Catching Up
Café Clock, Fès, 7 June, 2011
07.06.2011 - 07.06.2011
No, the radio silence does not mean that I fell off a cliff (although I did fall down once, about which more later) or otherwise come to harm. The pace of my activity -- and the complete absence of internet access in the mountains -- have made it impossible to update the blog until now. I have, however, been writing, and so will be able to dump a passel of posts while I'm here. In brief, from Marrakech, I went into and out of the High Atlas (a couple of times) and then made my to Fès via the cedar-forested Middle Atlas. The (much) longer version will follow in torrent of loghorrea, starting with my last day in Marrakech and catching up from there.
As for now, I am determined to take it a bit easy today, having been in headless-chicken mode for days. I sit in what I think is the hippest space in Fès, Café Clock, having just finished a great plate of ouefs berberes -- a soupy mess of eggs,tomatoes, onions, cilantro and a load of spices. The joint is named after the ancient water clock (the Dar al-Magana) on the Talaa Kebira just outside the alley in which the café is nestled away. The clock consists of 13 stone and carved-plaster windows with carved wooden beams above and below them. When the clock was operative, I am told, the hours were marked by water flowing into and out of brass bowls that sat on the beams. There is a restoration effort in the works, but it's unclear if anyone knows the precise mechanism by which the clock operated.
The cafe is the project of a former London restauranteur, Mike Richardson, who conceived the place (I think, with great success) to serve as a cultural meeting point, with great art, live music, lovely people, and, incidentally, terrific food and coffee. A fine place to see how long the computer's battery lasts.
More soon. Much has been packed into a few days.
Posted by phostak 07.06.2011 02:28 Archived in Morocco Tagged feshipster-hell
