Morocco – From Tanger to Fes

On our way to Fes from Tanger in March 2011 we stopped at Assilah, a resort town on Morocco’s Atlantic coast that Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young missed, resulting in their song, Marrakech Express. They were too high to remember to get off the train, and ended up in Marrakech. French is Morocco’s second language; if you speak it you will meet even more nice people…

Assilah – Tiled jealousy screen. Women can observe you, but they are invisible

Assilah sea walls

Qf, in Arabic, means Stop. It’s read from right to left.

We were on a guided tour run by Insight Vacations. These photos were taken from the roomy Mercedes bus, hence the slight glare. My polarizing filter came in handy to reduce it. If you have an older SLR, here’s a trick I learned to use when in a bus: I select shutter speed priority of around 1/1000th s. Then I use 0.3 exposure bracketing, forcing the camera to take three shots in rapid succession. This usually gives me at least one shot without a passing “telephone pole” ruining it.

Most Moroccans love their progressive king, but Muhammad VI has work to do here…

I tried to crop this but the sidewalk space was too important

Moving inland from the coast the land is lush and fertile

If all the people who mistrust Muslims could be persuaded to spend a few, all-expenses-paid, days exploring Morocco, much healing would result. My humble suggestion: Take some of that money spent on high-tech weaponry and do something really good with it…

The next travel post will focus on Fes, Morocco’s holiest and most historic city with a most amazing medina, or old town. Fes boasts the oldest surviving university on the planet. It was founded by a woman.

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