Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Family tragedy in Morocco


News has just reached us of a family tragedy that took place at the Oued Al-Makhazin dam (pictured left) near Tangier. The accident happened on Monday when five people belonging to the same family drowned in the dam.

The accident occurred when an 11-year-old girl, who was swimming in a shallow area of the dam, sank into a 25m-deep crevasse, dragging her 12 year-old sister down with her.

The older brother, 37, and his wife, rushed to the rescue of the two girls but they got sucked inside as well. Another sibling, an 18-year-old girl, suffered the same fate.

On Monday, civil protection teams managed to recover two bodies from the bottom of the crevasse, while a third body emerged later. Two other bodies were recovered on Tuesday morning by the civil protection frogmen.

The bodies were carried to the morgue of the northern city of Ouazzane.

The View from Fez extends its sympathy to the relatives of the victims.

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55th anniversary of independance struggle in Morocco


Today, Wednesday August 20, Moroccans are celebrating the 55th anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People, a landmark in the country's history that illustrates the heroic struggle of the Alaouite Throne and Moroccan people against French occupation.

This anniversary is an opportunity to look back at the achievements of the three monarchs who led the country through the different stages of its history, namely, late Mohammed V and Hassan II, and the current king, Mohammed VI.

On this day back in 1953, the French colonial authorities exiled the Alaouite royal family after the Late King Mohammed V - grandfather of king Mohammed VI- refused to sign decrees consecrating French domination over Morocco.

Mohammed V is justifiably famous because he took the strong stance against the Vichy French order to deport the 300,000 Jews who lived in Morocco at the time of World War II. Hassan II was the monarch who moved quickly to take over the Al-Quds Committee in 1979. This was a crucial step as, at the time, the Muslim world looked set to head down a radical path.

It is also an occasion to hail the efforts and sacrifices of the Moroccan people, who offered lives and money to achieve the independence of the country and subsequently to place it amongst the democratic, modern, moderate and open countries.

Royal Pardons

King Mohammed VI has extended pardon to 476 people to mark the 55th anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People Day and the Youth Day, marking the 45th birthday of the sovereign.

Four people will benefit from total pardon for the remaining period of their sentence, while 242 others will get remission.

A prisoner condemned to life in prison will have his sentence commuted to a limited prison term, while 229 will benefit from different pardons reprieving their sentences or annulling the payment of their fines.

The king grants pardons regularly to inmates on the occasion of national and religious days.



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Morocco Tops Backpacker destination list


Morocco has topped a list of up and coming backpacker destinations.

According to new research from Hostelworld.com, the number of backpackers visiting Morocco has increased by 103 per cent since 2007.

Popular destinations within Morocco include the coastal village of Essaouria, where backpackers are "guaranteed an authentic experience" and where activities such as kitesurfing and windsurfing are on offer.

Other up and coming backpacker favourites include Egypt, Japan and Slovakia.
Bookings for hostel accommodation in Kyoto, Japan have reportedly increased by 160 per cent over the last year.

Meanwhile, Miami has also seen "explosive" growth, with backpackers attracted by the "sandy beaches, flamboyant nightlife and hours of endless sunshine".

"Miami is the only major city in the United States bordered by two national parks, Everglades National Park on the west, and Biscayne National Park on the east," Hostelworld.com notes.

A recent survey by social networking site Bebo revealed that the average backpacker spends around £4,000 on their travels.


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Riad Alkantara opens its doors




Riad Alkantara is now open for reservations from the beginning of October. Lumen investigates:

This splendid complex of five traditional houses has been painstakingly restored over the last few years by Abdelfettah Seffar and Camille Lorenzetti. Luxurious in the extreme, the first house to open is Dar Feshadara. Here the suites are decorated in a refined Oriental theme with hand-crafted cedarwood furniture, antiques from across the Maghreb, Syria, Egypt and India, Italian fabrics and Egyptian cotton bedding, embroidered towels and dressing gowns. You'll have your own music system with a library of CDs, a DVD library, your own laptop computer with Wifi internet connection, tea-making facilities with a variety of infusions, a minibar, hairdryer and Occitane bath products.

Jardins des Roses Suite

4000sq m of established gardens invite a stroll. There's a large swimming pool as well as fountains, water channels and lush planting. Shady terraces, panoramic views of the medina and a solarium complete the scene. Inside there's a dining room as well as a restaurant (open to the public), an exhibition space, a lecture room, bar lounge, smoking room and shop. No expense has been spared, and there's superb attention to detail.


Next year workshops in the creative arts such as cooking, art, crafts, art therapy, music, dance and yoga will be offered. Evenings of music, poetry and story-telling are also on the cards, as well as weddings and events organisation.

The spa will open in September next year. There's a hammam, jacuzzi, Finnish sauna, massage rooms, beauty therapy and solarium. At the same time, the second house, Riad Constellation, will open its doors, with the third, Riad Sahar, in October 2010.

Situated in Oued Souaffine in Douh, Riad Alkantara is reasonably close to parking and very convenient for exploring the medina. The suites start at Dh4000 per night, including breakfast.
Contact the riad at 035 740 292 (the website www.riadalkantara.com is still under construction), or book through Fez Riads.




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Monday, August 18, 2008

Eight Moroccans killed, forty injured in bus accident



Eight Moroccans have been killed and 40 others injured, including six in a critical condition, in a bus accident Sunday afternoon in the municipality of Oropesa del Mar in Spain.

The accident took place when the bus carrying Moroccan expatriates skidded off the road and overturned, due probably to a tyre deflation, which caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. The driver, a Spaniard, was also among the dead.

The passengers were going back to Catalonia after they spent their summer holidays in Morocco.

Following the tragedy, King Mohammed VI addressed a message of condolences and compassion to the families of the dead and the wounded. He also decided to pay for the hospitalization costs and repatriation of victims’ bodies to Morocco.

The monarch ordered Morocco’s ambassador to Spain, and the president of the Council of the Moroccan Community Living Abroad, to go to the scene and take the appropriate measures to provide necessary support to the families of the dead and the injured.


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Moroccan Olympics - update #5


Morocco's first medal.

Moroccan athlete Hesna Benhassi had a fantastic run in the 800 metre women's final. Hesna clocked 1:56:73 behind Kenyans Pamela Jelimo (1:54.87) and Janeth Busienei Jepkosgei (1:56.07), who won gold and silver respectively. Silver medallist in the 2004 Athens Olympics, Benhassi ranked second in semi-final heat 2 in 1:58.03, behind Kenyan Pamela Jelimo (1:57.31).


Benhassi was already among the greatest Moroccan women athletes in history even before her silver medal 800m performances in the Athens Olympics and the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 and Osaka in 2007. She had won gold at 800m in the 2000 African Championships and at 1500m in the 2001 World Indoor Championships in Lisbon, becoming only the second female Moroccan athlete, after Nezha Bidouane, to win a World Championship title. But she has remained very much in the shadow of her brilliant compatriot, Hicham El Guerrouj.



* Born June 1, 1978.
* Making her third appearance at the Olympics.
* Won silver in the 2004 Athens Games (1 minute, 56.43 seconds), and finished eighth in 2000 at Sydney (1:59.27).
* Took silver at the 2007 World Championships in Japan, finishing in 1:56.04.
* Also finished second at the 2005 worlds in Finland with a time of 1:59.42.
* Won gold in the 2000 African Championships.
* Finished first in the 1,500m dash at the 2001 World Indoor Championships.
* Took gold in the 800m dash at the 1997 Mediterranean Games and the Pan-Arab Games that year.

Olympic Updates.

Update One
Update Two
Update Three
Update Four
Update Five
Update Six
Moroccan woman joins IOC



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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Magic at the Clock




An internationally-renowned magician in the on the cultural menu this week at Cafe Clock.

Tuesday 19 August : 7:30 – 9 p.m
Magic Mardi
Hans Dillenberg International Magician.
(Free)

Saturday 23 August : 8 p.m.
Film: Ali Zawa / Prince of the Streets
(Free)

A moving portrait of the lives of street kids living in Casablanca's
abandoned lots. Ali, Kouka, Omar and Boubker, four young friends who
are members of a gang, rebel against their cruel leader's oppressive
rule and strike out on their own, running away from "home" a second
time.
Although they are surrounded by crime, violence and degradation, the
boys long for love and tenderness. Ali's fantasy is to escape to the
seas and become a sailor. He wants to reach the island "where two suns
set," become a royal prince and "meet a lovely woman."

*Winner of over 40 international film festival awards*


Sunday 24 August : 10 – 12 a.m. ( 30 dh )
Contemporary Dance Class
with Fes based choreographer and dancer Asmae Kouli.


Sunday 24 August : 3 - 5 p.m..
Calligraphy @ the Clock : Open Table.
Discover the sacred art of Arabic calligraphy with artist and teacher
Mohamed Charkaoui.
(New price - 250 dh : Discounts Available)


Sunday 24 August : 7 – 8:30 p.m.
Sunday Sunset Concert
Wllat Saa3a / Hip Hop
(20 dh)



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Moroccan Olympics - Update #4



The women's 800 metres women race came alive Saturday after Benhassi Hasna of Morocco (pictured above) came in second in a time of 1.58.03 behind 19 year old Pamela Jelimo of Kenya who won her heat in a time of 1.57.31 both women qualified for the finals. Kostetskaya Ekaterina of Russia was third in a time of 1.58.33.

In the long jump qualifications Yahya Berrabah of Morocco jumped 7.88 9 and Tarik Bougtaib 7.69 15.

The Maghreb region also had cause to celebrate with the outstanding gold medal win by Tunisian Oussama Mellouli who beat the favourite Grant Hackett of Australia.

Tunisia ended Australian Grant Hackett's dream of an historic three 1500m freestyle Olympic gold medals with a thrilling victory in the final at the Beijing Olympics on Sunday. Mellouli sprinted clear with 300m left and held off Hackett's spirited finish to win in 14 minutes 40.84 seconds.

Hackett, the winner of the event in Sydney and Athens and bidding to become the first man to win three Olympics titles in the same event, took the silver medal in 14:41.53, only 0.49secs behind.

Algeria's Amar Benikhlef won a silver in the men's Judo 100kg category and beside him was bronze medallist Hesham Mesbah from Egypt.

Benikhlef's breakthrough has been a fruit cultivated by the International Training Center of International Judo Federation (IJF) established in Morocco, where judokas were head coached by former Italian judo star Ezio Gamba, Olympic champion in Moscow 1981 and silver in Los Angeles 1984.

An appeal lodged by Morocco after bantamweight Hicham Mesbahi (pictured left) was stopped with injury in a second-round bout at the Olympic boxing competition has been turned down, the sport's ruling body said on Saturday.

Mesbahi was leading Botswana's Khumiso Ikgopoleng 8-3 on Friday when the referee stopped the bout with 32 seconds left in the fourth and final round because the Moroccan had a nose cut.

The result will stand, the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) said in a statement.

Olympic Updates.

Update One
Update Two
Update Three
Update Four
Update Five
Update Six
Moroccan woman joins IOC


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Saturday, August 16, 2008

Busy Batha




The open parking lot in Batha is no longer. A wall has been constructed and a sign erected telling us that a 67-bed, 3-star hotel is to be constructed there. Across the road, the other 4-star hotel seems not to progress at all. It's looked like this (below) for some years. The View from Fez isn't sure what's going on here, but has heard that there's a dispute over who actually owns the land it's on.


And these aren't the only hotels going up in the city. There's to be at least one in the new shopping centre on Champs de Course, another next to the shopping centre on Avenue Al Fassi leading to the medina, another 5-star across from McDonalds and the Hotel Lamdaghri just off Boulevard Mohamed V is currently being upgraded. And all this is before we even start to consider the proposed tourist development on the hills south of the medina.

It's good to see such investment in Fez; obviously a lot more tourists are expected. Let's hope, though, that extra parking will be provided to make up for the loss in Batha and the presumable increase in traffic to the area.


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