Fred's adventures in Morocco: a tour of Sidi Ali, and a video

Last year, Fred worked on a projet for a big website devoted to the sufi brotherhood he works with, the Hamadcha brotherhood.

We had no news of the website, but we learned a few days ago that it was online - finally.

It's in Arabic, but here are the highlights of the site.

First, the virtual tour of the two mausoleums of the most important saints of the brotherhood, in two villages near Meknes. (The wonderful 360 degrees panoramas were made by Sylvain.)
First, you have the mausoleum of Sidi Ali Ben Hamdouch, the founding saint of the Hamadchas.

The other mausoleum is that of Sidi Ahmed Dghoughi, Sidi Ali Ben Hamdouch's follower.



And, when you're done with those great pictures, go see Fred's video on the same website. You'll note his wonderful haircut (I don't know what happened), and also that his name on the url has been somehow hispanicized, from "Calmès" to "Golmez" (I don't what happened either - but after all, Fred's grandfather was from the south of France, so I guess that's close enough).

Life in Fès: A Walk in the Atlas

I'm ashamed of this, but I posted this on my French blog more than one month ago; and I'm even more ashamed to say that I considered not translating it, just posting the pictures (lazy me). But finally, I don't know how (I'm so tired of the computer because I've been working on it 10 hours a day - new, exciting job!), I managed to do it. So here you are.

Sometimes, I'd rather be somewhere else; go far away, see new places, speak other languages.

For me, right now, this isn't possible. Too much work.

And when I leave Fez, it's to go to Casablanca or Rabat - not the best places to relax.

So, I just take a walk in the Atlas, a neighborhood in Fez, in the Ville Nouvelle. It costs nothing, and it's just a few minutes from my apartment.

It's one of my favorite places in Fez. It's popular, lively, and colorful - and it's the place to go for food, with a lot of small restaurants, and all kinds of stores.






On the next photo, you can see buckets of khlie, dried beef, preserved in fat. It's delicious, and quite expensive.

(it's often hard to take pictures in the street in Morocco. You need to ask people for their permission - well, I guess you don't need to, but it's more polite. Most people agree, but sometimes not, like this guy who was selling vegetables. He got quite angry actually. But too late, I had stolen that photo).

Just by the CTM (the national bus compagny), there is an old man who sells used books. I sometimes buy European magazines from him, for 5 dirhams.

Nominated !

Hi everybody,

I know, I haven't been around much lately.

Because I found a new, very exciting job. But very different from what I'm used to do.

I'll be back very, very soon.

Oh, and by the way, I've been nominated by Morocco Blogs in the category "Best personal blogs". Please vote for me! (I'm on the right sidebar). Merci beaucoup!

Update: Thanks too my dear readers, I'm now first in my category! Keep voting !