Post card from Morocco 1992

Morocco 1992
 

There can be few travellers who have not heard of Marrakesh, during the 1960’s and 1970’s it was the travellers’ mecca, along with Istanbul (been there) Kabul (had few hours at the airport there), Kathmandu (been there too) and in 1992 I made my way to Marrakesh to claim the title of a real traveller on this planet?? Of course I could not have done this journey without my partner and my guide who masterminded the whole trip with the aid the book Lonely Planet. I still have the book with me and looking through it for this write up,  I noticed he had highlighted  all the places we visited and most importantly the Catholic church and time of Catholic Mass in the city of Marrakesh!! Marrakesh was a magnet for the hippies in the sixties and early seventies but those days have been replaced by affluent travellers wanting to experience the culture and art of the Islamic world which the city has in abundance. The former imperial city of Marrakesh sits against the backdrop of Morocco’s highest Atlas Mountains which are snow capped for much of the year.

 Our journey by train from Tangier to Meknes was made especially to see the near by archaeological Romans site in Volubillis.

 

The city of Casablanca reminded us of the famous film made in 1942 starting Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

 

Visit to Essaouira, quite coastal town with no hustlers but plenty of fresh sardines straight from the sea to eat was refreshing but my partner had to run for the loo! 

 

Quarzazate, a small deserted and derelict most of time with narrow streets of the Kasbah where we made time to mingle with the local.

 

Most southern point for us to reach was small town of Zagora where we found accommodation in Bedouin tent made for tourist like us! A short and smelly camel ride into the sandy desert to wards Tombouctou was all we had time before returning home but we took photo opportunity in front of the board showing the direction to the great city.

 

We returned to the North via our visit to the medina of Fes el-Bali, the largest walled city in the world. We also had time to pay homage to tanneries in Fes where foul smelling workplace was compensated by holding a bouquet of mint near our noses?

 
Rabat the capital of Morocco with distinctive Moroccan flavour with office workers alongside no hassle visits to souks was our last stop before returning home to cold, cold winter of Cheltenham.