Category Archives: Morocco

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

In 2009, I have travelled extensively. For 2 1/2 month, I studied Spanish in Spain. During that time, I also visited Morocco. After coming home, we (my parents, brother, I, and our dog) had a big road-trip and visited several western states. Along the way, we visited New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, as Wyoming. Although YellowStone N.P. was quite famous, as for me, the Garden of Gods in Boulder and Vail, Colorado, and the Arch National Park were the top scenic locations. Then, I decided to refresh my French knowledge. Where else to learn a language than physically present in that country. It was October and November, I studied French in Bordeaux and Nice. Right after my course, my parents came to visit France. Together, we rented a car and visited Mont St. Michel and castles in the Loire Valley. Yes, having some rudimentary French really helped us during the travel, e.g. booking hotels, ordering meals in the restaurant, … And, it definitely aided me in understanding the French history and culture.

With Christmas coming soon, I decided to pull my photos together and create a greeting card for my friends. So, here it is. There are 2 versions. One with my western-state trip. And, the one does not.

Day 6 & 7 – Back to Marrakech & Departure from Morocco

These are my last 2 days in Morocco. We have returned to the arrival city, Marrakech. During the day, we visited

  1. Place Jemaa El Fna, where the sultan built a complex for his court and concubines.
  2. The Medina Souks
  3. Jardin Majorelle

Additionally, I took some pictures of the Moroccan people in their daily life – their facial expression is 100% authentic and not a result of paid performance.

Enjoy!

Day 5 – Casa Blanca

Today, we visited Casa Blanca, which is the setting of Casablanca (film) the 1942 starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Casa Blanca is a modern metroplis with approximately 4 millions inhabitants. We spent half a day in the city and visited Hasan II Mosque, the world second largest mosque after Medina. Curiously, it was designed by a French man -  Henri Prost. It is a huge and contemporary building with a sliding roof. Moroccans are very proud of this building. As for me, I found the startling contrast between the traditional mosques vs. this gigantic, spaceship-like building a little bit overwhelming.

Day 4 – Meknes & Rabat

Today, we visited Meknes & Rabat. Meknes is one of the capitals in Morocco. It is a smaller city with 900 k inhabitants. It lies in the same fertile plains as Fez. As a result, there are many agriculture activities. Its gates are quite famous. Most Moroccan cities retains the mud city walls, which require frequent repair due to erosion from the rain and storms. The guide told me that every 5 – 6 years, the city wall needs to be revamped.

We visited a moslem and an engraving shop. The tour guide, Idris, told us that on the needle on the roof of a moslem, there are 5 balls. On the other hand, on the needle of the roof on a mosque, there are only 3 balls. Furthermore, the muslim calendar begins in year 621. On many recent tombstone, we can see 2 calendars, one in Gregorian calender, the other in Islamic calendar. Additionally, the Islam tradition dictates that the deceased are bury sideways and facing the holy city Meca. Because Islam forbid worshipping idols and image of people. Therefore, the tombstones are all decorated with geometric patterns rather than sculptures of people.

While we were there, the tour guide took us to a nice restaurant. It was the best meal that I had on this trip!

Rabat was where we had overnighted. It is also a smaller city on the coast. The weather here is fantastic, 20 degrees with sunshine and cool ocean breeze. There is a moslem of King Mohammed VI: . The building is really beautiful. And, directly facing the moslem, there is the ruin of a mezquita tower, which was destroyed from the 1755 Lisbon earthquke.

Day 3 – Volubilis, a Roman ruin in North Africa

Today we visited Volubilis, which Roman ruin in North, dating back to 3 AD. Formerly, the city was a 6,000 people Roman outpost dedicated to making olive oil which is an important stable for the roman diet. The city ruin is small, when I compared it to another much more impressive ruin in Turkey, Ephesus. However, this city is quite charming as well. I saw several storks nesting on top of the columns in the ruin. The tour guide showed us a roman sundial as well as mosaics, including one depicting the legends of Hercules.