our friends Mary Lee and Gary could stay in this RV park, while we stay in a hotel nearby. 

Eventually, we went to a cafe, where we had enough money to have one cup of coffee each (without milk).

All in all, it was a lovely day.  We saw a small town in Africa, we were left to our own devices, and we survived!