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Zagora
The dusty oasis town of Zagora lies within the Draa Valley
and marks the start of the desert that leads to the Sahara.
It's pretty much a one street town, famed for the sign "Timbuktu
52 jours" and for producing the most succulent dates
in Morocco. Zagora is a great base for exploring the surrounding
oasis and palmeries and organised camel trips into the desert
outskirts are available. Just make sure that either you or
your guide takes plenty of water with you. Even in late spring
the temperature can rise to over 100 degrees and a fit person
could only survive for 20 hours without water.
Tangiers
Situated on the most north-westerly point of Morocco, Tangiers
is the main entrance point for travellers arriving from Europe
- just a short ferry ride away. In the early part of the 20th
century Tangiers attracted an eclectic mixture of refugees,
expatriates, artists and exiles, gaining a reputation for
shady deals, and notoriety as the world's first gay resort.
When Morocco gained independence in 1956, the tightening of
laws and regulations lead to the closure of the city’s
many brothels, and the relocation of many finance operations
to Spain and Switzerland.
Nevertheless, Tangiers has not quite shaken off its seedy
reputation and is still home to some of the world's best hustlers.
The markets are great, and there’s also an excellent
crafts museum: Dar El Makhzen. The Grand Soco (Soco
or Souk meaning market) is a great little fruit, spice and
vegetable market, where women from the Rif mountains dressed
in traditional sombrero hats and red and white striped skirts,
come to sell their produce. The Petit Soco has long since
had its market stalls replaced by cafes but makes a great
place to hang out and soak up the atmosphere.
Fez
Fez, the intellectual and spiritual heart of Morocco, is the
oldest of Morocco's imperial cities, and the most complete
medieval city of the Arab world. Fes-el-Bai, the old city,
was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1976 and passing
through the city gates into its maze of alleys and crumbling
grandeur is like going back in time as things have changed
little in over 500 years. It's home to the Fez Market,
a mind boggling array of stalls, shops and architecture, and
can take several exhausting days to fully explore.
The Karaouiyne Mosque founded in 859AD is one of the
oldest universities in the world, and still dominates spiritual
life throughout Morocco governing the timings of religious
holidays. It remains elusive, hidden amongst a mass of shops
and stalls and cannot be entered by non muslims. Next door
the impressive Bou Inania Medersa originally built
to house the students of the mosque is one of the few religious
buildings in the country that can be entered by non muslims,
and shows Islamic architecture at its best.
Tamtachoute
The village of Tamtachoute offers a real experience of Berber
mountain life. The landscape is harsh and barren and although
the people here live a relatively isolated existence, they
are still open and friendly. Tamtachoute provides an ideal
stop off point on the way up to the high Atlas mountains
or on to nearby Todra Gorge (17k m away). Todra Gorge
is the fault line separating the High Atlas from the Anti
Atlas and the barren landscape includes spectacular views
of 300m high cliffs which in spring attract some pretty hard
core rock climbers.
Chaouen (also called Chechaouen)
Clinging to the side of the Rif mountains is the enchanting
town of Chaouen. Built by Muslims and Jews fleeing Christian
persecution in southern Spain in the late 15th century, the
town remained closed to the outside world for many years until
Spanish troops invaded in 1920 and found people speaking Andalusian
dialects that had been extinct in Spain for 400 years! Today
the town is welcoming and colourful with steep cobbled streets
and white or blue houses with red tiled roofs. The town is
a holy city because of the many Marabouts - burial
chambers for local saintly people. The ruined Kasbah now houses
a museum of musical instruments and interesting examples of
cajas de boda, hard carved and painted carriages used to carry
a bride to her wedding. The dungeons are still in one piece
with chains and leg irons a gruesome reminder of the past
when the Berber leader Abd el Krim was kept chained here by
the Spanish.
Rabat
Morocco's capital since 1912, Rabat is a modern city of over
a million that wears its history on its be-suited sleeves.
Amidst its broad avenues, main streets lined with newsagents,
shops, cinemas and cafés, a central park and suburban
quarters for its ministries and diplomats are many monuments
to its past. The kasbah, in its strategic position
on top of the estuary, harks back to the glory days of the
twelfth century when the sultan used it as a base for campaigns
against the Spanish. Nowadays it's a celebrated museum of
traditional art. For more remnants of the Merenid dynasty
head to the Chellah, a walled necropolis whose wistful
ruins make it one of the most moving historical places in
Morocco. From the early 17th century it was a Muslim haven
after they were driven out of Spain and its heritage reflects
this; the Tour Hassan is unfinished minaret of the
great mosque begun by Yacoub al-Mansour and next to it is
the Mausoleum of Mohammed V.
Casablanca
This modern city, a world away from the picturesque scenes
of Marrakech and Fès, is, thanks to the 1942 film of
the same name, inextricably associated with the Western definition
of Morocco (although not a single scene of the film was even
filmed in the country!). Carefully planned by the French,
its skyline is dominated by office and residential tower blocks
while fashions are so far from traditional that it's easy
to forget you're not in southern Europe.
Because of this, travellers tend to dismiss Casablanca as
an anomaly, out of place on a Moroccan tour. While it stands
out as an oasis of modernity, its dominance of the Moroccan
economy makes it a destination that illustrates the country's
future and has enough places of interest to stopover for a
couple of days. Take a stroll through the wide boulevards
and public parks of the French New Town, make a foray
into its medina in the evening and don't miss the stunning
Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest religious buildings
in the world. The Casa district is also home to some
wonderful fish restaurants.
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