Morocco: Marrakech, Essaouira, & Casablanca

Marrakech is one of those exotic, mystical cities everyone dreams of going. You imagine serpent charmers, men with turbans eating fire, and camels casually walking the streets. Marrakech is exactly this, but instead it's all put on for tourists. With all it's beauty and uniqueness Marrakech is undeniably a tourist hot spot and revolves around the tourists. Having said that, one of it's most wonderful quality is how tourist life and local culture collide. At every food stand, street band or serpent charmer, you will see just as many Moroccans enjoying the entertainment and food. 

The first place my parents and I visited was the Bahai Palace. This 19th century palace was for the sultan'z personal use to house his concubines (mistresses). The detailed work was suppose to be the best of it's time, given the name the Brilliant Palace, but it's said to have fallen short of expectations although it looked pretty good to me. It's decorated in a very traditional Moroccan Islamic style with most of the craftsmen ship completed in Fez. Generally in Moroccan architecture you will see the same materials used time and time again; cider wood, plaster, marble and green tiles. The detailing in the work is incredible and if you look closely you will notice that, not all but much of it is Arabic script. The gardens are to die for with Bitter Oranges (not for consumption) shading most of it. 

After the beautiful palace we were off to the legendary Majorelle Gardens. This garden was developed by french artist Jacques Majorelle. It is home to numerous plants from all over the world and one of the biggest collections of Cacti. 

In the 1960s when Majorelle passed away the garden was opened to the public but because of a lack of funding and care the garden began to fall apart. In the 1980s Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé bought the garden and brought it back it it's old glory. The garden itself is absolutely amazing and so serene. Besides all the tourists and visitors  I would imagine this place to be incredibly relaxing for the soul. The true artist's touch is seen in the  blue and yellow coloured buildings. It stands right out amongst all the greenery. In the garden there is a small gallery of YSL's love posters, one for every year since he started designing them. He would send them out to friends, family, and close customers. There is also a memorial for YSL in the middle of the garden where his ashes' were spread. 

After a full day in Marrakech, my parents and I decided to head out to the countryside for the day. My parents had remembered, from their previous trip a town not too far away from the city where you could go for a nice but rocky hike, leading to a waterfall. We were on our way but before you would get to the town with the waterfall we went to a traditional berber home, for Mofletta and some mint tea. It is common for Berbers to invite tourists into their home for a bite to eat and some tea in return for money. We got to see how they live, and where they work. The owner of this home makes his living from pottery, making Tajines and other Moroccan ceramic goods and selling them. 

 When we got to the town we had to find a local to lead us up the rocky mountains. I must say, my parents did not prepare me for the kind of climbing we were doing. The local who lead us was so fast and literally was swinging me from rock to rock, so quickly I could hardly take a moment to breathe. I was pretty sure he was gonna swing my arm right out of it's socket. We successfully made it to the waterfall for a mini photo shoot.

Marrakech is an amazing city with so much to see. It's incredibly touristic so you must be prepared for some of it's cultural charm to be lost in commerce for all it's visitors. After Marrakech we were off to Essaouira, but before we arrived there, we stopped at an Argan oil co-operative. Argan trees only grow in Morocco and produce this amazing oil that is not only good for consumption but also for cosmetics. The nuts to make the oil grow on these big bushy trees. Goats love Argan trees and despite their many thorns, somehow the goats find their way around them. The goats get up high on the tree and are often seen climbing to the top towards the end of Argan season. It's actually really really cute!

At the cooperative we learned how Argan oil is made. At this cooperative, everything is made by hand and they employ local woman, and practice fair trade. The production is quite laborious. It involves cracking the nut twice, roasting, and then crushing it to produce an oil. I got to try to produce it myself. It's amazing how much work it takes to produce the smallest amount of oil. 

Essaouira is a costal city known for its surfer-like lifestyle. I felt as-though if it weren't raining I would have probably loved it, having said that I did like it. We didn't do much as we only had about half a day there, and it was raining, so here are some photos to enjoy.

The next day in essaouira we booked it to Casablanca where we were to catch our flight the next day. There wasn't much to see on the way back since it was STILL raining. We heard much of Morocco was under water by the time we got to Casablanca. We didn't do much in Casablanca, but we did manage to pay a short visit to Hassan II Mosque. This mosque is easily one of the grandest things I have seen in my life. Completed in 1993 it's the biggest mosque in the country, the 7th biggest in the world, and has the tallest minaret in the world. It's absolutely huge and it's insane to imagine the prayers during Ramadan when it's swarming with muslims. 

The mosque also sits side by side with a Islamic university, I believe one of the biggest in the world. Now, I not only love churches but Mosques are going on my list of favorite forms of architecture.

This brings my Moroccan trip to an end. I loved Morocco and I am looking forward to returning. I'd love to do a less manicured trip around the country. More spontaneous trekking and less organized driving. All in all, an amazing trip. I got to see my roots, visit where my family comes from, eat all my favorite foods and discover parts about my heritage. I am hopefully doing to do another blog post about Jews in Morocco as I've left out all the Jewish related stops I made throughout the trip.

Morocco: The Atlas Mountains & The Sahara Desert

So Morocco is one of the coolest countries, not only because they make delicious food, or because everything is so colorful but because of it's natural landscape. Morocco is filled with contrasting scenery and overwhelming greatness. While driving through the High Atlas mountains, the gaping oasis' and the vast Sahara Desert, you are reminded how great this world is and how small you are, it's definitely a humbling moment.

The Atlas Mountains are a huge mountain range that runs through the country. They are divided into three sections within the Moroccan border; High Atlas, Middle Atlas and Anti Atlas. Each section is separated by huge valleys and the mountain range sits right between the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast line and the Sahara Desert. The majority of the people who live in the Atlas and the desert are the Berber people, who are native to the land.
                                                                                                                                                       

One of the most amazing parts about the Atlas Mountains are the contrasting scenery! You have snow capped mountains that descend into dry land which turns into fertile, green oasis' made up of mostly Palm trees. An oasis is an area in a desert with water. In this case there is water that runs under the land, which allows for plants to grow. It's quite amazing to see. There is a certain type of beauty that is produced when opposites collide, like this.

After hours and hours of driving through the mountains, we finally reached our destination, a small town called Merzouga. Merzouga is a popular tourist spot because of it's proximity to the Sahara Desert, literally a 30 minute drive away. The streets are lined with hotels, riads, and tourist get aways. For the Sahara Desert trips, they often offer a sunset or sunrise journey out. Since we arrived too late for the sunset option we set our clocks to 4:45 am to make it out for the sunrise. To go out to the Sahara you need to rent a Jeep and driver. It's amazing how these guys drive through the dessert in the pitch darkness where you see nothing but dry earth for days, yet they still know exactly where they are going. We made it out to the edge of the Sahara, where we were met by a crowd of Camels. 

Camels are ultra cute! And I must say I hate riding animals as I think... they have no idea who I am and then they are expected to carry me on their backs, when I hate when a stranger even touches me, but I couldn't resist. After I saw how fine the sand was and how high the dunes were I was actually a little relieved I ignored my animal activist side, cause running around in the Sahara at 5 am is not something I'm about. 

The Sahara desert is a non stop photo shoot. You know very well that a moment like this is a once in a life time thing, if you're even lucky enough for that, so you just want to make sure you capture it all! The Sahara is soooo beautiful, everything from the clear moon, to the changing colors of the sky, to the red sand. It's literally how you picture it!I never wanted to leave... except for when I started getting hungry and then I was on the first camel out of there!

One of the best parts about doing things like venturing off into the Sahara dessert, are the Berber guys who take you out there. They are fun to talk to! I spoke to my guy and he told me in the winter time it gets to about 30 degrees celsius and that is too cold for him. I told him he was crazy! He said in the summer it gets up to 55 degrees celsius! INSANE! He asked for my name and he wrote it in the sand in both Berber (top) and Arabic (bottom)! I loved it when they showed me how to wrap my scarf around my face in case of a sand storm. My new look of 2013!

After the beautiful Sahara we continued on, with our journey back into the Atlas Mountains. When driving through Morocco you come across beautiful little villages, each with it's own spirit. One thing you see no matter where you go in Morocco are incredibly kind people, cute kids and pushy vendors! When I first got to Morocco all the vendors really added to the whole environment but after about two days I had, had enough! I could not take anymore guys trying to sell me stuff I couldn't afford and didn't have space to bring back with me. We asked our driver how to avoid them and he told us the best thing to do is to just ignore them, and not speak a word. If you say anything, even "No thank you" you open the line of communication and thus plant a seed of hope. Now they think, if only they push the right amount or say the right thing you just might buy from them, cause you were nice enough to say "No thank you." I must say, the complete silent approach worked perfectly although often the Canadian inside of me just wanted to acknowledge their hard work, even if I wasn't going to buy anything. 

Having grown up listening to The Clash, I always wondered what is a Kasbah! And I finally found out. A Kasbah is similar to a fortress but built by the Berber people to protect against the foreign man. It has a sandy like texture and is decorated with beautiful geometric designs and traditional Moroccan architecture. They literally look like, life-sized sand castles. The first time I laid eyes on one from afar, I could swear it was going to crumble with one blow of the wind! But not to worry they are built to last.

This particular kasbah in Aït Benhaddou, a small city located close to a bigger town named Ouzrazat, and dates back to more than 500 years ago. This is also a popular sight to film movies. Gladiator, The mummy, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, and Prince of Persia, were all filmed here - Just to name a few.

After spending time visiting kasbahs we were back in the Atlas making our way to civilization a.k.a. Marrakech. The Atlas Mountains and the Desert, are two places not to be missed when visiting Morocco. The natural diversity in this country is a masterpiece and a gift to us from Mother Nature. It is a true representation of life; constantly changing, endless contradictions and magnificence at every turn.