march 2012

Morocco was my first time in the African continent, though it felt more like an extension of the Middle East. For this trip, I went in a group of four which turned out to be a great number for traveling. We began in Marrakesh, where we stayed in a ryad near the medina. Everything is vibrantly colored in Morocco, from the food, to the buildings, to the people. We took a day trip to the coastal city of Essaouria, a beautiful place of white and blue. For the remainder of the trip, we had hired a driver to take us from Marrakesh to Fez, with some stops along the way. My favorite was when we spent a night in the Sahara desert. It was spectacular, the undulating waves of sand that glowed rust after an evening rain. In the car, we winded our way through the Atlas mountains, stopping by roadside restaurants to sample local cuisine like goat's brain and rose baklava. Fez was similar to Marrakesh in that it was an old walled city, which I've grown quite fond of over the years. These cities are like a time machine and I always like to imagine what it was like for people back then to live in places like this.