Just to continue from my last post, I thought I’d share some of the things I learned about Moroccan culture. They’re really random facts I picked up from my guide at the time and it’s helped shape my appreciation for the culture and lifestyle.
In lieu of the New Year, I’m reflecting on the “travel steps” that led me to be the traveler I am today.
Looking back at photos, I was reminiscing about a past trip to Morocco. It was my first “developing country”. Reading Paul Bowles‘ autobiography, this trip incited my thirst and curiosity for adventures, which lay beyond western borders. The thirst kept growing, because…
There’s a secret to Morocco and I’m convinced it speaks through its spices! From scented oils, city-wide prayer calls and intricate Arabic/Berber craft (more…)
So when in a medieval city like Old Fez, a popular tourist attraction is often to take a tour of a Moroccan tannery. What are tanneries? A seven century age-old way of making leather products from belts to bags, cushions, etc…through the skinning, shearing, drying and dyeing of animal skins with the help of laborious manpower and big vats of all-natural dyes.
Now guide books will be-cry the relationship between the tanneries and “its smell” as a forewarning, such that a post-911 New York resident and vegetarian like myself, immediately began drawing notions of the deathly odor as being from rotting carcasses. I admit, I was (more…)
“Prayer calls in Fez, Morocco”
(Note- the first part of the audio in this video is a better than the second.
Although the second is closer to what I initially heard as I emerged from my stupor of sleep)
My first night in Fez, I was awoken around 3 AM by the Muslim adhan (Arabic: “prayer calls”) which occurs five times throughout the day.
Was it someone moaning in pain or was our riad being haunted. 3 AM and bleary-eyed, I initially couldn’t make out the difference.
It turned out to be one of the most mystical and meditative moments I’ve experienced with sound and one of my fondest highlights of Morocco. Haunting yet heavenly, the prayers are called out by a muezzin (a chosen person who leads the calls) and amplified over the mosque loudspeakers as the Islamic community (more…)
The Dar Seffarine. What was it like to stay at a Moroccan riad?
Full Story »Why get frazzled when things don’t meet your pre-planned expectations? Take for instance, having your baggage not arrive with you on the flight over to Morocco!
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