The Hotel Chamonix is a time warp to the 50s/60s. We had a massive room overlooking the fountains but it hadn't been touched for decades. The Hotel lobby in particular is presided over by pictures of the old king and the only sign of the present King is one of theflanking pictures of him and his brother seemingly as teenagers. The hotel uses the lobby to show off it's collection of 1960s machines (and earlier). There is an arcade hockey game, old telephone system, a till and Beloved's absolute favourite 1940s radio transmitter.
One of the nicest features of Ifrane are the fountains in its central square. Strangely they play all week when there are few people about save fro the rich residents but are turned off at 5.00pm Friday only to restart at 9.30 Monday morning. So at the weekend when all the trippers come to have their photos taken in front of the lion ,the fountains behind are still.
On a summer weekend the town is transformed. The charm of the town is the cedar forest setting and the river running through it. Hordes of upwardly mobile citydwellers come out from Casa, Rabat and Fes and picnic by the river and then promenade in the evening. Most come by car in extwnded family groups but some come by charabanc. It's like Herefordshire with mass tourism.
Ifrane is the weirdest place in all Morocco, partly because it looks as though it's on a different continent. It is set in the centre of the cedar forest and is very upmarket. It is the home of a private university, the most prestigous in Morocco, and thus is home to the youth of the nation's elite. In the winter it is also a fashionable ski resort and the King has a home there but more importantly it is a winter weekend hub for courtiers out from Rabat.
With their steeply pitched roofs against the snow the buildings look very un-moroccan. The guidebooks describe them as resembling Swiss chalets. The most striking aspect of the town is its cleanliness and complete lack of litter. Neither are there any market stalls,donkeys, street vendors, porters, beggers or other poor people hanging round. There are parking attendants and street cleaners in uniform but you get the feeling they don't live there and are just brought in to work.There are hotels (including out of centre an amazingly expensive Spa ), restaurants , souvenir shops and some small "mini" supermarkets. The buildings are not higgledy-piggley but built to an overall design and style by the old King's favourite archetect. The symbol of the town is the oversized lion apparently carved by an italian POW which is guarded during the day by armed soldiers.
The overall impression is like something out of the Trueman show and really it more truly resembles an american gated community than switzerland, and when I go to the pizzeria they proudly tell me that they sell not italian food but New York food. The upshot being that the pizzas are rubbish but the burgers are wonderful.
Damasceneware is one of the traditional crafts of Meknes and really nowhere else in Morocco. It is also practised in Toledo where gold is inset into elaborate abstract patterns against black metal backgrounds in methods which have remained the same for a thousand years. Presumably Meknes ware has the same origins and the skills were brought from Toledo by refugees from the reconquista but here silver is used instead of gold.
The silver is applied as a fine wire to base metal which has to be heated and beaten to darken it and hammered into shape before the pattern is applied and annealed to the surface. Peacocks, in particular, are atraditional design but market demand has caused the craftsmen to branch out into such non-moroccan additions as kangaroos.
Moulay Idriss is a lovely little town just North of Meknes. It takes it's name and fame from the tomb of the eponymous "saint", an object of pilgrimage. Because of this non-muslims were not allowed to stay in the town overnight until 2005. The upshot of this is that it has no major hotels but a number of guest houses which are considerably cheaper than established competitors in Meknes and Fes. You would want to take advantage of this if you intend to visit Volubilis which is only 4km from the town.
We were frustrated in our efforts to stay by the demise of the cooling fan in our hire car. We paid only a flying visit. We could only get a peep at the tomb which is protected from unbelievers by a barrier. A local faux guide took us round the pretty back streets above the mosque but after a while I gave up because of the gradient and sloped off to buy a hat a la Blues Brothers.
The zillij tilework of Morocco is well known but one of the more attractive aspects of a wander is to look down at the boring grey you are walking on. They eschew boring plain rectagonal pavers, or, if they do use them add pattern, in favour of fairly elaborate tessilating blocks. If they do have to use rectangles they will use elaborate laying patterns. Pattern for pattern's sake.
