As a Tourist Don’t look down on Morocco
As a Tourist Don’t look down on Morocco, Don’t come down with Morocco as a beach country. It will satisfy any tourist interest: in terms of history, natural beauty, ethno, and cultural tourism. In the end, it will give you an incredible beauty of the “substrate” for your photographic image. The color scheme of terracotta, indigo, ocher, ocean blue was created by an ingenious colorist!
Misha was the most popular person on the bus that traveled along Moroccan highways with a group of Ukrainian journalists. There was a ringtone with the song “Marrakesh” on his phone. Everyone wanted to download the melody here and now. Because they fell head over heels in love with Al-Maghrib, but they understood that love and parting are sisters who are always there.
Love did not come immediately. For sophisticated travelers, everything was as usual. The airport in Casablanca is brand new, immaculate because it bears the name of King Mohammed, the Meridian Hotel with its ostentatious luxury, multiplied by the oriental flavor, a walk through the modern city, where street Art Nouveau and noisy Arab life are mixed. And only after seeing the multicolor and scale of the Hasan Mosque, which rises above the noisy ocean waves, we realized that Morocco is a jewel in the necklace of the Arab civilization.
Tourist in Morocco the area in the Roman style
A huge area in the Roman style wraps in the heat of the African sun, a high minaret, decorated with carvings, patterns, wrought-iron doors – this is the first approximation. Inside there is a floor of jasper mosaic, hammams for the faithful, a sliding inlaid ceiling so that prayer can fly straight to heaven. The tallest religious building in the world was designed by a French architect. Moroccans are lucky that the country was ruled by a rather humane and “gentlemanly” nation, gradually instilling self-respect in their traditions.
Aesthetic panache – that’s how you can call everything purely Moroccan that came across on our way – leather lamps, silver, inlaid mirrors, silk dresses, and “grandmothers” – embroidered slippers made of thin leather. Ethnographic originality is intertwined with French notes – from the pronoun, which is heard from everywhere, to the gallantry of local merchants. Moroccans are quite naturally proficient in several languages and consider this the norm.
MEDINES AND CHURS
All roads and important cities are built by the ocean. In Rabat, the former capital of Morocco, we visit the Mausoleum, where King Mohammed, highly revered by his subjects, rests. He patiently nurtured the dream of the country’s independence and still achieved a bloodless coup. The shrine is fenced with a high ksur – a battlement made of clay.
These walls, an inexhaustible source of impressions for tourists and imperishable scenery for filming films about the Arab East, accompanied us throughout our journey through the country. Even vineyards and vegetable gardens are decorated by patriotic farmers with stylized “Kremlin” walls. Dotted lines of ksur run past groves with organ trees and orange plantings and lead us to Marrakech, to be left alone with an oriental fairy tale, played by the country’s most fashionable city for a thousand years.
“Every Moroccan dream of living in Marrakech. It has the best climate, the most beautiful avenues, a strong economy, the majority of tourists, – says our guide, an employee of the Tours Match travel company, Habib. The city is full of tourist attractions. The most famous is the Majorelle Garden: a French artist who contracted tuberculosis recovered in the healing climate of Marrakech.
He collected tropical plants from all over the world, planted an amazing garden, and opened the Museum of Art. Now, this cozy, always cool place belongs to Yves Saint Laurent, and it is full of connoisseurs of beauty. planted an amazing garden and opened the Museum of Art. Now, this cozy, always cool place belongs to Yves Saint Laurent, and it is full of connoisseurs of beauty. planted an amazing garden and opened the Museum of Art. Now, this cozy, always cool place belongs to Yves Saint Laurent, and it is full of connoisseurs of beauty.
Marrakech was founded in the 11th century. The caravan city connected European and Arab civilizations with Africa. All the threads of these connections gathered in the central square of Djemaa-al-Fna (Square of the Spirits), where there are still pillars to which the goods – black slaves – were tied.
A huge square lures numerous tourists from luxury hotels – with the bright glow of lanterns, the noise of the crowd, drumming, mouth-watering taverns, snake charmers, and magicians. There are many tourists, but even more – locals who do not get bored with this eternal series of surprises, harmless deceptions, dumbfounded tourists who do not know how to behave at this celebration of life. The first minutes the square seemed too aggressive. This feeling goes away when you relax, eat something, buy something, choose fresh juice on one of 60 fruit carts,
Late in the evening, we go to a folk show. “Fantasy Ali” is an ethnographic center that can accommodate 4 thousand people overnight! Representatives of all regions greet guests with chants. A grand equestrian show takes place in the fireworks. And towards the end of the day, an international crowd of visitors from different parts of the world feasts in banquet pavilions, marveling at the size of portions of tagine, couscous, and other national dishes.
BEACH CITY
A rainbow of the road runs through the ridge of the Atlas Mountains, where almonds bloom, show acrobatic tricks of a goat on trees, and landscapes of amazing beauty are replaced. Roadside cafes don’t even ask what the customer wants. Of course, a glass of three-layer nous-nous coffee – condensed milk, coffee, whipped milk. Aesthetes order green tea – a very sweet, hard-brewed mint. Agadir is visible from the first strip of the Atlantic. Forty years ago, the port city was destroyed by an earthquake, and the king decided to build a fabulous white city here.
It turned out – not a speck of dust, not a speck, as if in a fairy tale. The hotels are lined up like soldiers, among them the handsome newcomer Atlas Royal stands out. Life on the beach is in full swing all year round. In February at noon in the sun, it was +32! A 10 km long wide beach with soft sand invites you to the promenade early in the morning. Tanned Frenchmen in shorts are rushing here and there: for them, Agadir is a domestic matter, it’s like Crimea for us. By lunchtime, masseurs, pareo sellers, donut hawkers pour out “to work”.
“Allah, Watan, Malik”
The latter asks fastidious ladies to take a pie at least as a gift and having received a refusal, they console themselves: “Maybe later”. The beach ends exactly at the king’s summer residence. There is no further move, and in general – the Sahara. On the mountain opposite the palace in huge letters is written “Allah, Watan, Malik” – “Allah, Motherland, King”. Both the king is pleased, and the subjects feel good, and for tourists – another reason to wonder: what in the world does not happen! Maybe later. The beach ends exactly at the king’s summer residence. There is no further move, and in general – the Sahara. On the mountain opposite the palace in huge letters is written “Allah, Watan, Malik” – “Allah, Motherland, King”.
Both the king is pleased, and the subjects feel good, and for tourists – another reason to wonder: what in the world does not happen! Maybe later. The beach ends exactly at the king’s summer residence. There is no further move, and in general – the Sahara. On the mountain opposite the palace in huge letters is written “Allah, Watan, Malik” – “Allah, Motherland, King”. Both the king is pleased, and the subjects feel good, and for tourists – another reason to wonder: what in the world does not happen!
Essaouira – SOUVENIR CITY
Morocco has many storks. They chose the tops of the minarets, on which a flagpole was erected so that the white flag would notify the deaf about the time of prayer. But Essaouira is a city that seagulls have taken over. Huge, indifferent, and arrogant. But how do they look against the background of the ocean, sky, and the powerful Portuguese fortress! A photo against the backdrop of the fortress, blue and white Portuguese houses, and seagulls – that’s what it is worth going to Essaouira for!
Surprisingly, in the evening local residents come to the port square and stand, meditatively peering into the horizon, bewitched by the power and beauty of the elements, looking into the distance, like corsairs who once found temporary shelter here.
Medina
the old town in Essaouira is intelligent, proud of herself and her identity. Every fifth shop here is a gallery or a music store, and the merchants are like hippies for whom it is important not to sell, but to “talk.” In the summer, expensive cars rush to the city for the festival of psychedelic Gnawa music – former Parisian and London hippies go to remember their youth.
Morocco is a country where the cultures of many peoples are intertwined. Here lived “Berbers” – the ancient inhabitants of the Sahara deserts and the Atlas mountains, the Phoenicians, then the Greeks and Romans. The Spaniards and the Portuguese were in charge. Until 1956, the French ruled the colony.
No Visas needed!
From April 2008, the Moroccan government plans to simplify the visa regime for Ukrainian tourists. This is another step of the kingdom’s tourism industry to attract tourists from the CIS countries to its tourist market. Two years ago, the rules for Russians were simplified as much as possible. Now Ukraine is next in line.
This was announced at a meeting with the participants of the media trial – Ukrainian journalists who visited Morocco in February – by the director of the country’s National Tourism Organization, Tariq Haji. Groups of tourists arriving on vacation will receive permission to enter the kingdom right at the airport.
Director of the National Tourism Organization of Morocco:
– The government’s marketing strategy is to receive 10 million tourists. New resorts are being built, various types of tourism are developing. Morocco wants to open its doors to Ukrainian tourists who are famous for their mobility and curiosity.
– The charter program of our company, which will connect Kyiv and Agadir, will open from the end of April. The Moroccan site intends to take an active part in the spring tourism fair. With the simplification of visa rules, Morocco will be an alternative to mass destinations where you can go, making a decision at the last minute.
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