Medinas of Morocco

19 to 26 March 2026

One of the joys of travelling is exploring the old market places that are the heart and soul of any city. We even enjoy wandering through a local supermarket and examining what is offered.

The medinas in Morocco and Tunisia are a little more complex than a simple market. They are in fact a city’s old town or historical centre. The souk or market is just a part of the town. There are also palaces, mosques and homes.

Visiting these medinas during Ramadan created further interest. There’s more to tell in this story. Here I have concentrated on the medinas. The next post tells of the journey from Marrakesh to Tangiers.

Marrakesh

Marrakesh’s medina is one of the most famous and certainly the craziest. When we visited it was full on with locals, tourists and motor scooters all competing for space along the twisted, narrow lanes. Really quite a challenge to not be lost or bowled over.

Meat hangs from hooks over the counter, colourful arrangements of fruit and vegetables are piled high, spices and incense arouse your senses and trades people continue their crafts.

Our guide, Fatima, pointed out some of the curiosities of Muslim life.

Homes are very private, and you don’t visit unless invited. However if you do visit you must use the outer door knocker, which sounds different to its counterpart on the inner door. This is a warning for the women to cover up and be modest for this visitor. The patterns on the door also indicate how many rooms are inside.

We were shown a hamman (bathing house). There are different entry times for men and women. Women will bring all they need, such as buckets to wash with, a plastic mat to stand on as well as changes of clothes and towels. You see them enter with large bags and young children. Men don’t bring their own buckets, they are provided.

The cleaning ritual is quite different from the daily shower, and can be regarded as an inner cleanse as well.

We stopped at the Ben Youssef Medersa. It was erected by Sultan Abdullah Al-Ghaleb Assaadi between the years 1564 and 1565 and was a specialised school for boys age 6 to 20, through scholarship or very high fees. The graduates were likely to become Imams. It closed in 1968 and was renovated and opened to the public in the 1980s. (https://www.medersabenyoussef.ma/en/histoire/)

The decorations were beautiful – intricately carved marble, brightly decorated cedar beams and colourful mosaics.

The area consisted of a large patio off the vestibule, with an Andalusian basin for ablutions. A prayer hall and student rooms. Upstairs, tiny student rooms were built around the circumference of the patio.

We visited the Herboriste La Sagesse, a spice store, where we were able to identify a lot of spices used in the local cuisine. Unfortunately we couldn’t purchase any – Australian’s are well known for looking not buying, due to our strict import regulations.

The shop was full of antiquities, such as old cameras, typewriters, scales and clocks. There was a lookout on the roof that afforded a wonderful view over the medina.

Another lonely lunch, just us sitting alone as the locals continued their Ramadan fast.. It really does leave you feeling rather awkward.

Fatima seemed to meander through the medina, pointing our leather shops (the tanners are in Fez), where the best leather comes from camels, followed by goats then cows. Then metal workers who make a comfortable living crafting jewellery and brass lanterns. Often apprenticing a son from as young as 6 to learn the trade.

The there are the wood carvers, making furniture, decorations for the home and even kitchen utensils.

We finished our tour in the Jemaa el-Fnaa (square) where there were the snake charmers and monkey handlers. It was a challenge to grab an indiscrete photo.

And to our delight, our hotel offered wine and beer with the meal. We had to endure a “tapas” style meal the first night – there simply weren’t enough visitors to open the restaurant. However we met Carlton, a proclaimed birder (twitter in Australia) from USA. He promised to call us up while he chases birds in Australia in October. Two very interesting nights with him, sharing our opinions on the demise of the USA political system.

Fez

Our day in Fez started with a visit to the gates of the largest Royal Palace in Morocco. The gates are brass, big and beautiful and a favourite selfie sight. Oh well, we just had to make do with details rather than the whole site.

Our guide, Fahed, then guided us through the old Jewish quarter. It was the end of Ramadan, and the anticipation of the Eid holiday. Many stalls were closed in the souk and the mood was quieter and less chaotic. But what was interesting was to see the medina without the distraction of the many stalls. The architecture stood out. The houses with their extended windows, the decorated doors, the arches.

We drove up to Borj Sud, the southern lookout, to get an understanding of the size of the medina. There are 900km of narrow, twisting streets and lanes, more than 40 mosques and about 9,400 houses. The size of it is astounding.

We returned to the old town to visit a pottery school, a little quieter today, but enough to demonstrate how the clay is made into tiles which are glazed and fires, then broken down to small pieces to make the mosaics.

We then wandered through the medina, learning how to recognise laneways that were dead ends, with hexagonal signs, and those that connected to other laneways. There were fruits stalls, olive stalls, butchers of chicken, goats and camels, and all types of sticky sweets.

We stopped for lunch at an old historic home, Ryad Nejjarine. We were served an enormous typical meal of soup, tajine and sweets in this beautifully ryad consisting of two floors of lavishly decorated rooms.

The ancient Qur’an school Madrasa al-Attarine was less crowded than it’s counterpart in Marrekesh so we had time to admire the beautiful architecture. These were schools where religion, the Arabic language, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine were taught.

We were treated to demonstrations of weaving at an old caravanserai (trading post). The weaving on display here is a male-dominated trade, whereas the traditional embroidery was often a hobby for wealthy women as well as professional embroiderers.

The famous tannery was quiet for the holiday – no smell! I was however amused that it was a meeting place for young men, who challenged each other hopping over the vats.

Meknes

Unfortunately, no guide appeared in Meknes and we were left to wander this ancient medina without any information. It was Sunday and still Eid, so most shops were closed however a friendly rug seller gave us some directions.

We did notice that the souk in Meknes was all about shopping for the locals, there were very, very few tourist type stalls. The clothes that were sold were intended to be worn locally with the sporty men’s gear and typical djellabas and kaftans for women. The were some butchers and fruit shops and a very popular bread shop open.

Tangiers

The white medina of Tangiers was far more ordered and the more palatial residences stood out. Ramadan had finished so there was a massive selection of cafes and coffee houses.

Our guide was an older gentleman and he took us for a quiet and easy stroll through the medina. He started pointing out the French Cafe famous with writes in the early 20th century and Villa France the 5-star hotel that Matisse made his home for 2 years.

We viewed the 9th April Square and then wandered into the food market and on to the American Legation house. Morocco was the first country to recognise the United States independence, in 1780, and in return the Sultan set up a legation for the United States. There was a lot of historical information including the legation’s involvement during World War II of Operation Torch, designed to liberate French North Africa.

There was a room dedicated to the Scottish artist and etcher James McBey and his American wife, photographer and bookbinder Marguerite Loeb. They lived in Tangiers for 20 years.

We spent some time in the Museum of Mediterranean Cultures within the Kasbah (fortifcation) of the Medina, overlooking the straits of Gibraltar. Along with ancient artifacts, there were beautiful rooms of arabesque style and marble fountains. I enjoyed following a tortoise in the courtyard gardens.

We finished our guided tour wandering through the Big Market, past the oldest cinema in Tangiers and amazing Spanish architecture.

So we were well versed in Medinas. But that isn’t the only story. I’ve written separately about our journey from Marrakesh to Tangiers.

Easter processions and wax

29 March to 5 April 2026 (Easter Week)

We are amazed at the number of cars, buses and all sorts of vehicles that make a massive squeaky noise as they’re turning corners in the streets of Granada.

Hayden explained it was because of the wax.

Wax is a by-product of the famous Semana Santa (Holy Week) processions in Spain. We had timed our visit to see our family during the Easter processions in Granada.

There are 32 cofradías (brotherhoods) who parade over the eight days, between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. More than two thousand costaleros (volunteers) carry fifty-eight processional pasos (floats or thrones carrying Christ and the Virgin).

Men and women penitents are dressed in colourful robes with tall, conical hoods, as an act of repentance, many carry pillar candles or crosses. They are followed by women in black dresses and black mantillas (veils), also holding pillar candles or crosses, Children are sprinkled throughout the parade, wearing caped cloaks and carrying cards to hand out, representing their brotherhood. The older children carry lighters to reignite the candles.

The parades include large, impressive marching bands, playing powerful and emotional music. Apart from the music, the participants are silent, serious and look fully devoted.

We certainly didn’t see all the parades. For example Maundy Thursday has Cristo de Silencio, which is in silence with a single beating drum. Holy Saturday has a single parade, from the Alhambra, featuring the Virgin Mary.

We also came across the last parade on Easter Sunday. The black mantillas were replaced with white mantillas and the parade seemed to have a lighter note.

The pillar candles are very long at the start of the week. As the parade stops, which they frequently do, children come out to collect the wax falling off the candles. Some of the children had quite large balls of wax.

As the week progresses the candles get shorter, obviously the wax has fallen on the road.

This is the reason why the tyres squeak. Apparently, the wax gets into the tyres creating the noise and it continues for some days.

It was an amazing experience to watch colour and devotion, and to gain an understanding of this very Spanish culture.

To the desert and back, Morocco

13 to 18 March 2026

From Casablanca we drove to the Sahara Desert on the Algerian border, over the Atlas mountains, then back to Marrakesh. We covered 1,500 km in 5 days and saw life in the mountains and the desert. A fabulous journey.

We arrived in Casablanca 52 years after our last visit to Morocco. We didn’t get this far south, we only reached Fez in our VW campervan. I can’t remember modesty as we see now – perhaps I was naïve in my short shorts and singlet top, So this time we’re looking forward to exploring more of the country.

Casablanca is a big city and it had two major attractions for us.

The first is the mosque. The Hammet II Mosque is the third largest in the world after two in Saudi Arabia. This one was extraordinarily decorated and large. It sits on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

The second attraction is the reinvented Rick’s Café from the movie Casablanca. We stopped there and had a lovely lunch with fantastic service. coincidentally, we had watched the old movie on our flight here.

It’s Ramadan so we have really been challenged to have a meal as most restaurants are closed and alcohol is not permitted in this period, except in international hotels.

We set off next day to go east. Our destination was Murzeug in the Sahara desert close to the Algerian border, about 440 km as the crow flies.

There was a lot of driving, a lot of sitting in the Mercedes mini bus, just the two of us and our driver Mahdi.

Our first stop was Xaluca Dades Hotel in Imlil, at 1,820m in the Atlas Mountains. It would be fair to say that the hotel was really a guest house which had 13 rooms. We walked into the Berber village, there was little more to do there than photo opportunities of the high mountains around us. The Tagine meal is rather disappointing as it lacked flavour, I think we were spoiled with flavours in Tunisia.

We had a 7am start and headed back towards Marrakesh then drove east to the desert. The stony desert at an elevation of about 1,200m just kept going and going.

We stopped at Dades to see the Kasba, which is a fortified town. We hired a guide who took us up to the top of the old village where the ninth century fort is. The view across the valley was amazing.

We opted for an easy salad lunch, similar to the Tunisian salad but without the tinned tuna. It’s finely chopped tomato, onion and cucumber, generously laced with olive oil and lemon juice. It became a favourite.

The hotel in Dades was sumptuous, quite a contrast from the little guesthouse the previous night. It was set high in the village with fantastic views all around. For the first time, we saw a lot of tourists, and they were hungry, going by the rush in the dining room.

We set off east again, but via the Toudgha Gorge, a narrow 300m wall, carved deep into the mountains. Then it was a very long journey to Merzouga and the Sahara Sky Luxury Desert, just 17km from the Algerian border. The orange sand was bright and cheerful, after hours driving through the stony desert mountains.

We were entertained at the camp by four waiters, come musicians with their drums. We even learnt a few beats,

Another long drive to Ouarzazate, over 400km. It was Ramadan and our driver was fasting. We worried about his concentration on these long drives. Fortunately he appeared to manage without loosing too much energy.

We spoke to a number of Moroccans, and the singular message was that Ramadan was a time of reflection, detoxifying and importantly, family time. They appreciated it.

We hired a guide to show us the Taourirt Kasbah in Ouarzazate. I appreciated seeing how the homes were laid out for one or more families. Renovation of the Kasbah is nearly complete, following an earthquake in 2023. It had some beautiful rooms.

After an interesting night in a Berber guest house, we toured the Atlas Film Studios. These are a huge source of revenue for Morocco. Netflix, HBO and others use these studios for big movies and quick to air series. The Russian tourists in our guided tour enjoyed the opportunity to dress up and play the parts.

As we drove down towards Marrakesh we passed through tiny villages where the local Muslim men and women were traditionally dressed. There were small market stores or shop fronts selling groceries, meat, fruit and vegetables, clothing and all the necessities of life.

More history in Tunisia, along the coast

6th to 9th March 2026

From the desert we headed to the coast and learnt more of Tunisia’s history.

The land was flat from the desert, and we crossed many salt lakes.

We reached Djerba, an island connected by a causeway. Djerba is known for its mixed cultures living harmoniously. We were introduced to pottery, perfumery and olive oil manufacturing. We visited the oldest known synagogue and the Jewish quarter with its wonderful mural. We visited the Turkish souq where Bruce found coffee, despite Ramadan.

Next stop was El Djem, home of the most intact roman colosseum – but it was never completed. We also visited the archaeological museum which had a reconstructed Roman villa and magnificent mosaics on display.

Our last stop for the day was a tour of the medina in Sousse.

We started our final day with a tour of the Ribat at Monastir. Next stop was the mausoleum of Habib Bourguiba the first president of Tunisia from 1957 to 1987, after they gained independence from France.

Our last stop at Hammamet was to visit George Sebastian’s eclectic home and then tour the medina.

Our time in Tunisia will finish with a couple of rest days (catch up on photos and correspondence), and then off the Morocco.

A cultural journey in Tunisia

2nd to 5th March

We left the ancient history of Tunisia behind, and embarked on a cultural tour, driving south to salt flats and the desert, home to the Berber people and a number of Star Wars locations.

We started our journey with a tour of the Great Mosque of Kairouan. It is considered one of the holiest and most important mosques in Tunisia.

We were also treated to a display of ethnic rugs. I loved the natural colours of the rugs, taken from white, brown and black sheep.

It was a long drive for our next stop in Tozeur, on the edge of the Sahara desert.

We were taken to the market, where our guide and chef Nabil Chokmani bought some fresh vegetables for a cooking demonstration. Then it was a quick horse and buggy ride to see a date plantation and learn just how important these palms are to Tunisia and its people.

Our lunch at the Eden Park Date Plantation with Nabil Chokmani was a spicy chicken with a salad and wonderful brick as starters. We then had more opportunity to learn about dates, their history in Tunisia and their uses.

In the afternoon we were taken by a four wheel Toyota to visit a mountain oasis, and a waterfall famous as a film set for The English Patient and Raiders of the Lost Ark. We returned to Tozeur via the desert, in a sand storm and were astounded at how the driver could “see” the road. This took us to the Star Wars set – Mos Espa (1997).

The next morning we toured the medina of Tozeur and in our free time returned to the market to indulge in a few photos of local produce and people.

Lunch was supplied each day, and today it was in a guest house. These old villas are becoming popular boutique hotels and restaurants.

A long drive, across the Chott El Jerid salt lake and deeper into the desert. Date palms were thinning out. We arrived at our desert camp in late afternoon and settled in to the sandy experience. In the evening musicians and a dancer entertained us, along with a horse and rider demonstration and an introduction to sand bread.

Next day we drove to Matmata where the locals have lived in underground troglodyte homes for centuries. This was inspiration for George Lucas films.

We climbed high into the Atlas Mountains with stunning, if not dusty views. Here we came to Ksar Hahda, another Star Wars filming location.

Our accommodation was in a Berber guest house, set high on the hill of Chenini. Masoud came to greet us and lug our cases up the hill, then showed us around the amazing terraced houses. I noted that our guest house was the highest on the hill. Quite a climb for these old legs.

Tunis, Carthage and Dooga

26th April to 1st March 2026

Our first days in Tunis were discovering the city and some magnificent Phoenician and Roman ruins. We continued on to Testour and Dooga.

We are here for Ramadan – shops and cafes aren’t open. We hadn’t anticipated this but we had chosen a cooler time of the year to travel here.

The Burdo Museum is famous for its collection of mosaics. A lot of them have come from houses of richer people in Carthage, an old Roman city. Some mosaics are enormous covering walls. Of course they would normally have been on the floor.

There was also an interesting exhibition from Zama Regis, a newly discovered Roman archaeological site. I was particularly taken by a statue that had a lot of colours still on it.

The original private quarters of the ruling Bey family form part of the museum. It is a showcase of beautifully tiled walls with intricately carved ceilings.

We wandered through the Medina, of course these days it’s mostly tourist type options, such as leather boots, leather bags, friendly looking toy camels and lots of shiny brass. There was some jewellery and lots of fez hats in all colours.

We visited three separate areas of ancient Carthage. Firstly the national museum which is closed for renovation but we were able to see some monuments and understand the layout of the old settlements. The Basilica of St Louis 9th of France commemorates where he succumbed to the Black Death while on a crusade. He was considered the holiest king and is the only royalty to be canonised.

Our second stop was the Antonina Roman baths with a very good display showing how they worked.

Lastly to the Phoenician port. It was in two parts – a rectangular pond where the merchant ships stopped and a discreet channel that took military ships into a circular pond with a large island in the centre. This was used to repair and maintain the 18 foot sailing ships in the 4th to 1st centuries BC.

Carthage was originally a Phoenician settlement and towards the end of the third century and into the second century BC Hannibal defended it in three separate Punic battles. In the second battle he introduced elephants probably brought up from Africa. He crossed the Alps with them. He lost badly in the third battle and retired to Armenia where he suicided by poisoning himself. The Roman victors burned Carthage to the ground. It burnt for a year. For the next hundred years the site was ignored until the Romans realised that it’s in a strategic position in the Mediterranean basin so they built over the top of the Phoenician Settlement.

Next day we left Tunis . Our first destination was Testour, an Andalusian village. It was settled by Jews and Arabs who had been driven out is Spain by Isabella the Catholic Queen. There was a great souk full of interesting food derived from the Jewish and Arabic settlers.

Next stop was the Dooga Roman ruins, they were absolutely amazing. The amphitheatre was as good as anywhere and beautifully presented. The temple of Mercury was massive and seemed to dominate the site. We wandered up to the Temple of Caesar that has an oriental (as in Greek) construction which us semi circular with a rectangular temple situated inside it. The Roman baths were in very good condition as well.

The Silent Partner has arrived!

After the excitement of Evan’s Chocolate Lindt ball melting in Melbourne video, we put pressure on him to get his portfolio web site updated.

Once again, we used the WordPress framework and Bruce selected a theme called Hueman.  It is a beautiful and simple responsive theme.  We modified it a little to make the menu appear where Ev wanted it, along the way introducing Ev to the power of WordPress and the cleverness of Firebug in Mozilla Firefox.

The Silent Partner went live today. It showcases a selection of Evan’s work from Method Studios and some of his personal work. Most important is his current show reel a 1 minute 9 seconds review of some of his work.

I also like Evan’s quirky photography and I look forward to seeing more after he and Steph visit Mexico and New York in March.

Well done, Ev. Great to see your work up and out there.

Update 2024

Evan has updated his website, given it a new look and named it his own. It can now be found at https://evanstainsby.com/. You will still find his past work, dailies and quirky photography.

Celebrating Beer, Beef & Fellowship

Today we launched a new web site – for the Beer & Beef Club of Melbourne.

The Beer & Beef Club celebrates beer, beef and fellowship.  First established in June 1963, it was set up by Carlton & United Breweries with the charter of promoting beer and appreciating it as a perfect beverage to accompany good food.

The club has been expanded to a number of state and regional areas, some of which are very active, so our new web site has a home for each active region and state, where events can be promoted.  These are all linked to the Beer & Beef Club of Australia.

The development of the web site was a collaborative effort between Bruce & myself.  We had a lot of fun and just a couple of terse words bringing it together, but we are truly delighted with the finished work!

B+B beer-beef-fellowship 2

Peninsula College of Nails & Beauty – brand new look

My latest project is a brand new look and feel for the Peninsula College of Nails & Beauty, for Helen and Karen.  PCNB is a college for people who want to join (or rejoin) the beauty industry, either in a salon or working from their home business.

Bruce designed a new look using the Theme Horse Attitude WordPress theme, which is fully responsive, easy to customise and can display a slideshow.  He chose some beautiful images from Masterfile Stock Photos, which we incorporated into the slideshow.

We used the Raleway & PT Sans Google Fonts to add to the clean high key look.

I really enjoyed the project and look forward to training Helen and Karen on how to manage the site later in the year.

So this is the old look:

Learn Beauty originalAnd here is our bright, clean new look:

Learn Beauty new

It’s All About You – a better site

I was approached recently by Alison and Karen who run a business providing hair and make up services for weddings and special occasions.  Their business will service events anywhere in Melbourne, and they pride themselves on the stylists and artists they employ for these very special occasions.

Alison and Karen have a web site It’s All About You, but they wanted to make some changes to the content to make it easier to read and navigate.  They were keen to ensure that their site was visible to search engines.  They also wanted to introduce their own services for follow up.

The site uses a template from Template Monster, written in .html.

It has been a lot of fun working on the first phase of this glamorous and enticing site with a dynamic duo.

ItsAllAboutYou