Posts

Morocco miscellaneous

Image
  This is the final blog of this trip (posted from the departure gate in the Casablanca airport).  We did a short hike and saw some cedar trees. Antique stones for pressing olive oil. Numbered grids like this one were painted on buildings and fences all over the place.  The boxes are for election political posters or symbols (like in this picture). Ingredients and seasonings for one of our lunches. Bougainvillea may be native to Brazil but they flourish in Morocco. These are not wild camels; there was a nomadic shepherd nearby. Most nomads we saw had goats and/or sheep but a few also had camels. This is a nomad camp. We also saw some living in caves.  They move camp a couple times a year. Whoever in the family is tending their animals will  stay  out with the animals for several days at a time and then  swap with someone else in the family. Ait Ben Haddou In the past this Kasbah was a major stop on the caravan trading route between the Sahara and Marra...
1 comment
Read more

Marrakech & Casablanca

Image
  Mosque minaret at sunset in Marrakech Marrakech is a major tourist destination and this plaza in the medina is  where many come. We were told that it was quite uncrowded compared to pre-covid.  Marrakech traffic seems crazy but there is a rhythm that the locals understand. Here on a larger road in the medina there are scooters, a mule cart, a horse-drawn carriage, pedestrians, and a taxi all sharing the road.  Outside the medina there are fewer mules but many more cars, scooters, bicycles, and pedestrians.  Two-wheel vehicles seem to possibly equal the number of cars.  They include bicycles, mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles.  This is a monitored parking area for people who are working nearby. In Marrakech we visited the Berber Museum which is on the property of  the Jardin Majorelle.  It is mostly, but not entirely, cactus and palms. Casablanca is our last stop in Morocco. We visited the Hassan II Mosque which (pre-covid) could have 25,000...
2 comments
Read more