Dit is informatie die ik mijn klanten toestuur als ze een kamer boeken in de Riad, in Fes, waar ik werk:
Electricity 127/220 volts. Outlets take two round pins (as in France, for example)
Population 30,704,000 45% of whom are aged twenty or less.
Capital Rabat; 1,759,000
Area 710,850 square kilometers (274,461 square miles)
Languages Dialectical Arabic, Berber dialects, French
Religion Sunni Islam predominates
Currency Moroccan dirham (DH) (March 2008, approx 7.3 dirhams to the US dollar). It is unlawful to bring in or take out any amount of dirham. Currency exchange rates are set by the government, so the rate at your hotel should be the same as your withdrawal from an ATM. Be advised that maintaining your supply of small change in bills and coins isn’t easy; I found hotel desks very challenged to make change, and yet coins are so necessary for the frequent tipping that is part of the culture.
GDP per Capita U.S. $3,900
Literacy 52%
Local Time: GMT. When it is noon EDT it is 4pm in Morocco. When it is noon EST, it is 5pm in Morocco.
Official name: The Kingdom of Morocco. In Arabic, the name of the country is
Maghrib Al Aqsa, which means “farthest to the West.”
Info search tip: depending on the source, the cities can be spelled Marrakesh or Marrakech, Fez or Fes. The second versions are the French spellings.
Tipping:
Waiters in proper restaurants should be tipped up to 10% of the bill. At informal cafes, the tip is normally 2 DH per person in the party. Hotel porters will appreciate 10-20 DH, as will anyone else who helps you out (e.g. the young man who guides you back to your hotel when you are lost). You are certainly not paying for much of a service in my experience, but a tip of 2-5 DH to the attendants posted inside or outside of restrooms is expected. Be sure to have a supply of your own tissues and hand wipes in addition to the coins; you will need your own toilet supplies almost every time.
Most Moroccans are poor, and soliciting tips is a way of life. It may seem annoying but these small (to us) amounts of money are welcomed.
Taxis
Petits Taxis, typically small four-door Fiat Uno or similar cars, provide metered cab service in the central cities. Either ask for the meter to be turned on, or find out what the price will be to your destination before you get in. Taxi drivers do not routinely get tipped if they are using the meter but you can add on a DH or two. Grands taxis offer shared rides on specified routes. Grands Taxis may also be hired for private service by the hour or day, although typically only foreigners do so.
Courtesy:
Always ask if you want to take photos of people. Women may turn away, and men or children may ask for money (keep 5 or 10 Dirham coins handy).
Many people take off their shoes when entering a Moroccan home, and walk in socks or (borrowed) slippers, unless your hosts indicate this isn’t necessary. Food is handled with the right hand; dishes may be passed with the left hand.
Non-Muslims are not permitted to enter mosques. There are designated exceptions: For example, the large Mohammed II mosque in Casablanca is open for guided tours. You must remove your shoes.
French is a very useful language in Morocco, it is the second language after Arabic. The remarkable thing is that even the poor old woman asking for coins, who probably can’t read or write, is most likely going to be at least bi-lingual.
Moroccans don’t beckon by using the index finger; that is considered impolite. Moroccans make a beckoning gesture with the hand palm down, sweeping the hand toward oneself.
As a woman, I found that my Western-style dress (trousers and long sleeved tops) served me perfectly well in Morocco. Some Moroccan woman were completely covered up, most wore only head coverings, a few were dressed in Western style. One thing I didn’t see anywhere was any women enjoying a coffee or tea in a sidewalk café. That seemed to be a men-only pastime. Note that you can’t enter a holy site in a sleeveless top or shorts.
Official guides have been properly trained, vetted and licensed by the Moroccan National Tourism Board (ONMT), and (in the case of English-speaking guides) are understood easily. They can be hired from Tourist Offices, or via your hotel front desk. They can identify themselves by a brass badge or laminated card. Faux (false) guides are looking for work in a country with high unemployment.
If you don’t want to visit any shops, then be clear and firm about this before setting out with your guide.
Shopping in Morocco
In souks, markets, and medinas, expect to haggle. This can be an enjoyable game. The best piece of advice is to think ahead about exactly what you want and how much money and time you would be prepared to pay for it. You can visit the fixed-price modern shops and cooperative shops in order to gauge “standard” prices. In medinas and souks the starting price may be as much as 4 times what they are prepared to accept, though if they sense you know your stuff they may start lower or come down very rapidly. You may be offered a cup of tea; it’s part of the routine, but also a courtesy. The expectation is that you don’t suggest prices you would not be prepared to pay. Try the walking-away trick. If they don’t hail you back with a better price, you can always start at the next place with the ‘best and final’ offer of the shop before.
If you enter a shop and it doesn’t have what you want, smile, say “thank you”, (Shokran, or Merci) and leave.
I found that the shopkeeper would win my sale by asking me to say or write down my very best offer. He would tell me that was too low, I was taking food from his children, but then he’d write down a slightly higher price, and usually that won me over. I’m sure I offered too much to start with, because I felt embarrassed, and so even the final price was doubtless more than the shopkeeper would have accepted. But I kept in mind that the price in dollars that I might have overpaid was not really that much. I read this advice too: Once you have bought something, don’t continue to shop around for the same thing – you will inevitably find it cheaper sooner or later, the quality may or may not be the same, and there’s no point in second-guessing your purchase. Just enjoy it.
Food
While spices have been imported to Morocco for thousands of years, many commonly-used raw ingredients are home-grown: mint and olives from Meknes, oranges and lemons from Fes, prickly pear (cactus fruit) from Casablanca. Also cultivated in Morocco are pomegranates, almonds, dates, walnuts, chestnuts, honey, barley, cherries and melons. Seafood is abundant along the Atlantic coast while lamb and poultry are raised on higher ground.
When at home with a Moroccan family the women may not eat with the family, though allowances are made when female visitors are there for lunch. The cook presents the lunch and leaves. The host will declare ‘Bismillah’ (the name of Allah), everyone echoes it, and the eating commences. If you are full, continue nibbling. If you stop the rest of the table will follow suit.
Moroccans eat three meals a day, the main meal being around mid-day. Eating with your hands is a time-honored tradition. Rule number one: eat with your right hand only, using the thumb and first two fingers. Using more is a sign of gluttony. The left hand may be used for picking up bread or passing dishes on to other people. Never help yourself to bread, wait until it is given to you. Use the bread to mop up sauces and clean your plate. It is not uncommon for Moroccans to use bread as a “utensil.” Don’t lick your fingers until the end of the meal. In the meantime wipe them on the bread or a napkin.
If offered a gift when invited into a Moroccan home, don’t refuse – it’s rude to turn down a charitable moment. Be careful not to admire something in the house as they may give it to you to take away. In the same way do not refuse food. The host will always offer food when you enter his home. If you don’t like it – just taste a little of it. At the end of a meal a portion of food should remain. Conversation should include praising the food.
The national dish, couscous is fine semolina grains which are plumped by steaming them over a simmering stew. The grains are then piled on a large platter, with the stew heaped on top. Traditionally, couscous is served for Friday lunch or for special occasions. It is never a main dish, but it is served as the last dish at the end of a meal. A “couscous of seven vegetables” is common in Fes. The seven “lucky” vegetables are onions, pumpkin, zucchini, turnips, chili peppers, carrots and tomatoes. I have never tasted carrots as large and sweet as I did in Morocco.
Couscous is usually served topped with gorgeously-braised vegetables, and chunks of lamb or chicken. Moroccans believe couscous brings God’s blessing upon those who consume it. Couscous is said to be prepared with patience, rhythm, time and the finesse of the cook.
For poultry, chicken with preserved lemon (the lemons provide both tang and salt) and olives is the classic preparation, while a chicken tagine cooked with butter, onions, pepper, saffron, chick-peas, almonds and lemon is also popular. A tagine is a kind of stew, but it is named for the terracotta pot it is cooked in, with the cone-shaped top. Tagine pots with colorful glazes are used as serving pieces, but not for the actual cooking. Tagines are prepared with a variety of vegetables and fruits. Chickens can be stuffed with raisins, almonds, rice or eggs.
For religious reasons you will not find pork dishes in Morocco, except perhaps in some of the Western-style hotel restaurants. Lamb is king of meats. It can also be braised, browned, steamed or served on skewers. Kefta is lamb or beef which has been spiced, then rolled into the shape of a sausage, placed on a skewer and broiled; when it is rolled into meatballs, it is used in tagines.
Harira: My new favorite soup! A flavorful soup made from lentils, chick peas, lamb or vegetarian stock, tomatoes and vegetables. A staple of Moroccan cuisine, available even for breakfast.
Bisteeya (Pastilla)
This savory pastry is made in three layers: a layer of shredded chicken or pigeon meat is topped with eggs which are cooked in a lemony onion sauce and further topped with a dusting of sweetened almonds. The whole is enclosed in tissue-thin pastry called warka and topped by a layer of cinnamon and a bit of sugar. It is believed that this pastry came from the Persians, who likely learned to prepare it from the Chinese.
Bread is sacred in Morocco. Any bread found thrown away in the street must be moved out of the way of foot traffic with a short prayer. Loaves are baked early morning in communal ovens found in every neighborhood.
Desserts aren’t always served but when they are, it might be a kaab ghzahl, “gazelle’s horn” a crescent-shaped pastry which is stuffed with almond paste and topped with sugar. Honey cakes are pretzel-shaped pieces of dough which are deep-fried, dipped into a hot pot of honey, and then sprinkled with sesame seeds. Restaurants may offer a pastry sampler plate for dessert with small bites of a variety of pastries.
The national drink is mint tea, jokingly called “Moroccan whiskey. Fresh mint leaves are blended with green tea, and the very sweet boiling hot tea is poured from a pot held high above the cups, so the brew is aerated as it is poured.
Take precautions re drinking bottled water, and only produce that has a removable peel. It’s simply a matter of not introducing unfamiliar microbes into your digestive system that may adversely affect your health temporarily.
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Ik hoop dat je hier wat aan hebt.
Gegroet
Nico
