Moroccan storks, of course! They have quite a few of them to do the job, too! More on the storks in a minute. Saturday, I visited Chellah, which was the site of the first city on the Bouragreg River where it meets the Atlantic. It is actually about 3.5 km upstream, and it was the site of a Phoenician city, then a Roman one, then a Merenid (Moorish) one before the current Kasbah and Medina were built. Today it is an elaborate set of gardens, with the ruins of the Roman city (2nd century BC-2nd AD) and the ruins of the mosque, madrasa (Koranic school), and royal burial site from the 13-14th centuries. Here are a few pictures of it. Some reconstruction of the walls is happening. Hydrangeas! Dragon tree. See it? Standing in the forum, surrounded by market stalls, carrara marble columns, half a toga-ed statue, and an inscripted column. Ignore the gray socks, please. I clearly did not bring enough socks with me to Morocco. If you are wondering how I got such a shot of myself, I had a personal guide through Chellah. Here's what happens: when you enter one of these sites and look like a tourist, suddenly a very helpful young man appears to give you directions or identify a tree you are looking at. If you let them, they will give you a very good tour of the site, and point out all the best places to get a photograph. You pay them something at the end, of course. I am quite glad to do it, since these are public-school educated (and most of them clarify for you that that means "poor") young men who have really learned passable French and English in order to do this work. Roman bath complex; there was a thermal water source, so there were three temperatures of baths available. Koranic school-- sleeping alcoves for the students. I imagine because they lived there full time, not because the lessons were boring. Sultan's burial room, and the minaret. There's alliteration if you say it in French: les chats de Chellah. These cats are lounging by a pool, still held sacred. There are eels in there, and women come to feed them eggs in order to receive help with fertility and childbirth. My guide asked if I wanted to see a sacred eel, and I said no, thanks. Artisans village from the Roman period, with a view across the river. Belladonna tree, which I 've only read about in books. #HarryPotter
Now for more on the storks. For some reason, this is a favorite spot for storks. They have over 75 nests on the grounds of Chellah, and another 25 in the area just to the south. There are a pair sitting on each nest, and the "cigonettes" are supposed to hatch in March. I so wish that I could upload video to this blog: they make an incredible noise that sounds like woodpeckers really attacking a tree, but it is entirely with their beaks. (Come to think of it, I am glad this is not a sound in the Arabic language! haha!) Here are few pictures of the storks:
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Marcie StutzmanTeacher, Researcher, Adventurer, Explorer; Maybe crazy; Possibly too old for this Archives
October 2018
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