English haven in Chefchaouen

Lumen loves Chefchaouen. There's nothing more relaxing than sitting in a pavement cafe on Uta al-Hammam square watching the world go by, followed by a little browsing in the excellent shops. She was honoured to be the guest this last weekend of John Wilkinson, the British Consul's warden of Chefchaouen, at his pied-a-terre in this small town in the Rif Mountains.
John's house is a perfect delight - and best of all, it's for rent at the incredibly low rate of Dh400 per night, for the whole house.
The house consists of one twin-bedded room and one single room on the ground floor, with a luxurious bathroom (with tub - and heated towel rail). Up one flight is a large living room comprising a kitchen with everything you'd need, and dining table. There's a study area, lots of bookcases, a wonderful white piano on which John played Bach and Chopin, and a comfortable sitting area with TV and chimney. Go up another flight to discover a very special roof terrace, fully furnished, with a lovely fountain big enough to dip your toes in, and fabulous views of the surrounding mountains. The house is in the medina of Chefchaouen, close to parking at Ras Al-mar. Book at www.fez-riads.com.





After soaking up the atmosphere in the square, John, Lumen and Si Mohamed Toumi drove off for lunch in the mountains, at the Caiat Lounge Retreat that serves delicious meals and offers trekking opportunities as well as accommodation (www.caiat.com).

An excellent dinner at Chez Hassan rounded off the weekend (oh, and just a little shopping), and Lumen returned to Fez on the CTM bus that takes just over 4 hours to complete the journey.



Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

Cafe Clock flexes its muscles

Mike will go to great lengths to keep the customers happy

Last night saw what Mike curiously calls a 'soft' opening of Cafe Clock (must be jargon in the catering industry ...). A happy bunch of punters crowded the tables to sample the first meal offered by the new Cafe. The restoration is complete and the house is looking very beautiful, the kitchen is installed and the furniture in place. First up on the menu was a choice of harira or the Fes Platter - featuring homemade traditional breads, lentils, aubergine dip and dates stuffed with marzipan. Camel burgers came next - a first for Lumen - and very tasty they were, served with a well-dressed salad and chips. There was spaghetti bolognaise or pasta alfredo for the less brave. Tariq excelled himself as usual with a banana, chocolate and walnut cake or icecream for dessert.

This was a test not only for the food, but also for the staff, many of whom are new to waiting tables, and they did very well. And they look pretty good too in their Cafe Clock t-shirts. Here's Hatim:

So Mike, when's the big day? We can't wait!


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

King Mohammed VI launches projects for women in Fez

On Thursday King Mohammed VI was once again in Fez, this time to lay the foundation stones for a number of new women's projects. Two of the projects are intended to improve living standards for women and working conditions for associations in the city of Fès.

The first project is a training and qualification centre for women and will provide them with training in income-generating professions such as cooking, hairdressing, IT, broidery and weaving. The budget for this project is estimated at USD 361,000.
The project, to be built on an area of 950 square meters, will also provide orientation and awareness raising, with an ultimate goal of eradicating poverty and exclusion of rural populations.

The second project, a space for training and support to associations, will be constructed on an area of 1,500 square meters for an amount of USD 515,000.

The project will provide support to local initiatives especially those for young people with the aim of rehabilitating them through reinforcing capacities, capitalizing experiences, and creating a synergy among local associations.


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

Wanting to buy, sell or advertise in Morocco for free?

If you do - then don't forget to check out Artizany! No matter if it is accommodation or a sideboard you are after - or want to sell. Artizany is a free service.

You will find it here:

ARTIZANY - FOR FREE ADVERTISING

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

FES FESTIVAL OF WORLD SACRED MUSIC 6 -14 June 2008

Thanks to Lumen, here is the provisional programme in English

Friday 6 June
Jessye Norman (USA) with the Orchestre Lyrique Régional Avignon, Provence (France), directed by Racael Worby

Saturday 7 June morning
Songs of the Christian Churches of the East
Ghada Shbéïr (Lebanon) (BBC World Music Award 2007)

Saturday 7 June evening
Night of Sacred Afro-American and Sufi Songs Spirituals/Hymns/Qawwali/Gospel (Pakistan/USA)
Faiz Ali Faiz Ensemble and Bernice Johnson Reagon and the Sacred Sound Ensemble

Sunday 8 June morning
Sacred Songs of the Lapps from Northern Scandinavia
Mari Boine (Norway)

Sunday 8 June evening
Peace Songs
Joan Baez (USA) (to be confirmed)

Monday 9 June morning
Traditional Sacred Songs
Huong Thanh (Vietnam)

Monday 9 June evening (in the Merenides Quarry)
Dibujos Flamenco Dance Creation
Belen Maya (Spain)

Tuesday 10 June morning
Jesus Meine Freunde (JS Bach)
Ensemble Cantus Cölln (Germany)

Tuesday 10 June evening (in the Merinides Quarry)
Traditional Sacred Dance from Bali
I Made Djimat Ensemble (Indonesia)

Wednesday 11 June morning
The Seven Last Words of Christ (J Haydn)
Quatuor Ysaÿe with soloist Michel Serres (France)

Thursday 12 June morning
Traditional Sacred Sephardic songs
La Rosa Enflorese (Belgium)

Thursday 12 June evening
Evening of Moroccan music (to be confirmed)

Friday 13 June morning
Popular Sacred Songs of the Tuaregs
Ensemble des Femmes Tartit (Mali)

Friday 13 June evening
Mohamed Abdou (Saudi Arabia)

Saturday 14 June morning
Hindu Devotional Songs in the Tradition of Northern India
Madhup Mudghal (India) (to be confirmed)

Saturday 14 June evening
From Dakar to Fez: from Heart to Soul
Ismael Lô (Senegal) with the Tijaniya Sufi Brotherhood or the Hamadcha Sufi Brotherhood of Fez (Morocco)

ADDITIONAL EVENTS

Photographic Exhibition: The Earthen Mosques of Mali – Christian Schuytiser

Film: Latcho Drom by Tony Gatliff (on gypsies from Rajasthan to Andalusia – premiered at the Cannes Festival)


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

A House in Fez - book launch

A section of the more than 250 people at the launch

The much anticipated launch of Suzanna Clarke's new book - A House in Fez - took place in Brisbane Australia in front of a remarkable number of guests. There was a wide range of people from Government Senators to Judges, architects, doctors, hippies and folk singers! Members of the Islamic community were well represented as well as several Moroccans who seemed amazed at the attention their beloved Fez was getting.

Suzanna spent more than an hour signing books!

The gallery also displayed a selection of Suzanna's extraordinary photographs in limited editions printed on fine art paper. Like her books these sold extremely well.

The book will now be launched in New Zealand, Korea, England, France, India and the USA with other editions to follow. The collectors' hardback version with all 64 pages of full colour photographs will only be available from Australia.

Suzanna Clarke

His Excellency Dr Badre Eddine Allali, the Moroccan Ambassador phoned through his regret that he could not be in attendance as he had returned to Canberra too late to organise a flight, but he will be presented with a signed copy of A House in Fez in the next few days.

Suzanna with Hassan ( from Nador in Morocco)

Judge Ian Dearden took off his judge's wig and performed some beautiful music.

Suzanna at the post launch dinner hosted by Penguin Books.

See the FACEBOOK PHOTO ALBUM OF THE LAUNCH

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

New player in the Moroccan air travel market

Good news for travellers in Morocco came this week with the announcement that Air Arabia, the first and largest low-cost carrier in the Middle East and North Africa, will establish its second hub in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, providing the Sharjah-based airline with a platform from which to reach into the wider Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) market. This announcement follows the signing of a management agreement between Air Arabia and Regional Air Lines, the leading private carrier in Morocco.

We understand that under the terms of the agreement, Air Arabia will take over management control of the Morocco-based carrier. Air Arabia will apply its successful business model to the management Regional Air Lines.

Together with Air Arabia, Ithmaar Bank, a Bahrain-based investment bank with global reach, will provide a significant capital injection for the Morocco-based carrier and join Air Arabia and Regional Air Lines as partners in the newly created company.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Thani, Chairman of Air Arabia, said: “Air Arabia is currently in the midst of a period of rapid expansion. This agreement provides us with the opportunity to reach into fast-growing markets in North Africa and across the Mediterranean into southern Europe. With a strong presence in the Egyptian cities of Alexandria, Luxor and Assiut, Air Arabia will now be able to expand significantly this coverage area across the EMEA region.”

Mohamed Hassan Ben Salah, Chairman, Regional Air Lines, said: “This agreement marks an important and natural next step in the evolution of Regional Air Lines, which was founded a decade ago to meet the needs of travellers within Morocco and in southern Europe. In partnership with Air Arabia and Ithmaar Bank, we will provide travellers in Morocco and across the EMEA region with far greater choice in selecting efficient and cost-effective travel solutions. Considering that Morocco expects to welcome an estimated 10 million tourists a year by 2010, this is an especially timely announcement. There is also a very large Moroccan diaspora, particularly in Europe, who will benefit when traveling between the Continent and the Kingdom.”

Khalid Abdulla-Janahi, Chairman of Ithmaar’s Board of Directors, said: “Given the financial strength and operational excellence of Air Arabia and the proven track record of Regional Air Lines, we see this agreement as an ideal way to strengthen both carriers. The seamless integration of the operations of the two airlines – along with the financial expertise provided by Ithmaar Bank – will lead to new synergies that will benefit all the partners.”

Ithmaar Bank is serving as the financial advisor and financier for the transaction.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

Leonardo DiCaprio spotted in the Rabat medina

Leonardo DiCaprio is in Morocco at the moment filming some of the scenes from the Ridley Scot production of "Body of Lies" based on the novel by David Ignacius. Our spies tell us that he has really enjoyed Rabat - lets hope he gets as break and makes it to Fez.

DiCaprio is playing the character Roger Ferris alongside Russell Crowe.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

Sebta and Mellilia - When will Spain learn?

The Moroccan ambassador to Spain has been recalled after Madrid announced that King Juan Carlos will visit the two North African enclaves, Sebta and Mellilia, the Spanish have been hanging on to despite the undeniable fact that they are Moroccan territory.

The Moroccan ambassador to Spain has been recalled after Madrid announced that King Juan Carlos will visit Sebta and Mellilia

The king is scheduled to visit the cities the Spanish call Ceuta and Melilla on the Mediterranean coast next Monday and Tuesday, accompanied by Queen Sofia.

MAP, the Moroccan state news agency, on Monday said: "It has been decided on the high instruction of his majesty King Mohammed VI ... the recall for consultation of Mr Omar Azziman, his Majesty's ambassador in Spain for an indeterminate period."

Morocco's ambassador in Madrid, Omar Azziman

High-level Spanish trips to Sebta and Mellilia are rare and a visit by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the prime minister, in 2006, raised hackles in Morocco.

The last royal visit was 80 years ago.

Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, Spain's deputy prime minister, said next week's royal visit was in response to requests by residents.

De la Vega added: "Relations with the kingdom of Morocco are extraordinarily good ... based on sincere affection and mutual respect."

However, Abbas el Fassi, the Moroccan prime minister, expressed surprise and "profound regret" at the royal visit, a sentiment echoed by most Moroccans.

"The government ... recalls that these two towns are an integral part of the territory of the Kingdom of Morocco and their return to the mother nation will come from direct negotiations between the Spanish neighbour", el Fassi's office said.

Spanish-Moroccan relations had hit a low point in 2002 when Morocco sent troops to the tiny disputed island of Perejil and Spain under Jose Maria Aznar, the former Spanish prime minister, sent special forces to oust them.

Tensions between the countries have since eased as Zapatero came to power and aligned his foreign policy closer to that of Moroccan ally France.

El Fassi and his conservative Istiqlal [Independence] party came to power in September 2007 with a popular agenda which includes the claims to the cities of Sebta and Mellilia, and Spain's former colony of Western Sahara, as part of Morocco's "territorial integrity".

Spain took Melilla at the end of the 15th century and took over Sebta from Portugal in the 17th century. It is about time they dropped their colonisation - it is more than a tad unfashionable.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news

Seek your own Fez house

By Ruth Ostrow

Ruth Ostrow writes a regular column for The Weekend Australian Magazine. She also has a host of books to her credit in the areas of human relations, sex & relationships, financial fitness, well-being, and spirituality. She is a former financial journalist and broadcaster. Here is here article:

There’s a moment when we all feel a profound sense of envy at someone else’s success.

Talking to photographer and journalist Suzanna Clarke - who has just written a beautiful book, A House in Fez, about her experiences renovating a dilapidated house in Morocco - was just such a moment.

Suzanna did what many of us dream of doing. She went to an exotic location, found a beautiful but run-down home and bought it for the equivalent of $40,000. “Nutty,” is what people said, scratching their heads. “There’s political turmoil in the area, you never know what could happen…” Undeterred, she hired local tradespeople and began restoring the house to its former glory, painstakingly crafting it tile by tiny tile.

While she was in the middle of this scheme, Morocco was declared “the new Tuscany”, attracting the crème de la crème of European money – people wanting a “desert-change” experience far from the chilly, urban landscape.

Not interested in selling for a cool profit, Suzanna says the property will be somewhere she and her partner, writer and former broadcaster Sandy McCutcheon, can eventually spend six months of the year, getting away from the cold. They’ll holiday-let it the rest of the time.

“It’s the sort of lifestyle many people do envy,” she laughs when I express my green-eyed monster, especially since she has now geared up against the appreciated value and done the same thing with an historic apartment in the south of France. “But the thing is, anyone can do it.”

Indeed, she started with only $20,000 in the bank and has worked for decades on a wage. “Financially I had very little, no inherited money, just some savings. The greatest asset I had was the ability to think outside the box and give it a go. It’s not magic; it’s imagination and vision. Let no one reading this feel intimidated. In life you make your own luck!”

Listening to her, I got a sense of Fez being a metaphor for the dream inside us all – the one we abandon out of fear.

Suzanna’s story is testimony to what’s possible if we have the courage to follow our secret passion. It’s never too late to create our own “house in Fez”, whatever that means to each of us – be it love, a place in the sun, or a coveted career. As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

The collector's edition of the book is available from Australia and is a hardback. The UK and USA editions will be in paperback with only half the number of photographs. Other editions will be published in France, India and a Korean translation will be available next year.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news