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Morocco Travel Blogs

Background: In 788, about a century after the Arab conquest of North Africa, successive Moorish dynasties began to rule in Morocco. In the 16th century, the Sa'adi monarchy, particularly under Ahmad AL-MANSUR (1578-1603), repelled foreign invaders and inaugurated a golden age. In 1860, Spain occupied northern Morocco and ushered in a half century of trade rivalry among European powers that saw Morocco's sovereignty steadily eroded; in 1912, the French imposed a protectorate over the country. A protracted independence struggle with France ended successfully in 1956. The internationalized city of Tangier and most Spanish possessions were turned over to the new country that same year. Morocco virtually annexed Western Sahara during the late 1970s, but final resolution on the status of the territory remains unresolved. Gradual political reforms in the 1990s resulted in the establishment of a bicameral legislature in 1997. Parliamentary elections were held for the second time in September 2002 and municipal elections were held in September 2003.




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Tamnougault Kasbah
Tamnougault Kasbah
this photo led to the disagreement with the kid about being in the photo, don't see him, but it did spoil the moment....
Heading south into Zagora and the Sahara Heading out we drove through the back route of Tamnougault, passing the old Kasbah and having a small disagreement with a lad on his BMX who rode past just after I had taken a picture of the kasbah, figured he was in it and demanded (in English impressively) money, not asked, nope, demanded as if it were a right, so I did relent, I gave him a 5 Malawi Kwacha coin I had, it was money and I was trying to give it to him, but he didn't want it, “5” wasn't enough, [View Full Entry]

Warthog - Justyn Lane | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1066 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 13 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 29th 2009 | 111 Views | [diary=423409]

The coin
Start of the desert
Gateway to the Desert

I apologize for not making a post sooner but to be honest there hasn't been anything post worthy in Rabat, probably because I am used to being here so it feels "normal" to me, well as "normal" as Rabat can be. Anyways, here goes... After class on Thursday (7/9) MSJ took a train from Rabat to Marrakesh. We shared a cabin on the train with a family who had a little girl The girl really liked playing with my watch so I took it off and let her play with it for a while. When we arrived in Marrakesh it was [View Full Entry]

Jimbad - Jim Franklin | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
794 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 24th 2009 | 25 Views | [diary=447907]


So I got back from Asilah at around 8 pm on Saturday night (4th of July) and as I got close to the apartment I heard really loud music. When I got to the apartment building entrance I noticed that a large truck was parked right up to the door and there were men in uniforms scrambling around carrying things up the stairs. As I made my way past them I was eyed cautiously because they were probably wondering "Who the hell is this French tourist crashing this family's party." I say French because in Morocco if you are white they [View Full Entry]

Jimbad - Jim Franklin | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
290 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 24th 2009 | 6 Views | [diary=447905]


On Thursday night my family brought a rather large sheep home for the party they were having on Friday and Saturday. The sheep was delivered in the trunk of a BMW sedan and the dad, the butcher, and I carried it up 3 flights of stairs in their apartment building to the apartment where it was tied up outside. Then a bunch of female relatives and the daughter of the family, who is married and just had a son, who the party is for, started rearranging the apartment and I kept offering to help because they were moving some pretty heavy [View Full Entry]

Jimbad - Jim Franklin | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
278 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 24th 2009 | 1 Views | [diary=447902]


By Jimbad
July 5th 2009
Asilah Africa » Morocco » Tangier-Tétouan » Asilah
(I know this is a day late, whatever) Happy Independence Day! عيد الاستقلال سعيد Today AmidEast went to Asilah, a small beach town to the north of Rabat (a little south of Tangier). We rode on a bus up there for a couple hours, it was really hot. Once we got there we walked around the Medina, then ate some lunch. Then MSJ walked sort of out of Asilah (for some reason we always find ourselves way outside of the tourist areas) and we found a cool beach that had rocks and kids and fishermen. We then [View Full Entry]

Jimbad - Jim Franklin | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
169 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 24th 2009 | 4 Views | [diary=447904]


Walls
Walls
The view from Hotel Smara is enticing, but it's the only good thing about it.
Essaouira is an oasis in all the ways that Marrakech is not. The sea breeze eases the scorching heat in even the narrowest alleyways, the locals are wealthy enough that they only hassle half-heartedly, and the accomodations are top notch. Ironically, this is where myself and friends have endured some of the scourges of Morocco: bedbugs, stomach bugs, and beligerent street confrontations. But, at least we were able to retire to some relative comfort afterwards. The only complaints I can muster up about this town is that it is perhaps too perfect. The frenchman who works at our hotel des [View Full Entry]

Bellini - Michael Bellini | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
761 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 8 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 5th 2009 | 170 Views | [diary=415445]

Boat
Bedbugs
Lobstercages

Sleep
Sleep
Not the Andy Warhol movie, but instead a short segment on Roger's napping abilities. Right before this I found an Arabic class standing outside of the room I left Roger in. I walked in to find Roger ... [more]
First off, I would like to give a warm welcome to Peggy Thompson. Her daughter, Emily, joined us in Morocco two weeks ago (around the last time I updated) and Mrs. Thompson found the blog through googling UVa and Morocco. Thanks for being a fan. Also, thank you to everyone who has sent me messages over the course of these six weeks. Sorry I have not responded (the blog website is strange about that) but I appreciate your messages. Tomorrow is our last full day in Morocco. Since I left off we have spent a weekend of service at a circus [View Full Entry]

Trey - Trey Goggins | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
162 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 60 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 3rd 2009 | 74 Views | [diary=414589]

Sleep
Sleep
The Barbershop

well today is wednesday, and i havent had much to write about but id figure id try to put another post up. i guess ill do one about an average day in rabat and then some just funny stuff ive seen. typical day: wake up between 7 and 7:30am. Then breakfast from 7:45 to around 8:10. 8:10 I get a taxi to AmidEast. 8:30 through 12:20 class. Then lunch from 12:20 to 1pm. Then Darijah (Moroccan colloquial) class till 2pm. Then MSJ usually do homework and surf the internet from like 2 to 4pm or so. Then we might go somewhere, [View Full Entry]

Jimbad - Jim Franklin | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
209 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 24th 2009 | 1 Views | [diary=447901]


Moroccan security system
Moroccan security system
Like the Afghans, Moroccans often place dogs on roofs as a security system.
We've spend a week so far in Essaouira, Morocco. It is on the Atlantic Coast, about 2-3 hours West of Marrakech. The Gnaoua World Music Festival began the day after we arrived, bringing with it hundreds of thousands of people. The festival is now over, and it's pretty quiet here. [View Full Entry]

Sharon Jumper - Silk Road journeys | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
52 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 48 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 1st 2009 | 50 Views | [diary=413993]

Bab Marrakech
Bab Marrakech
The house we're renting

By Jimbad
June 29th 2009
Fez Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Fes
This post takes place from Friday 6/26 to Sunday 6/28 Friday After our quiz MSJ went to the train station in the Agdal neighborhood in Rabat. We ate at a restaurant and had some really good cheeseburgers and then got on the train to Fez. We shared a car with two Moroccan men who listened to Arabic music over speakers. The ride was fairly uneventful, it was around 3 hours. When we got to Fez we realized that we didn't have a map and had no idea where we were. We hailed a cab and asked him to take us to [View Full Entry]

Jimbad - Jim Franklin | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
671 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 24th 2009 | 10 Views | [diary=447855]