What is a moroccan face? I remember on my last trip here thinking just how very english so many moroccan faces are, and its no different this time - even an arty postcard of a sketch of a berber nomad could have been the bloke next door for many of us. My cornish ancestors did a good job of contributing to the moroccan gene pool!!!
Talking of my ancestors I've found the square where they got sold - now its a souk selling modern cheap household goods but it takes little imagination to replace all that with people jeering and throwing stones at the latest batch of christian slaves to arrive - bound, chained, in rags, sick, starving and beaten - herded into the square to be sold to unimaginable fate. My imagination is helped a bit too far by my background reading which paints a picture of a people who were, quite frankly, bloodthirsty. Bit of a job to nip to the library for something else.
And smells - I mentioned these earlier and they're all here - spices, dates, mint tea, frying fish, cut wood..........and of course other smells that one doesn't look forward to so much. But we have those at home too.
I'll be glad to get out of the big city tomorrow. Like ludlow there are very interesting old bits of town providing glimpses of past lives, beautuful houses and interiors and doubly interesting by virtue of being in modern use. And all surrounded by miles of urban sprawl where most people live their lives. But rabat/sallee is just massive compared to ludlow!
Meknes tomorrow and imperial palaces!
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