Exploring Unique Moroccan Cultural Experiences

AZDEAN: Welcome back to Destination Morocco podcast. In this episode, we're going to be exploring unique Moroccan cultural experiences one by one. And in this episode, we bring back Ted. Ted, welcome back.

So good to have you. So, this is going to be a fun, fun, fun episode because a lot of people, they have a lot of questions about, you know, this experience versus that experience, and they want to know, as much as they can about them. So Ted, what do you have for us today?

TED: Yeah, and a lot of this I'm curious about too. I mean, I've listened to every minute of this podcast since we started. Two and a half years or something, isn't it?

AZDEAN: Yeah, yes.

TED: I still have questions, you know, at least about some of these details for sure. So a lot of this is just things that we've collected over the last few months, I suppose, and beyond.

And we wanted to put it all in one place to really explain to the listeners what we're doing. What it's all about. And along [00:01:00] that theme of yeah, unique Moroccan cultural experiences, the things that are really quite unique to Morocco that you probably won't find in other places, or at least in the same form.

So the first thing I have is, uh, with the spa and hammam experience, uh, that's perfect example of something you guys talked about lots in various episodes. But if you're new to the concept or you've heard about it. You're not sure exactly how it works. This is our chance We'll kind of go into well, what does that involve?

So what exactly is the spa and the hammam experience? 

AZDEAN: Okay really self explanatory. It's similar to the Western spa with a little bit of Moroccan flair, if you would, but then the hammam experience is the difference is, is the unique, because in the past, Uh, when I grew up, we did not have these hammam experiences the way that we have them now.

We just had a public hammam and we go and it's normally three chambers. If you would, the first one is just warm. then the second one [00:02:00] is a little bit hot, but the third one is very, very hot. It's like a sauna hot. Um, and then, you know, we just, you know, rub our skin basically and exfoliate and all that stuff, until we're clean and we're done.

 the hammam experience nowadays is kind of a private experience. they take you to your own room, uh, your own setup. Everything is, it's really, really nice. it's a little bit hot, comfortable hot, if you would. And then they rub your skin, all your body. Um, and they, they put some. organic products, to exfoliate your skin, to rejuvenate your skin.

And it's really, really nice. And it's more of a treatment as well. So, and then the spa, uh, these two you can do. One after the other I would recommend starting with the Hammam experience If you would do both of them the Hammam experience can go between 30 minutes to 45 minutes Then the spa experience can go depending on the package [00:03:00] that you choose.

It can be 45 minutes It can be one hour. It can be an hour and a half So just keep in mind if you are going to combine both of them, I would say do the minimum of two hours on both 30 minutes, 30 minutes, or 45 minutes, 45 minutes, because you, you will get really tired. They'll get very sleepy and relaxed.

So that's, that's what makes it really, really unique. Then there's, the service in between, you know, the, the tea, the, uh, the mint tea and, and everything that comes with it, they're really, really pamper you. and you can have this experience in all the major cities nowadays. so I highly recommend it or at least one of them.

TED: Right. Now, I know we've seen often that you have like a spa slash hamam as part of a hotel in a resort, maybe a riad. Can it also be found if you're not staying at, uh, let's say at a riad that has a hamam, of course, built in. Can you just find it in a city somewhere and go on and sign up for one?

AZDEAN: Absolutely. Yes. the luxury riads and high [00:04:00] end and hotels, they obviously have their own in house and they'll, they, you book it, they'll take care of it for you. but you also can go outsides, and find it as well. And you just pay on the spot. And some day you need the reservation, but in most of them, you just walk in, uh, they'll accept you as well.

TED: Okay. So does spa always go with hamam or vice versa, or can you find one and the other separately?

AZDEAN: they go together, but you don't have to have both experiences. You can just say, Hey, I'm here for the spa or I'm here for the hammam. Now, keep in mind, the hammam is part of our culture. It still is. We still go to, to, to public hammams, but these are a little bit high end. They're a little bit luxury.

They're a little bit, you know, it's, it's an experience in the next level. If you would, the local, traditional hammam, they are still in every neighborhood. You'll see a public hammam or two, that, the families go to, but in separately, obviously. Um, but in this case, [00:05:00] it's, it's a little bit more luxury.

then the traditional hammam.

TED: hmm. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, because I was thinking, you know, what's the history and the roots of this, way back before the days of tourism and all the rest, like it's very much a, a cultural experience, uh, for Moroccans, right?

AZDEAN: Yes. Yes. Yeah, you get rid of a lot of the dead skin for sure.

TED: Yeah, I remember walking past in Essaouira and our guide pointed out this was a hamam and it was just a local hamam. It wasn't really a touristy thing. I mean, maybe you could buy a ticket and stuff to go in, but it was really made for locals. And, I mean, you couldn't see much. It was kind of a, uh, An entranceway, I remember, it was fairly dark inside, so it was kind of like a whole other world.

I had this impression that once you go in and you kind of settle in, you're in this whole other world and environment.

AZDEAN: that's right. But also they are separated the man's man's hammam from women's hammam So nowadays you'll see one one hammam for women [00:06:00] one for men, but back in the day, it used to be just one hammam and, it'll be shared. For example, from 6am to 12pm, it'll be the women. Then from, for example, 12pm to 6pm, it'll be the men.

So, but nowadays they have them separated. So.

TED: Okay. Is this something that's done, um, clothing optional or what's the standard practice?

AZDEAN: it's like you're wearing your bathing suit for men or for women. And that's in, in the public, that's how you go in. And even for the private ones, that's how you go in. They, they provide you with the bathing suit at the, uh, at the location. and that's how it's, that's how it's done.

TED: hmm. And what about age limits? Like, can children use these to a certain age?

AZDEAN: Well, I would say probably the youngest, I would say maybe 14, maybe 16,

TED: Okay.

AZDEAN: in the younger, they wouldn't, they would know the difference. They'll just see a lot of dead skin on their, on their, you know, hands and stuff, but,

TED: my kids could use that.

AZDEAN: uh,

TED: Clean off all those [00:07:00] grass stains. Yeah, that's good to know because I mean, it's a family kind of thing to a point. You have to have older kids for sure. Yeah. Uh, and then what about pricing in general? Like, uh, there's certainly different levels, but if you, uh, want to go just kind of a, a basic Hamam spa experience, what would that cost?

AZDEAN: Um, I would say. obviously the service, obviously the location, the amenities that come with it, but you can find something between 20 bucks, to starting at 20 bucks to starting at, you know, a hundred bucks or 150 and up. So, and again, it just, when it comes to the spot, it just depends on the packages.

There's. You know, the Royal Package or the Diamond Package, and it includes everything that you can think of, then it's a little bit pricey. But if you just want something basic, then it not really that expensive.

TED: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's good to know. another thing on our list, which is certainly similar, but still I think separate, is what's known [00:08:00] as the hamam sand bath. I've heard a bit about this, but I really don't know much about it at all. So can you tell us

AZDEAN: Oh, definitely. Absolutely. That's a really, really good one. The, the hammam sand bath it's performed in, in the deserts, in a lot of Southern parts of Morocco or cities. and basically, I'm sure you have seen it in, in, some movies. basically they bury you in the sand, obviously except your head.

And, uh, you drink a little bit of water to stay, uh, hydrated. And they use it for medicinal purposes. It helps with people who have arthritis. and you can do as many sessions as you can, obviously not one after the other. So it's, you can do one, come back in a couple of days and do another and so forth.

And that's what This experience is about, um, you know, helping with arthritis and it's really, really popular. I would say more with the locals. Then now it's getting a little bit more, more popular with the tourists.

TED: Hmm. [00:09:00] Are they very common then? Is it easy to find?

AZDEAN: Yes, they're really, really common. Yes.

TED: Okay. So does that kind of go with the regular spa hamam thing, or is it really a separate experience?

AZDEAN: a totally separate experience. Uh, this one is, you know, it's, you can do it in Merzouga. You can do it in the neighboring cities in the Southern part of Morocco where there's sand everywhere. so, the other one, you can do it in, in all major cities. So

TED: Yeah, okay.

AZDEAN: desert. Yeah.

TED: That's true. Yeah. So you don't necessarily go from like the sand to the water, like wet based one and on from there. I see. Okay. And, uh, again, is that a similar kind of pricing, and service, for something like that?

AZDEAN: I would say it's probably, yeah, similar because it's going to have transportation involved, you know, from, you know, whatever you're staying in the hotel or the riad, taking you, then waiting, then coming back. Yes. Yeah.

TED: Well, let's get segue into, the desert because I know we [00:10:00] get a lot of questions, probably one of the most popular ones really is just what's involved with visiting the desert in Morocco. It's definitely becoming more and more popular and people want to go out and experience it. When we were there last year, like, you know, we really made a point of saying, is it possible, is it even possible for us to go and get some sense of the desert?

And because we were in Marrakech, The Agafi Desert is quite close. So that's certainly something to keep in mind. But generally it's like, well, what does it mean to visit the desert when you're in Morocco? Is it kind of a rough and wild thing? Is there, is it, is it like roughing it or, you know, what kind of experiences do you get, what kind of comforts and regular things?

So we can chat a bit about that. When you want to visit the desert, what's involved, what kind of things can you do there?

AZDEAN: you have to be prepared, basically. It's a little bit rough, but not really rough. But people like it, people enjoy it because they want to immerse themselves in that experience. So, for example, [00:11:00] when you get to the desert, when you get to Merzouga, they'll set you up. you'll get your gear for the camel, which is just the scarf.

If you like, if you can do without the scarf, sometimes it helps, especially when there's wind and stuff like that. But you know, the times that we have been to Merzouga, there has never been any, any wind, anything uncomfortable. So, but you don't have to do the scarf. And then after that, the camel handler will help you get into ride the camel.

The camel. In all the cases, they're sitting down, then you get on top, and there's like a T, if you would, a rod, you put your hands on it, and then he helps you get up with the camel, so you get up and, and good, that's, that's probably the most uncomfortable thing about the camel, it's just that, because it's a little that push, you know, when, when the camel goes backwards, then comes back up, uh, you know, that's, that's the only thing that it's a little bit uncomfortable and the same thing when you, when you descend the camel.

[00:12:00] So those are the only two things that I would say, Hey, it just needs your attention. A hundred percent. Otherwise it's, it's all good. 

TED: Is there a camel seat belt?

AZDEAN: Haha no, there's no camel seatbelt. No, but, but the thing is, uh, those camels, they're really, really friendly. And then you have the camel handler, the, the camel owner. you know, he's there with you and, and it depends.

It can be one person. If the group is smaller, it can be two people or three people, depending on how big the group is. So yes,

TED: Right. So then now I'm glad you brought up camels too, because you don't have to take a camel, right? You can just take a car ride if you're going to a camp or an experience. But camel's an option most of the time. Is that usually a standard thing that you have that option?

AZDEAN: Yes. A lot of people, they like to do the camel ride. And also just to give you an idea, the camel ride, between where they, Prepare you until the camp, uh, there's tons and tons of camps, uh, there's regular camps just bare minimum camps, um, [00:13:00] premium camps, then luxury camps. it takes about 45 minutes.

So, along the way, there's a little stop for the sunset and it's about 15 minutes for you to take a lot of pictures, you know, make a lot of memories, and then they continue to the camp where you're going to be greeted with Moroccan minty or desert minty. It's a little different than, the regular cities.

Then they prepare dinner for you. Then you have your dinner, uh, after dinner, they have a little bit of, playing the drums and dancing and singing. And after that you go to sleep. Then in the next day you wake up and they'll give you an option. If you want to go back to the riad, either via camera ride or a quad or a four by four.

A lot of people, they just go with a four by four because it's quick. It's 10 minute ride and, and you're back with, with your team and you have your luggage and everything. So, um, when you're in the camp, obviously dinner, breakfast are included. If you're spending more time than it's the lunch, it's, it's also included, but [00:14:00] the lunch you have options as well.

So, uh, this is basically when we talk about the camera ride, um, from end to end, from beginning to end. Yes.

TED: can you go, as this might apply more to Agafi, but Tell me if it's Merzouga, too. Like, can you just go to the desert for an afternoon to ride a camel, or to do the quad tour, or something like that? Without staying over?

AZDEAN: Mirzouga, I mean, you can stay at the riad, you don't have to go to the camp, you see, and you can do the quad as well, experience. You can do the camel experience. You can do the nomad experience. You can do many, many experiences, except you're not spending the night at the camp, because a lot of people, they like to spend the night at the camp.

If you're not interested, uh, then you don't have to, you can do everything staying at the riad in Merzouga.

TED: Yeah, okay. That's the actual town of Merzouga?

AZDEAN: Exactly. Yeah. There's, there's Merzouga, which has, you know, riads everywhere. And then there's the camp. [00:15:00] So when you go, you leave your luggage, you don't take your luggage with you. You leave your luggage at the riad. And then you go to the camp. Let's say you don't want to go to the camp. Then you can stay in the riad.

Then the riad offers, you know, they have swimming pools. They have tons and tons of amenities to keep you busy as well.

TED: hmm. And the town of Merzouga is basically right on the doorstep of the desert, where you can find the activities?

AZDEAN: Yes, uh, well, the desert is pretty big, but this is, this is like, the closest part of the camps and it's, it's really neat and very unique. and that's, the reason why people go to Merzouga and do all those things. You can still do these experiences and being in, in farther cities, small cities, but it doesn't make any sense.

So it's the best way is to locate yourself in Merzouga and take care of everything that you need to.

TED: Mm hmm. And then same thing in the Agafai Desert, which is right close to Marrakech, so there's probably a lot of practical, uh, options there, too.

AZDEAN: Yes. You know, uh, for a lot of people, they substitute [00:16:00] Agafi desert versus Merzouga, especially if they are doing the north side tour of Morocco and they don't have time to drive to Merzouga. So they can just be in Marrakech and do a day trip to Agafi and they can have, you know, the same experiences, uh, quad experience, camel experience.

They can have dinner and a show afterwards.

TED: Yeah.

AZDEAN: So that's what we would, we would recommend for people just gives them that feel of you're not inside the city, you're off and it feels really nice and relaxing. And it's really, really cool. It's still hot, but you're saving a lot of time versus, you know, going all the way to Merzouga.

TED: that's true, because if you're staying in Marrakech, it depends where you are, I suppose, but it's roughly 30 40 minutes to get to the Agafai Desert?

AZDEAN: It depends where you're staying. Um, but I would say an average, an hour and 15 minutes just to be on the safe side, but Agafai desert, it's pretty big. And it's getting more and more popular. So,

TED: Mm hmm. Yeah, I remember when we were there we would [00:17:00] see, when we drove in, we saw people getting on camels and doing the quad tours and all those activities. So, yeah, and it seemed like they were just doing it as kind of a day activity. They might have been staying at a camp, but you could see their, their jeeps, you know, and

AZDEAN: yes, yes,

TED: uh, vans that had brought them there.

AZDEAN: yes. 

Normally it's pretty quiet. in the morning, midday, but it gets a little bit busy. I would say, after five o'clock, then you'll see, um, a little bit activities. You can, you can see tons, you know, dozens and dozens of quads just driving by going by, uh, exploring. So it's, it's a lot of fun.

TED: Let's talk a bit about temperature, because if you were there in the winter, let's say kind of January, maybe December through March, what would the temperature be like in the desert?

AZDEAN: it gets a little cold, but not really cold. So January for sure, it's a little bit cold. February is a little bit cold. March. It's a really good weather. It's one of the busiest seasons. even in the summertime, it's, [00:18:00] it's fun. Even with the heat, it's fun because at night it's totally different and very unique experience.

But if you, you get a chance to travel to Morocco, when the weather is, is really beautiful, then, you're really gonna enjoy it.

TED: Right. And as you guys said, uh, I think many times, the best times to travel to Morocco is what basically we call the spring and the fall, but, uh, say April through June maybe?

AZDEAN: Yeah. Uh, March through June. Yes. And then mid September, I would say all the way to second week of, December, then, I would say February again. It's lyrical, but it's still good. through June. Yeah. 

TED: Okay. Uh, and how many days can people stay in the desert? What do you recommend that they stay? Mm. Mm

AZDEAN: seen a lot of people, they spend a minimum of a day or a day and a half in the desert in Merzouga, but you can actually spend three days, four days, uh, and fill them up with activities. You know, you can have, for example, a nomad experience. you can have, uh, [00:19:00] Uh, in the village, you can have a Gnawa experience as well.

They have a Gnawa music festival in the summertime around August. So you can do so many things. you can do, uh, the quad experience. they come, they pick you up early morning. They take you off site and, you have fun for a few hours. Then they bring you back. Uh, you can do day trips.

in Merzouga, you can do Berber experience as well, or a nomad experience as well. So it's, there's so many things to do in Merzouga. if you have the time, I would say minimum of two days,

TED: hmm.

AZDEAN: two, three days.

TED: Yeah, yeah, I second that too. I mean, we had one night and we were, we were fortunate we could squeeze that into our itinerary, because in our case, we went around the north, as you said, and so we didn't have the time to get to Merzouga, but at least Agafay is an option. But I do remember thinking, you know, if you had two nights, then it's a nice balance of, yeah, there's nice activities, fun [00:20:00] activities, and things you can do.

But the desert's such a great place to just chill, to just relax, read your book. Our camp had a pool and I, it seemed like a lot of them did, but, uh, I mean, that's something to go swimming in a pool in the desert

AZDEAN: Yeah,

TED: and it's a nice pool, of course. And there's, you know, a comfortable patio and chairs and the whole deal and drinks and all the rest.

Like it's, it definitely feels like this kind of mini resort. When you're there. So if you have even just an extra night and then you're not, you know, cause you get there of course, and you unpack and you settle in and this is beautiful. You want to stay and really explore it. And then the next morning, you know, you're packing up again, you're on your way.

So even just having a couple of nights really would make a difference.

AZDEAN: I totally agree, Ted. A hundred percent. Yes. Because you want to immerse yourself in that experience. And again, the Southern part of Morocco experience is different than the Atlas Mountains, then Marrakech, then Fes, and so forth. So you definitely want to, you know, want to do it the right way, if you can.

TED: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. [00:21:00] Okay, well, uh, next thing on our list here, another very common theme, but we can kind of talk about some of the overall, uh, features, is finding a Berber cultural experience while you're in Morocco. So people are thinking about this, they want to experience the culture, they want to understand and witness it and maybe participate, and it's kind of like, where do you begin?

Can you do it in the city? Do you have to go out to rural areas? What kind of experiences can you have? Do you go to someone's house? Is it like in some maybe central community center or something? Is it a festival? Like how do you approach finding and having that experience? Yeah,

AZDEAN: take care of that for you, basically. And in Marrakech, we do it in, in, in few different ways, actually. There's, we do lunch with the, with the Berber family, in Imelil, which is in the outskirts of Marrakech. It's a short drive and it's about a half a day, you know, for the experience, meeting people, sitting with them, getting to know them.[00:22:00]

And then you do a little bit of tracking, either walking or with the, the mule. and it's a lot of fun. then the other one that we do, you can do a similar thing in Ait bin Haddou, you can also do, a carpet co op visit. You can see how, uh, those women, they waved those carpets and lots of history behind it, or you can do, uh, an art class, painting class as well in Aït Benhaddou.

and again, anywhere you go, uh, minty is very popular, so get used to it. It's, it's going to be, you're going to probably have maybe, uh, a lot of, uh, uh, So, and then the other one that we do, which we have done in, in the summer, uh, we went to our village, to my village and that's what we did.

the experience and we, you can see we have the cooking class and you can do the same thing with the family. Uh, they pick All the vegetables from outside the

TED: okay. Yeah.

AZDEAN: it's, it's, it's a really, really unique experience. And then when you, when you go to those [00:23:00] villages and, you know, those houses, they are pretty old, 100 year old, 150 year old houses. So, and they're just built with clay. There's, there's nothing modern. Um, Um, it's very traditional, uh, but very unique experience.

I, I highly recommend it. And then we, we finished with, uh, the Ahwash experience. Um, we have videos, we have, pictures, uh, in our social media, platforms, and it's, it's a beautiful, beautiful experience. So it's a way of life, uh, that, that experience, it's different, you know, if you're from where's Azad versus Soos versus, um, Other regions in Morocco, and there's many other Berber experiences besides that, but those are just a few of what we do basically for the clients.

And you can do the same thing. the Berber experience is the number one request that we have for all the tours. Everybody wants to have that experience. Uh, they want to spend some time with the Amazigh people, with the Amazigh culture. And it's just, it's, it's beautiful. So, uh, which is really neat because, You help those families, you help those villages and your [00:24:00] help really, really goes a long way.

So it's incredible to, to, to support those communities and help them. Just, it's incredible.

TED: Uh, one question comes to mind is, uh, essentially language barrier. So when you, let's say you're doing a cooking class or something, is the person leading it speaking English? Is it being translated or maybe a different language too?

AZDEAN: Well, I mean, you're doing the cooking class, it's a family. But you always have somebody with you. You have your local guide, or you have us to translate. So, uh, the language, it is a barrier, but it doesn't become a barrier.

So it's, uh, it's pretty cool.

TED: Okay. Yeah. How do you find, the families or the hosts that at least you guys that you work with, like, how do you, um, choose the people that you bring your guests to?

AZDEAN: That's a really good question, Ted. because we, we are part of a network and, and, We know people literally all over Morocco. but the difference is a lot of people don't know this. Some villages are [00:25:00] welcoming to outsiders that has nothing to do with tourists and others, they are not welcoming to others.

And this includes me, for example, uh, I can go to, to a village that I'm not known and people, it's, they'll just look at me kind of, you know, with caution. You know, but if I go into that village with somebody local, then I am welcomed. So you always have to have somebody from the village, uh, welcoming you.

Then it just makes that transition, seamless and smooth. So, and we've had many experiences in the past. It's, it's kind of funny. Um, this is back in the, in the nineties. we had a French guy, he's a tourist, in the mountains.

He was by himself and he twisted his ankle, uh, And, it hurt and, and he stayed with us for two weeks in the village and he had so much fun. Uh, you know, he speaks French and, you know, we, we were kids. So we, we used to make fun of him. He'll make fun of us. And we used to laugh and have really, really good time.

But then the time came for him, that he was healed and it's time to go. Everybody was crying [00:26:00] because they got used to them. So it's, uh, that hospitality is always there. It just, sometimes it needs a little bit of time to come out. So

TED: Sure. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. That's where it's nice having you guys is having a guide that's an intermediary to kind of speed up the process because most of us don't have two or three weeks or something to just settle into a village. That makes me wonder then, like, in terms of kind of timing, like, especially if you were to go out to some rural village, Can you do that in a day and be back to Marrakech or wherever you're based, or do you stay overnight?

What are

AZDEAN: No, you can, you can, uh, everything we discussed when it comes to Berber experience, you can all do it in a day. Now, if you're in Marrakech, you really have to leave early. Um, and then, I mean, not early, early, like four or five in the morning, but early, maybe seven or eight. and it'll get you to, to the village.

Maybe three hour drive, then you can prepare, you [00:27:00] know, get stuff ready for lunch. And then you can do lunch. And after lunch, you can set up the next village for Ahwash experience, which, normally Ahwash experience for us locals, when it's done in wedding or, a celebrating event, it's, it's like four hour thing.

You know, it goes all night, maybe from 10 PM to two or so in the morning. But in this case, because it's just. Tourists and an experience. It's about an hour and a half. So you still get to get immersed in that experience and it's beautiful. So you can do everything we talked about in one day, um, a day trip, a day trip to the mountains, to Tliwet actually, and get everything done and come back, at night to, to your riad or hotel.

TED: And with the, uh, Ahwash experience, are you watching it? Can you participate as well? Tell us a bit about it.

AZDEAN: okay. Um, it has, uh, I don't know the name in English, but it's like a drum beat and, you know, it's, there's a lot of poetry that it's being sung and normally there's three or four leaders into the group and they rotate who's taking the lead in the singing [00:28:00] and, and the beats.

Every leader has his own beat that they perform. And if you pay close attention, it's different. It's like, you know, it's, it's like their own signature. If you would, uh, you can participate in dancing. You cannot participate in. Getting that instrument and playing with it because you're going to mess up the beat.

So when you see me, for example, last year in the middle of an Ahwash, I had that instrument with me, but I just, I don't hit it. I just hit the side of it. So that way it's, it looks like, I am on beat and I'm not messing up the beat just in case because I don't want them to be mad at me. But also all those men, you know, I grew up with them when I was a kid.

So most of them They know me very well, and they know my father. So after we finished that, I wish we were shaking hands and hugging and you know, just talking but you know good old days if you would. So it was it was a lot of fun. Yeah, you can definitely participate. You can also participates just regular, you know, your, your regular clothes.

But if you want to immerse yourself in that experience, they can dress you up like from the, the [00:29:00] village, you know, for men and for women, and it gives it just that extra flair if you would. So

TED: Wow. Yeah. And that really is something quite, now it's distinct to Morocco, but is it distinct to the South of Morocco, a certain parts, or can you see it all over?

AZDEAN: you can see it all over, but it's different. in different parts of Morocco. Some, you know, we have Ahwash in different regions. They have, for example, Ahidous in different places. They have something different, but you can see because there's different tribes when it comes to the Berbers. So, and you know, the Atlas Mountains, the Mid Atlas Mountains, the southern part of Morocco area as well.

So, But the one that we have, it's specific to where is it.

TED: Okay. Yeah.

AZDEAN: And you can tell from that dance who those people are from, which region they are from.

TED: Yeah, I guess with the trained eye, but eventually you yeah, you notice the difference interesting and you'd have would you have a guide? [00:30:00] Kind of with you during the experience to explain what's going on the meaning behind movements and things.

AZDEAN: Yes, for sure. Because, because on those, in those events you have, obviously you're going to have food, served, uh, either lunch or something else, and you'll have people speaking English. Normally, it's either through us, your driver, or local guide as well. 

TED: Okay Cool, let's see. We've got a couple other things here now A common question I think is when it comes to visiting mosques in Morocco, now people who travel to other countries, you know, it depends on the country and kind of the culture there. Some mosques are more open, let's say, to anyone. some you have to be Muslim.

In Morocco, what's the case? Are there any mosques that you can visit when you're there?

AZDEAN: yes, there's one. Mosque that you can visit, obviously, which is the biggest one in Morocco. And, uh, it's, uh, Hassan II Mosque located in Casablanca. It's, it's, it's a beautiful, beautiful model. it's [00:31:00] amazing. and we get this question all the time. How do I dress? How do I, can I go? Yes, you can go in.

You don't have to cover your head. be comfortable. and once you go in, you can do the, the tour by yourself. but also you can hire a local guide on the spot and pay. There's a, there's a kiosk where you pay, it's like, uh, 15 bucks or so, and then they'll go with you, the tour should take you between 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

And I highly recommend it. Now, this is if you want to go inside the mosque and pay for that experience. Now you can go, they have a museum, which is located on the right hand side before entering the mosque. And you can go in as well. You pay a few bucks and you go in and you look at the mosques and the history and all kinds of stuff.

It's really, really neat. And I would recommend it if you're not going to go inside the mosque, at least do the museum experience, which is really, really nice. Now, the other thing is you can be. Outside the mosque at any time, all the time, nobody will ask you what you're doing here or [00:32:00] this or it cannot be here, for example.

And it's really, really popular, especially during the sunset. A lot of people, they want to go in, they want to take a lot of pictures and it's free. You don't have to pay anything. It's just you're on the outside and you're enjoying the view, enjoying the mosque and taking pictures from, for the mosque outside.

and it's a pretty unique experience.

TED: Yeah, right next to the ocean there. It's a stunning place.

AZDEAN: yes, it really is. Yeah.

TED: But I highly do recommend taking the tour, like with the guide and there's lots of tours. It's easy to find and they really explain why it was built the way it was, the, the architectural features, the history and what was there. You know, there used to be, I forget about this.

There used to be that big swimming pool, right where the mosque is now. And you see old pictures like from, well, from the fifties or something like that. And to think the, uh, tore all that down and replaced it with this incredible mosque in the perfect location right next to the ocean.

AZDEAN: It is. It's, it's beyond incredible.

TED: Now a good thing to know are the times, but especially the days [00:33:00] when the tour, let's say, is not available in particular.

AZDEAN: right. That's right. Yes. You have to pay attention. If you, if you're traveling on your own, just, uh, Look at their website. Uh, they have sometimes two, three visits, visitation time a day, and the time changes between summer and winter. And also the time is different always on Friday. So you want to keep that in mind as well.

If we're doing this for you, you don't have to worry about it. We just, we book everything for you and we coordinate everything for you.

TED: yep. Now that's the Hassan II Mosque, but there's not any others in Morocco that a non Muslim at least can go and visit,

AZDEAN: No, this is the only one, but there's, there's actually a couple, but you can still take pictures from outside, but unfortunately you cannot go inside. 

TED: now what if, what if you are Muslim? Is it possible to go and worship and go into a mosque anywhere in Morocco? How does that work?

AZDEAN: If you're, if you're a Muslim, you're so, yeah, that's what the mosques are for us to go inside and worship. Yes. Yeah. Including

TED: it's not something it's just like for locals only or anything like that.

AZDEAN: No, no, [00:34:00] as long as you're Muslim, you know, your nationality doesn't matter. But if you're a Muslim from, you know, U. S., Canada, any part of the world, you can still go inside and perform the prayers in a mosque in Morocco.

Yeah.

TED: Okay. Yeah. Are there other Islamic sites, that people can go in? I'm thinking the madrasas, perhaps, or places in Fez? Yeah.

AZDEAN: yes, you have the Madrasa Bou Anania, you have the one in Meknes as well, Bou Anania, then you have Madrasa Ben Youssef in Marrakech, and they all look kind of similar, but when we build a nighttime area a lot of the guests, if we have them scheduled to see Madrasa Ben Youssef in Marrakech, then we skip those, the one in Fes and Meknes, because it's really similar.

So that way they can do other things. the history obviously is different, but we still, you know, the local guys still talk about all those monuments. But it's just, , you have certain time in Meknes, you have certain time in Fes, and certain time in Marrakech.

and that's why if we show one, it's like you've seen the three of [00:35:00] them.

TED: Sure. Yeah. Well, there's lots to see. And that comes to our next question, which is exploring Moroccan Jewish culture, and also I think particularly in Fs. You can talk a bit about this. Is Fes kind of the hub of Moroccan Jewish history, let's say in culture?

AZDEAN: Oh, a hundred percent, Ted. Yes. Um, you know, when earlier, when we spoke about the Berber culture, the Yemezi culture, that's definitely the number one request. But the second request that we get, which is the Jewish culture. Now keep in mind, I'll give you an example. You have a tour, we set you up, we build a night for you for 10 days.

and it's just a regular tour. We do the tour, it's north side of Morocco, south side of Morocco. I guarantee you probably 60 percent of everything we visited, it's Jewish related. So, You cannot do a tour in Morocco without the Jewish. It's, it's, it's impossible. If you do Marrakech, there's a lot of Jewish places in Marrakesh. If you do it in Essaouira it's the same thing. If you do, for example, if you do Chefchaouen. and there's a lot of history, especially firstly, I would say is [00:36:00] definitely the hub, because of the, the Spanish Inquisition back in the, in the 15th century.

And So basically, um. the Christians, they say, Hey, if you, you can either convert or get out of Spain. So that's when a lot of, Muslims from Spain and Jewish people from Spain migrated to the north side of Morocco, especially Fes and especially Chefshawan and other areas like Tetouan and stuff like that.

So, uh, when you look at Fes, Fes it's three cities within a city. You have the, the beginning, which is, uh, the old Medina, which is built in the ninth century. And then you have. the Spanish era, you know, the, the migration or the inquisition era, which is, when the Jews came to, to Fes and to Shavuot and stuff like that.

Then you have the 20th century, which is, uh, the, the new city in, uh, Nouvel Ville, and it's a modern city. So Fes has the old, the new, and, and the very old. So when

TED: they're all right next to each

AZDEAN: They are, they are exactly, you're absolutely right, Ted. So when you look at, for example, the Jewish quarter Fes, it's [00:37:00] just across the street, maybe, four meters or five meters between the King's palace and the Jewish quarter when it's, when it starts, when it begins, the Jewish quarter.

So they have the, the King's protection, at all times. when we visited, we visited a synagogue back from the 17th century and it's amazing. we went to the top of that synagogue and we can see, downhill, you can see the symmetry, the symmetry is still, active.

It has, uh, some of the, the most important rabbis in the Jewish history are buried there in Fes. And now a lot of people, the Jewish people from all over Morocco, we When they pass away, that's where they want to be buried in Fes. It is the biggest cemetery, in Morocco when it comes to Jewish people.

So, uh, the Jewish history, it's very alive, and doing well. in Morocco, when, then when you go, for example, to Chefchaouen, the same thing, a lot of people, they ask about the colors, you know, what is the white? What is the black? the light blue color and that light blue, you can see it in a few cities.

Actually, you can see it, but it's very noticeable when you go to Essaouira and it's, it's a Jewish color. Then the white color, it's, it's a [00:38:00] Muslim color. So the painting, for example, when you go to Chefchoaouen, it's it's a mixture of Muslim and Jews. and those people, they paint those houses.

It depends maybe once a year, maybe twice a year, just to keep it clean. And, the government does not get involved in this. And I think this tradition started back in, especially in Chefchaouen back in 1950. Then when you go to Essaouira, the gentleman in charge is, uh, his name is, Mr.

Azoulay and he's the, uh, the King's advisor and he did an outstanding job in Issaouira, he's Jew, and he kept the history, he kept the heritage, the culture of the Jewish people. really well. Uh, so Essaouira looks very nice, very clean, very neat. And last visit we did, uh, Madrasat, Dar Salam, which is a house of peace.

And it's, it's Moroccan Jews, then Muslims, you know, yeah. So it's, it's, and again, when you do, when you do, for example, a Essaouira visit, it'll take you about an hour and a half. Everything is close to each other. Most of it is just walking distance from each other. But then a lot of it is, is Jewish history, even though nobody tells you it's Jewish history, [00:39:00] it is.

So it's, you cannot take one out of the other. But then when you look at the two cultures, the Jewish culture and the Berber culture, they're mingled in, they're in twilight, you know, they are mixed. uh, the Berbers now, they used to be Jewish. especially when you go to the villages, everybody used to live together, uh, before they, everybody migrated to Israel back in, you know, the sixties and then the if you look in Israel, there's, there's about 2 million, Moroccan Jews. Um, and the second biggest population. Uh, is Canada. There's about one million Moroccan Jew in Canada, but then you go, you know, they're everywhere again, Latin America and Europe and so forth. and those families, they go back nowadays too fast to recognize.

They want to see their old houses. They want to see where their grandfather was buried, where they lived, you know, they left their childhood house and all that stuff. So, you know, you cannot take one out of the other. for us, it's. Everyone is Moroccan, so we don't have that label if you would like, you know, but it's just it's Moroccan So it's it's really unique.

So

TED: yeah, well, [00:40:00] there's so much to see and as we've covered in this episode, it's the different cultures that you find, but they all, they all come under Morocco and you can experience all of that in one trip, you know, you get the Berber, Amazigh culture, you get Islamic influence, you get the Jewish influence, it's all kinds of modern influence too, European and otherwise, and uh, it's all there.

So, yeah, Yeah, it's, uh, this has been good. I really wanted to cover some of these questions because I know you guys get a lot of the questions and, uh, things I've been curious about too. So, um, yeah, it's good to get some of these details of, of how these things work and how to go about doing the research questions, further questions people then may have for you.

So they can certainly reach out and find you guys quite easily at destinationsmorocco. com. And, uh, any inquiries about things to see and how the tours work, and you can go there. give us some feedback too about the podcast. We always like to hear what else you want to know about. Uh, questions, topics, [00:41:00] and subjects that we can explore some more on, on this show.

So, feel free to reach out to us there as well. We're putting more and more episodes here on YouTube, and of course it's easy to send comments there. So, yeah, we love getting the feedback too about the show. And, um, lots more to come. Anything else you want to add before we wrap up?

AZDEAN: Visit Morocco Book with us, you

TED: to do it.

AZDEAN: yeah, we we want you to travel we wanted to experience Morocco You know when you talk about the history Morocco has thousands and thousands of layers of history, It's just beyond incredible. So we want you to come, we want you to visit, we want you to have fun.

And we want you to create memories that last a lifetime. So thank you for listening. Thank you.

TED: Yeah. Thanks so much. It's been a fun episode.

AZDEAN: Thank you so much, Ted. Thank you. Thank you. 

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