Why is the toilet a hole in the ground?

The Turkish-style squat toilet — a porcelain rectangle set into the floor — is standard in bus stations, train stations, café staff bathrooms, and any building older than the French protectorate. It pre-dates the imported European fixture by a thousand years and is medically the more ergonomic posture. There's no seat, no flush handle: you scoop water from a tap or bucket into the bowl.

Every riad has Western toilets in the guest bathrooms. What you may not have is toilet paper in the way you expect it. The shataf — a small handheld bidet sprayer on a hose — is standard. It's the actual cleaning instrument; paper, if present, dries you afterwards. Don't flush paper if there's a small bin next to the toilet: the medina's sewage system is centuries old and clogs easily.

Carry tissues. Public toilets often have neither paper nor sprayer, and the attendant who waves you in expects 2 MAD on the way out.