Marvelous Morocco – Oh, the Places We See . . .

Just hold your nose and go: The Fez Tanneries

Moroccan leather doesn’t just happen to be colorful, soft, and naturally dyed. That’s just how we, the consumers, find it. The real process of softening/dyeing/drying is labor-intensive, to say the least. But thanks to the families who continue to do the work, tanneries like Chouara Tannery in the Fez medina continue to produce highly prized […]

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Staring at storks on summer’s day in Volubilis, Morocco

Even if you’ve never heard of Volubilis, it’s a place we’d put on anyone’s must-see list for Morocco. With an idyllic setting akin to fields of green, Volubilis is a place to breathe deeply and listen carefully to sounds of gentle breezes, harvesters gathering wheat, and…

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Best Doors of 2018: Chefchaouen, Morocco

In looking back at 2018 — as Norm who has created a series of posts called Thursday Doors asked bloggers to do this week — we can’t help but post photos of a town in Morocco we put high up on our top spots to see in that colorful country. And the walking tour through […]

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Glamping in Erg Chebbi or How We Rode Camels in the Sahara

If you’d told us six months ago that we’d be riding camels in the Sahara, we would have replied, “You’ve got the wrong people for that.” After all, we had done just that at the Knoxville Zoo atop a mangy, reluctant beast who shuffled around a dirt ring with us and our…

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The Hollywood of Morocco: Ouarzazate

Touring Morocco isn’t just seeing mosques in the cities and sand dunes in the Sahara. A day spent in Ouarzazate, the gateway to the desert to the east of Marrakech, will have you walking where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed and wondering what else you’ve seen that was probably made in Morocco. Even our hotel, Ksar […]

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Beautiful dilemmas: Rug shopping in Marrakech

You see them from rooftop restaurants . . . and you pass them by on your way in and out of the medina . . . but there’s nothing like a couple of hours being courted by salesmen in a Marrakech rug shop! From the minute you step in the door, you’re bombarded with colors, […]

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Best Foot Forward: Woodworking in Marrakech and Fes

Nothing stops you in your tracks while wandering in and around Marrakech like this sight: a man turning wood with nothing more than a sharp blade and his feet! Yes, you may wince a bit looking at these pictures. We certainly did. Moroccan woodturners are pros, though. And with skilled hands and strategic balance, they […]

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Memories of Marrakech: Shoe Fetish

There’s nothing dark and mysterious in the medina of Marrakech, especially if you’re in the apparel section. Shoe stalls literally screamed color. Cramming hand-made leather slippers onto the walls of tiny nooks must take patience and skill, but every shoe stall was packed to overflowing. From pom-poms to fancy stitches to pointy toes, the shoes […]

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Memories of Marrakech: Getting around.

We’re people watchers (especially when we travel), fascinated by how people work, worship, and live in countries other than our own. And in Marrakech, how people move from one place to another was in stark contrast to how we get around in the U.S. Rarely did we see cars in lanes (lines on the street […]

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Memories of Marrakech: Mats at Koutoubia

Since we love the brevity and pop of Instagram, we’ve decided to share — in short bursts of photography — a few images that have stayed with us after a visit to the colorful, exotic city of Marrakech in a series titled Memories of Marrakech. Here’s the first one: The Mats at Koutoubia Mosque. […]