Nov 27 – Sefrou, Bhalil and Tazzeka National Park (Almost)

Today we left mid-morning for a drive to Sefrou.  Our first stop there was a bio break at a Jewish Synagogue for a brief look and a bathroom break.  

There are now only two Jewish families in Sefrou.  Before the founding of Israel there were over a quarter of a million Jews living in Morocco.  After the founding of Israel and the more recent unrest in the Arab world most have migrated to Israel.  It is now estimated that there are likely only about 2500 Jews still living in the country.

Because we visited the synagogue first we ended up picking up a local security guard who insisted that he accompany us for our walk.  Apparently the visit may have “marked” us with the locals so he was there to protect us.  With the guard in tow we headed out for our walk through the medina. 

One item that was specifically pointed out was the djellaba buttons.  Djellaba's are the traditional robes worn by men but many of the women's caftan's also use these buttons.  

These are hand made by threading a core (either a very small roll of paper or a very short piece of plastic tubing) onto a needle (just to make it easy to hold and work with) and then sewing a long thread around it to make the small buttons.  We came across a women sitting in front of her shop making buttons so we stopped to watch for a while.  It looks very complicated.

The walk through some of the village included a baker’s shop where the baker would bake the bread that was brought to him by local families.  The cost was a half a dirham for two loaves.  He seemed to be doing a steady business.

We also stopped at a commercial bakery where one could purchase bread.  Our guide bought a number of loaves for our lunch.

It seems that they may not have much in the way of running waters in the home in Sefrou.  We saw one woman filling plastic jugs at a fountain on the street...

and a couple of young people hauling a rather large plastic container through the streets.  Pretty sure it contained water.

We also passed a community laundry.

We then went to the village of Bhalil that is known for its Troglodygte (cave) homes.  Our guide was a local gentleman who lived in such a cave home.  His family had lived in the home for about 18 generations. 

We then went to his home…

where he made us traditional Moroccan sweet mint tea.

Then we went upstairs to the house above where his wife had cooked us a really awesome meal.  We had bread that he had picked up at the bakery, a massive bowl of vegetable couscous, goat with cabbages and a few other veggies, and chicken tagine.  The food was wonderful.

We also got to go to the rooftops for views and where we could see the hills of Bhalil and Fes in the distance.

They also had some laundry hanging from lines on the roof.  Looks like they used old fashioned wash boards to do their laundry  We are so lucky to have modern conveniences.  

After our farewells we all agreed that it was a really awesome experience. 

We then agreed to take the one and a half hour drive to Tazzeka National Park.  There was more interesting countryside along the way...

including a farmer plowing his fields using a team of donkeys.  With all of the farmland we have seen on our drives we have seen no tractors working the fields, only donkeys.  It must be very hard work.

Unfortunately the drive was well over the time indicated.  We did make it to a gorge with awesome red rock walls.   

On the return to Fez we had a pretty spectacular sunset.